What is your ideal office?
Well, it had to be something that wasn’t an office already. So I did my garage, which was pretty bland, four walls, and uninspiring, and I just started tailoring it to what inspires me. Wood inspires me, grains of wood, windows, light, bark. And some elbow room. Big enough for me to make a mess and not feel it gets cluttered.
What is an object that has made a remarkable impression on you?
Rocks and stone. I recently went on a tour of a rock shop that was going out of business in a very desolate town. It made an impression on me that no two stones were alike, they can be shaped at the same time and be so different. I don’t know if it is the energy that’s trapped in rock, I just have found that stones and rocks and crystals have made a huge impression on me recently. I have some in the house, and it just makes me comfortable staring at them sometimes. I feel a little stronger.
What was the last profound experience you shared? Recently somebody let me put firecrackers on her head. I thought that was kind of great because she trusted me. I thought that was pretty profound, because she could lose so much, it would really impact her life, big time. I don’t know why she trusted me, but she did. You need to do that every day of your life sometimes, take a chance on somebody and see where that leads. Trust people, and profound experiences just start flourishing and growing, like moss.
How do you live an uncommon life?
I tend to be a loner and be social at the same time. I don’t feel like I have an identity I can stick with every day, I feel like I change. It’s pretty challenging not knowing who you’re going to be the next day. but I never really feel bored with myself. I’ll change weights, then I’ll just blend in with everyone, then I won’t blend in, then I’m a punk rocker, then I’m into disco. Maybe in the future that’ll just be the norm for everybody, a different personality every day, considering what group of people they’re hanging out with.
What is your greatest mistake thus far?
Being selfish is my greatest mistake, and I do it all the time. I just forget that I have children, that I have a wife, responsibilities, and I focus on me. It creates chaos in my life, but at the same time I enjoy it. It’s like smoking cigarettes, I know it’s bad for me, but I do it.
What historical figures inspire you?
I am inspired by men and woman who are always looking for new experiences, jumping off the ledge into the unknown. I am inspired by the writer Henry Chinaski, he is always searching. John Fante finds hidden meanings in everyday life. Also, I admire the head and shoulders of the late great Benjamin Franklin, another inventive son of a bitch!
What is an ingenious use of hair?
I think it could be used for soaking up oil spills, doing a great job cleaning our oceans. Then using the spent hair on sculpture gardens in Exxon and BP corporate headquarters. Also making thread from individual strands of hair and using it to stitch some kind of winter jackets or some wonderfully warm hats. Hair as fabric? No? Maybe yes?
When was the first time you were emotionally affected by style?
I remember dressing up in my mom’s clothes as a child, stuffing the bra with tissues, the high heels. My sister did my makeup and I walked out into a family dinner that was happening that night and got laughs galore. I realized then that style gets attention.
What is the most insightful thing you’ve learned from a model by working with their hair?
I’ve realized never to underestimate someone from their looks. There are so many things that create a personality with substance. What goes on in the dressing room is a cocoon that elevates someone to a unique mood and creates an understanding that must be had before one is captured by light.
Have you ever thought about all the hair that’s been cut and discarded since the beginning of time?
No, most of my thoughts are concentrated on growing hair, and how much more it will grow through scientific advances in the future, eliminating baldness so someone can choose to have hair or not. I would love hair to be available to everyone. When I open my shop and give terrible upside- down, wonderfully unique haircuts I may call it DON’T WORRY IT WILL GROW BACK!!!
