Underneath that new hairdo

Britney Spears and her scalp-shears notwithstanding, the hair salon really can be the place to go if you're heartbroken or down in the dumps. And not only that, at least one Bangkok clip-shop will consult your astrological chart to make sure you're getting the look you need.

Yannick Kraemer, who runs the Luis Kraemer salon at CentralWorld, invokes what he calls "psycho-morphology" - in which hairdressers match their artistic skills with the customer's unique personality.

"In Paris a lot of women go to the hairdresser for help before they go to a psychologist," he says, reasoning that a beautiful hairstyle is good therapy, not least in the way it boosts your confidence.

The Big Cut Hair World Centre on MBK Avenue has an astrological consultant on hand - he goes by the single name Tepakorn - to ensure that clients choose the hairstyle that's best for their lives at that specific point.

"I used to have problems with my career, but after I met Tepakorn he told me to go with the skinhead look. Now my job is going great and the money's just flowing in," says the salon's chairman, Somphol Tripopnart, formerly of Krung Thai Bank.

Even for customers who have no time for the stars, says Somsak Chalachol, cutting technique is not enough - he and his fellow hairstylists must be good listeners and understand their customers.

A good stylist, he says, will sit you down and listen to what you want and don't want.

Every stylist is like an artist, Kraemer agrees. He has his own personality and plenty of ideas. Before a client seals the deal, if the chemistry between them isn't right, the customer ought to find someone else more suitable.

"The hairdresser should know your personality first," says Somsak. "The next question they have to ask you is about your career."

Somsak learned that lesson after giving a daring bob haircut to a young woman who came into the salon dressed sexily. He assumed she was brimming with confidence and deserved a radical cut. The next day her employer flipped, and she returned to the salon in search of a wig.

It didn't stop Somsak from treating clients to wild hairstyles, of course, including Thailand's most famous wild hairdo, that of punky forensics pathologist Pornthip Rojanasunand. The good doctor, up to her elbows in cadavers every day, came looking for a way to introduce some fun into a deadly serious job.

"Normally, I wouldn't haven't given anyone that haircut, but she has the confidence to pull it off," Somsak says.

A professional stylist, like a psychologist, has to learn the art of letting the customers willingly change themselves. Some see it as a form of manipulation, but stylists are just trying to do what they think is best.

"I had a customer," says one, "who told me she should've changed her hair colour 10 years earlier, because it changed her whole life."

Kraemer says that although 99 per cent of Asian women love their straight hair, he regularly suggests they curl it a bit for a softer, swirling look.

And along with a different hairstyle, he says, they should be getting suggestions on what clothes to wear to enhance the new look. If you're not getting recommendations like this, stylist Tuksan Kongudom says, "Just ask!"

If they're dealing with personalities, what does a stylist do about a grumpy customer?

"I asked one girl what haircut she wanted and she just said, 'Whatever'," Tuksan recalls. "That's when I knew there was going to be trouble."

He had to sift through what had happened to her to put her in such a foul mood. Only then could he get on with the "therapy".