ALL the trendiest styles can be had at the Stefan hair salons in Australia. But don't ask for a Box Bob.
''It's forbidden,'' says Stefan Ackerie, founder and president of the popular chain that stretches from Adelaide to Brisbane.
What the Lebanese-born boss dictates is law in his salons and the Box Bob - that pudding-basin cut chopped like a half-moon at the back leaving a swathe of stubble from the nape - is taboo. The reason: it's too ugly.
''Just because some eccentric in Paris, New York or London says this or that is the latest, it doesn't mean you should fall for it.
''Too many women leave salons in tears because of some hairstylist's ego trip. Beware of the types who say, 'I keep cutting till I'm satisfied with it.' Some really horrible, scary stuff goes on in the trade.'' Also the occasional miracle as demonstrated by this flamboyant self-made millionaire who also markets Jager of Paris cosmetics in Australia and Asia and recently arranged for Lane Crawford to retail the line.
Now in his 40s, he was 15 when he migrated to Australia with his family - ''all hairdressers on my dad's side and merchants on my mother's''. The lucky break wasn't long in coming.