Kuala Lumpur (The Star/ANN) - People who become internationally recognised for a craft don't usually stumble into it.
Many will tell you that they had an inkling for it when they were young, that there was a certain something that always held their attention and made them happy.
Renowned hairdresser Eiji Yamane, 52, had that something - he wanted to be a professional motorcycle racer.
"The way I grew up was very traditional. We were in the country, my parents had rice fields and everything was very quiet.
"But since I was a little child, I was different. In Japan, culture is very uniformed and most people have very similar opinions on things but I wasn't like that," said Yamane, who was in Penang recently for the George Town Festival 2011.
Growing up in Fukuoka in southern Japan, Yamane caught the racing bug at a young age and dreamt of riding 500cc motorcycles on the track. But a serious accident put a halt to those aspirations.
"In high school, I was racing with friends when my left foot got caught in the wheel of my motorcycle. I was hospitalised for two months and after that, I couldn't ride anymore.
"I wasn't scared about getting back on the bike, but my leg wasn't able to move in a way for me to take the turns," he lamented.
With the only dream he had suddenly impossible, Yamane said he was short of ideas of what to do after finishing school.
"My friend, who worked in a hair salon said 'Eiji, there are so many beautiful women who come to salons, you should join me and be a hairdresser'.
"And so, at 18, I went. I knew absolutely nothing about hair!" he laughed.
Practise makes perfect
A fairytale success story would dictate that a light bulb lit up over Yamane's headYamane had a light bulb moment and he suddenly found his true calling, but in the real world, things are never so simple.
"Hair styling looks so easy. I watched people work and I thought 'I can do that', but after a year I still couldn't do anything. I tried, but my hands just couldn't do it," he said.
The feeling was disheartening and Yamane knew he couldn't continue that way.
"With motorcycle racing, it is like you're alive or you're dead. There is not much middle ground. And that's how I feel inside too - I have to be good or nothing.
"So I made a deal with myself. I'm either going to do this job well, or do something else," said Yamane.
Making that pact with himself, Yamane gave it all he had. From 8am to 8pm, he slogged in the salon shampooing heads, and from 9pm till midnight, he studied techniques and skills.
"After two months, I was so exhausted. After work, my friends were all going out to the disco or having drinks and I was studying.
"It was hard and I asked myself, 'why did I decide to do this?' But after another three months, I started to discover so many different things," he recalled.
Yamane explained that for him, there is truth in the saying "practice makes perfect" and after the long hours of study and sacrifice, his hands started responding to his wishes.
"The more you do it, the more you start to find that your hands can do something that you've never seen before."
According to Yamane, he was lucky enough to work in a salon owned by Michiko Masue, a leading traditional Japanese hairstylist who taught him the difference between profit and art.
"She didn't think so much about the business (side of things). For her, it was mostly about hair and how she could do it better.
"After studying with her for four-and-a-half years, I feel like I'm like that too - I think if you create beautiful things and you're good at it, people will always come," he said.
Across the seas
Never one to conform, Yamane then decided it was time to explore the world.
"My village was so small that nobody had ever been to another country and few had even seen anyone from a different country, so I was the only one 'crazy' enough to be talking about it.
"My father was a farmer and my mother never even owned a lipstick, it was that kind of sheltered environment," Yamane added.
Lady Luck then smiled on him when he was put in touch with a friend of a friend in New York City.
"I was 22 and at that time, there were only three choices where I could go to pursue hairdressing - London, Paris or New York.
"My friend knew someone in America so I got a job as a shampoo boy," Yamane said.
Slowly, he learnt English and gained the trust of his employers. Within a year, he was cutting 22 heads of hair a day.
"After studying so much (in Japan), I knew many different cuts and it wasn't difficult to be busy.
"But after three years, I was so bored. It felt like I was working in a factory.
"I thought to myself - I practise, I find new things, I do it in so many different ways, that's where the beauty is. And this is not how I want to spend my life," he explained.
He resigned and went in search of someone who could inspire him.
Learning the dry-cut
Being in New York for several years, Yamane knew who he wanted to learn from and made a call to Manhattan hairstyling icon John Sahag.
"His salon asked me to send a resume. I went straight to Sahag's apartment to give it to them by hand. The next day, Sahag's company called me, an interview was set up and I had a job," Yamane said.
He spent nine years working side-by-side with Sahag, who is well known for the pixie boy cut he gave a young Demi Moore in the 1990 movie Ghost.
Sahag, who lost his battle with cancer six years ago at the age of 53, was also legendary for a new technique of hair cutting - the dry-cut.
"Everyone was cutting hair when it was wet but Sahag was cutting dry.
"When the hair is dry, you have to take into account everything, including how it's going to look tomorrow.
"There's so much to think about and figure out. If you're cutting wet, it's easy to do it technically but it'll look different when it dries.
"To do a dry cut, you use your soul, your mind and your eye to create it the best you can," Yamane said.
A normal dry-cut takes about an hour-and-a-half to complete (as opposed to your usual 10-to-15 minute haircut). Yamane blames the majority of hair problems on bad haircuts.
"Women always complain that one side of their hair sticks up, or they have flat or fine hair or that their hair never stays in place.
"The truth is, the problem is not so much with their hair as it is with their haircut.
"Using the dry-cut, the stylist can use a client's hair to create their own shape and style to eliminate these problems," he said.
Branching out
When he reached his mid-30s, Yamane decided to try it on his own by opening a small studio on Madison Avenue with 11 chairs and six employees.
"In the beginning, it was crazy. I didn't have much money, so I painted and fixed everything myself.
"The rent at Madison Avenue is so expensive but I chose that place so people could see the salon," Yamane said.
It also did not help that dry-cuts took so long to perform and fees for each cut were more expensive.
"When I started, we were charging about US$150, which was deemed expensive.
"So, it was difficult to get clients and walk-ins," he said.
It took three years for business to fall into a steady pace, but the hard work and dedicated cutting style finally paid off for Yamane's team.
Ten years later, they moved into a 4,181sqm lot (three times the space of the first studio) in the Emporio Armani building also on Madison Avenue.
He now leads a 42-member staff which includes 16 stylists and eight colourists.
His salon continues offering only dry-cut and a visit to this posh place will set you back at least US$350.
And although Yamane's accomplishments have gained him celebrity clients - Catherine Zeta-Jones, Sarah Jessica Parker and Claire Danes, to name a few - Yamane maintains that he's in it for the hair.
"I don't care too much whether the clients are famous or not famous.
"I'm just happy that I'm cutting dry," said Yamane, who returns to Japan four to five times a year to teach the dry-cut to aspiring hairdressers there.
Creative collaboration
Making his rounds in the hair industry in New York, Yamane eventually met Zang Toi, the fashion designer who hails from east coast state of Kelantan, Malaysia.
Yamane remembers asking Zang if he could have a shot at doing the models' hair in one of his shows, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Now, Yamane is a regular face at Zang's shows and events, as he has been for the last 12 years.
"Zang's not afraid of hair being big or different. A lot of designers are afraid of hairstyles because to them, fashion shows are all about clothes, but Zang's idea is to have beauty from head to toe," Yamane said.
He added that that freedom was likely a reason why the duo's friendship has lasted so long.
"I do crazy things with the hair and he's okay with it. He always gives me and my creativity space to create something," Yamane said.
At the Peranakan Penang fashion show, the gala opening of George Town Festival 2011 held in E&O Hotel Penang on July 1, Yamane certainly did not disappoint.
Flying around the models, he fitted them with elaborate (and yes, big) hairdos. He even managed to adorn supermodel Ling Tan's hair with Mouawad diamonds in the short break between Zang and Yeohlee Teng's fashion sets.
Yamane said for the show, he had hoped to bring a little New York flavour to the local culture.
"I've never done this (a Peranakan-themed show) before so it's a first for me. But I think we should all have an open mind about beauty.
"It's not so much about the culture, but the beauty that can be found," he concluded.
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