I Was a Hair Show Guinea Pig

Posted: May 04, 2010

This blog post courtesy of Los Angeles Magazine and our very own Sara Weaver as guest correspondent!

Having worked in a hair salon for several years got me a coveted invitation: an all-expenses-paid trip to a Las Vegas hair show earlier this week. The catch: I'd have to allow a stylist to cut my tresses--which I have always worn long and brunet--in any style and color she wanted to, in front of an audience. I knew that Oribe would be running the show, so how bad could it be? He styles celebrities, has his own line of products, and is regarded as a genius by anyone who wields scissors professionally. But his standing in the world of hair didn’t change the fact that I was to be transformed into Divine, the late, great, drag queen star of John Waters films. Instead of the peroxide mohawk the actor once wore, my hairdos were meant to be modern versions of what Divine would wear were s/he be alive today. At least I had a stylist I trusted: Andrea Keene, whom I work with in a Seattle salon (when I'm not interning at the magazine in L.A.). Oribe stopped by now and then commenting on her moves as she turned me into a Shih Tzu (her terminology, not mine). Also lucky for me, a wig was used instead of my own locks. From 9 to 6, I sat in a chair, undergoing three transformations, until a runway show capped off the grueling day. Now I'm back in L.A. and no one believes I was in a hair show--I look exactly the same as when I left.