HYDERABAD: A woman is literally making heads turn in a village in Siddipet. For, Kotwal Lavanya is a rarity, a woman who wields comb and scissors, trimming beards, giving shaves and cutting hair of men hand in hand with her husband in their small salon.
Initially wary, the regular customers have now got used to the unusual, sitting back for their usual.
"I was hesitant when my wife said she could also learn and join me at work. But seeing her resolve, I gave in to her request," her husband Srinivas told TOI.
The hair cutting saloon at Hanumannagar in KCR Nagar in Siddipet was inaugurated by finance minister T Harish Rao in November last year and the shop has been named after him by Srinivas. In 2018, Srinivas said he had given a free hair cut to hundreds as a prayer to ensure that Harish Rao would win the Siddipet assembly election that year with more than one lakh majority.
It was the family's economic situation that put the germ of an idea in Lavanya's mind as she observed her husband working in the salon.
"If we get an additional barber, we have to pay him wages. But the same can be saved if I also work in the shop," Lavanya said.
With salons among the worst hit during Covid-19, Lavanya learnt the trade from her husband during the lockdown.
The couple did anticipate that men would be hesitant to get their hair cut by a woman in the village.
"It took a while, but they have gradually become comfortable," Srinivas said.
Lavanya, on her part, is now taking care of the children too. "I now do hair styling for children," a proud Lavanya said.
