Everywhere hair consumers turn they are bombarded with tips and hair care product recommendations from celebrity hairdressers.

There are so many celebrity hairdressers in the media it becomes confusing at times to figure out who is who and how they became “celebrity” hairdressers.

(Image of Vidal Sassoon - BRAVO/TV - 2007 - All Rights Reserved).

Which got me to thinking. What is the definition of a Celebrity Hairdresser? No, it’s not a hairdresser who saw a celebrity walk down the block, on TV or in a movie.  It’s also not a hairdresser who happens to work in a salon where celebrities go to have their hair done or a hairdresser who happens to assist a real celebrity hairdresser.   It’s also not, in my opinion, a hairdresser who happens to work on a big name Celeb once or twice.

Celebrity hairdressers used to be a rare breed of hairstylists who had achieved their own superstar status either because of the A List stars they coiffed or because they became celebrities and superstars in their own right for a variety of reasons.

Some of the top celebrity names in the hair biz because superstars for the following reasons based on my own opinions:

• Pioneered new hairstyling techniques
• Developed revolutionary new hair care or styling products
• Created iconic hairstyles
• Designed and developed award winning styles for major celebrities
• Became a household name for their hairstyles with celebs
• Acquired wealth as a result of their celeb hairdresser status

Listed below are some of the celebrity hairdressers I believe fall into the categories I have mentioned above:

Vidal Sassoon

World renowned hairdresser Vidal Sassoon is considered by many to have indirectly created the concept of a Celebrity Hairdresser.

(Image Above To Right of Vidal Sassoon (To The Left) - Bravo/TV - Shear Genius 2007 - All Rights Reserved).

The brilliant Vidal has certainly left his mark on the world of hair and beauty. Not only did he revolutionize the way all women - celebs and non-celebs - styled their hair, this father of modernist style worked with some of the biggest and brightest stars in the world.

Vidal became rich and famous for ending the days of time consuming roller sets and hours in the salon by creating edgy haircuts which were styled naturally with a blow dryer.

As a hairdresser the always charming Vidal has also been a key force in the commercial direction of hair styling, ultimately turning its craft in to a multi-million dollar industry.

The master hairstylist created the at-the-time shocking boy cut on Mia Farrow for Rosemary’s Baby. Known by a combination of names, the Mia’s cut was called the Sassoon, the Urchin and The Pixie.

It was sometimes called a short crop or cap. Mia Farrow became one of Sassoon’s “signature hair cuts” although throughout his lifetime career he worked on a never ending array of A List celebrities.

Sally Herschberger

Sally Herschberger cemented her status as a bona fide celebrity hairdresser by inventing the short and sassy shag for A List movie star - Meg Ryan. Once the world saw Meg’s sexy cut, Sally became the go-to celebrity hairdresser for a long list of stars.

Sally also collaborated with John Frieda to launch the wildly popular John Frieda line of consumer hair care products including the products specifically focused for beach blondes.

Jose Eber achieved his celebrity hairdresser status for his lifetime hair work for Superstar Elizabeth Taylor while taking credit for Farrah Fawcett’s epic long shag hairstyle.

(Image of (L) Jose Eber - Bravo/TV - all rights reserved).

Jose capitalized on his superstar hairdresser status by opening a string of salons, writing best selling books and launching a hair care line.

Chris McMillan and John Barrett became celebrity hairdressers after their hair defining work with Friends women Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox on TV’s Friends.  Chris McMillan created The Rachel haircut which become a hairstyle cult classic.

Laurent DuFourg known simply as Laurent D made a name for himself by creating spectacular coiffures for Terri Hatcher, Sharon Stone and Tea Leoni, to mention just a few.  Orlanda Pita took the high fashion runway world by storm and capitalized on his fame by opening a equally famous high priced salon in New York City.

Other bona fide celebrity hairdressers include, but are not limited to, Oribe, Jay Sebring, Mark Harrison, Kim Kimble (Beyonce), Garren, Trevor Sorbie, Frederic Fekkai, Ted Gibson, Philip P and Robert Hallowell, to name a few of the “big” name celebrity hairdressers.

Ken Paves

Ken Paves paid his dues as a hard working, horribly underpaid apprentice to a well-known hairdresser who worked with superstar models and up and coming recording artists.

Eventually Ken won the attention of rising stars such as Jennifer Lopez, Carmen Electra, Heather Locklear, Pamela Anderson and Jessica Simpson. Besides creating a devoted friendship with high level editors at such esteemed magazines as Allure, InStyle and Cosmopolitan, Ken created noteworthy new hairstyles that won rave reviews.

His superstar celebrity status was sealed when he became a regular hair makeover guru on Oprah’s show.

Ken followed up his superstar hair stylist status with the creation of snap-on hair extension caps inspired by his work with Jessica Simpson, who helped him develop and market his consumer friendly and affordable hair extension system known as HairDo.

Ken also developed two unique consumer focused hair care lines in addition to a series of award winning salons.

The Crowded World Of Celeb Hairdressers

As the list of bona fide “celebrity hairdressers” grew from just a small handful of superstars, lesser known hairdressers who worked with even more obscure celebrities started referring to themselves as “celebrity hairdressers”.

Even though the new breed of celeb hairdressers often worked with B, C or D list stars, these up and coming hairdressers figured out if you add the words “celebrity” before your name, you had instant creditability, can charge much higher prices and have that certain something average hair consumers flock to.

Hairdressers started refer to themselves as celebrity hairdressers even if they had never worked on a celebrity because it was “good for business”.

Not only did this cause an overcrowding of so-called celebrity hairdressers into the hair world, it started to confuse consumers devalue the success of the real celebrity hairstylists.

Related HairBoutique.com Topics:

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Celebrity HairDresser Articles & Interviews

When Celebrity Hairdressers Get Dumped

Celebrity Hairdresser Interview Scoops

Celebrity Hairdresser’s Tips: Blow Drying Your Hair!

Laurent D - Hollywood Hair Sultan

Celebrity Hairdresser - Martin Samuel

Tags: Celebrity Hairdressers, Ken Paves, Laurent DuFourg, Martin Samuel, Oribe, Robert Hallowell, Sally Hershberger, Vidal Sassoon

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 21st, 2008 at 11:02 pm and is filed under Celebrity Hairstyles, Hair, Hairstyles, Hollywood & Mane. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.