Straight And Vanilla

The newest homogenising trend sweeping news channels is poker-straight hair, says ROHINI MOHAN

Iron control A television anchor gets her hair straightened Photo: KADAMBARI ZACHARIA

OVER THE years, our news anchors’ looks have seen tightly bound hair buns come loose, salt-and-pepper beards shaved, and the average age gradually drop by about half (gender was always skewed towards women). Doordarshan’s handloom saris and long sleeved blouses evolved into silk saris and sleeveless blouses. Now the newest homogenising trend sweeping news channels is pokerstraight hairstyles.

It’s impossible to now find a single mop of curly or wavy hair in a news show — they’ve all been straightened out. Channel stylists say curly hair looks unkempt and springy strands catch the harsh studio lights to form an unappealing hair-halo. Priyanka Singh, stylist for CNN-IBN, says, “Anchors are chosen based on how well-informed or articulate they are, not what kind of hair they have. But while they’re being groomed to look good on air, we ask those who have curly hair to straighten it. That’s the channel style.” Anchor Divya Vaidyanathan is proof of the trend. She has straightened her wavy hair for three channels: first on Headlines Today, then on Times Now and now on NDTV. “It’s not just the stylists, I too prefer straight hair,” says Vaidyanathan, “It’s neat, and most importantly, manageable. I don’t have to worry about my hair going wild while I’m busy breaking news.”

However, not all women like the effort it takes to calm natural curls. “I find it tiring and extremely unhealthy for my hair when a hot iron is run through it every morning,” says Smriti Advani, a reporter and aspiring anchor with CNNIBN. “But if I want to be on air, I have to do it.” The straightened look is considered hassle-free and least shocking. It also betrays a preference for a vanilla aesthetic that hankers for a Scandinavian model of skin colour, jawline, and now hairstyle. The politically correct justification is that it makes for a plain look that lets the viewer pay attention to the news being read, and not get diverted by the person reading it.

Yesteryear’s personal frills are history. Doordarshan’s Salma Sultan had the state channel’s hegemony to thank for being able to wear a single, large red rose behind her left ear. She may not have been trying to make a statement, but she did inspire viewing women to pluck a garden rose and find a place for it in their plaits. But flower buds and bright saris are not risked anymore.

Today’s exceptions are usually only those senior anchors who are also full or part channel owners, like Barkha Dutt, Sagarika Ghose and Pranoy Roy. And males again seem to get more leeway: Roy is among the few who still sport a beard, while Ashutosh at IBN 7 sports a consistent Indira Gandhi white hairwave.