Meet Richard Marin - hairstylist to the stars
Richard Marin is your typical chatty hairstylist to the stars... kind of. The stylist gushes about incredibly talented celebrities and their amazing hair, but clips the conversation when it turns to nasty celeb gossip and, gasp, his rates. He's a classy no nonsense, "It's all about the hair" kind of guy.
Marin's had his hands in people's hair for about 15 years and in celebrity hair like that of Mariah Carey, Jewel, Jodi Foster, Lisa Kudrow and Matt Damon's hair for the past 10. He's also the style director for Salon Selectives, educating them on what the pros use so the public can get on it on the cheap.
Marin was recently in Toronto to give the 10 Popstars finalists makeovers. Marin will actually appear in that episode of the show on April 9. "The makeovers were so much fun," he gushes on the phone from Los Angeles. "I love being around people that are so young and so talented - I don't even know if they realize their potential, how incredibly talented they are."
Marin got a kick out of watching their eyes widen incredulously over a simple compliment. "You see, they're doubting themselves and you think, 'Wow, you have no idea how young and cute and talented you are and you're just going to be a killer.'"
Given his experience with star power, it isn't altogether shocking that Marin had 95 per cent of the finalists who made it on Popstars mentally chosen from the start. "I knew, they just had it, they stood out," he says. "That's just my exposure, I can tell now."
Marin wasn't always so sure about himself. After getting his beautician's license right out of high school, he'd convinced himself he needed to do something other than hair. He went into advertising but quickly realized "I am so not a desk person." From there hair took him to designer's runway shows in Europe and New York to build up a portfolio and then back to L.A. where he finally felt at home. And he had no trouble making Friends.
He ended up meeting both Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow on different photo shoots for different magazine covers and they both, unbeknownst to the other, invited him back to the set of this "new show" they were working on, where he ended up from 1996 to 1999. When asked about the famous Rachel haircut, he bursts into laughter and claims no responsibility.
"Jennifer really brought me in to specifically get rid of 'The Rachel'," Marin says. "She hated that hairstyle so much. She loved it the first year, but when it took over the world, she had to get rid of it - so that was always the motivation."
Even this celebrity hair stylist dreams of meeting other celebrities - his fantasy client is scissors down, without a doubt, Madonna. He admires her sense of style, her strength and her longevity in such a fickle business. "I made the mistake of telling my agent that the day I work with Madonna is the day I retire - so now she's bent on keeping me away from her!" he laughs.
Though he acknowledges that even celebrities have dirty hair, the occasional dandruff and split ends, he doesn't hesitate to point out the best manes in the business. "Off the top of my head?" he asks. "Cindy Crawford for sure. Jennifer Aniston for sure. Catherine Zeta-Jones, Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio."
As for Marin's own style, he's trying to cop Tom Cruise's shaggy look from Vanilla Sky and he says that unlike certain clients who have unattainable aspirations for their hair, he's very realistic about his goal. "I put a lot of effort into it - I'm not afraid of the gel or the blow dryer. When people ask me what I put in my hair, I tell them 'It's easier to tell you what's not in my hair.'" (ChartAttack)
|
