The 11th China International Beauty Exhibition and Festival provided a platform for stylists from across Asia to indulge in a celebration of beauty. The event, from August 12 to 15, turned out to be a frenetic four days of hair, fashion and music.

Hair was everywhere! High, low, short, long, thick and thicker, these locks were constructed into cobwebs and coiffures. There were flamboyant colors, hyperbolic extensions, and emotions styled into the very fiber of the follicles. It was hair as architectural madness, hair as exaggerated personality, and hair at the limits of your imagination.

Various hair shows and competitions followed one after another after the kick-off of the beauty festival.

On the first day, several hairdressers and stylists from two of Indonesia's top hair salons, invited by Wella Cosmetics China Ltd, staged a live show, "The Wella Summer Show 2005" which demonstrated more than 50 different leading hairdos of various international trends.

Plenty of eyebrows arched once the show began, as we witnessed their visions for the future and, in the process, watched them unlock the unlimited potential in quotidian tresses.

Johny Mallato of Talent's Salon from Jakarta presented a Trend Vision Hair Fashion series, showcasing the latest trends for 2005 - Being in Love, Being Rebellious and Being Naive.

To stress the longing for intimacy and tenderness, Mallato turned to the past for inspiration, digesting classic looks and revamping them for the modern woman in love. His interpretation of rebellious was achieved by the use of mismatched, textured layers in stark colors, which created a sense of removed ostentation - beauty to be admired, but not too closely.

The "Being Naive" series was a tutorial in baby-doll modernism - imagine Mondrian and Kewpie dolls in a blender.

Andy Lie of Lie's Salon brought his "Mesmerizing" to the show. His interest in using hair to bridge cultural boundaries was realized in his focus on texture.

In response to their international counterparts' interpretation for the future "look," Chinese hairdressing and beauty artists and designers also flagged the introduction of China hairdressing and beauty fashion trends of 2006, that is: "Charming Curls and Variable Layers" and "Transparent, Silky, and Shining."

And for the first time, the eastern and western hairdressers' master championship added a woman's hair coiling competition, a classic item in major international competitions, to the original ten competitions under two categories. The master championship was thus growing to become a truly internationally renowned major competition, a coveted event for all those who want to compete confidently in the world arena.

At the same time, tradition was not forgotten. A competition featuring the Chinese beauty of long black hair was also launched at the exhibition. Tracing the long hair folk tradition, the competition demonstrated the sheer beauty of the players' long hair, physical attractiveness, artistic talents, and inner qualities by setting up dramatic performances and fun activities involving interaction with the audience.

A grand celebration of a Chinese traditional culture, the competition also studied the science behind the nurturing of long hair and also included appeals for participation in public welfare activities.

The beauty exhibition and festival, jointly organized by China Hairdressing and Beauty Association (CHBA) and Messe Dusseldorf China Ltd (MDC) this year, was first launched in 1994 in Beijing and has become the most popular beauty event in China.

(China Daily August 19, 2005)