Hairdo holding for play (7)
I believe the answer is:
perform
'play' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'hairdo holding for' is the wordplay.
'hairdo' becomes 'perm' (perm is a kind of hairdo).
'holding' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'perm' going around 'for' is 'PERFORM'.
(Other definitions for perform that I've seen before include "Do a good job" , "Carry out; act" , "Carry out (duties)" , "act on stage" , "seen to make a profit?" .)