Buckhead stylist talks about hair's effect

Q: You’ve been in Atlanta about 10 years now. So where did you learn to do hair?

A: My aunt used to do hair and — every time I say this, it sounds so contrived — when she was talking to her clients, you could see their physical change, but with that came an emotional change. After an hour of them being together, talking and my aunt doing their hair, when they walked out, they were like a whole other different woman. To see that hair has that kind of effect on people was amazing.

Q: So stylist as therapist?

A: We are, honey.

Q: Do you think you have that touch, a gift for hair?

A: When I started I didn’t know how to do hair worth a lick. Child, I was horrible! I remember practicing on my cousin. And when the stocking-cap/quick-weave first came out I didn’t know that you were supposed to put plastic underneath the stocking cap between the real hair and the cap before you started gluing the hair pieces onto the stocking cap. So when we went to take the hair off, we couldn’t because it was all glued together—her hair, the stocking cap and the hair pieces. It was a mess. Oh yeah, I used to jack my cousin up all the time! But then, I went to hair school.

Q: What do you do when you’ve done someone’s hair and you think it looks fantastic, but the client hates it?

A: It happened recently. I was doing this lady’s hair and ooooh, I was getting it. I knew I had it done. I turned her around to face the mirror and I was like, “Girl, BAM! HAH! So how do you look?” And she looked at it and was like, “It’s OK.” And I said, “OK?!” So I asked her, “What don’t you like about it,” and she tried to explain, and I was like, “I don’t get it.” Those people are so used to having bad hairstyles and their hair not being done right that, when you do do their hair correctly, it’s something new to them. But three months later, she called me back and asked me to do her hair again and everything was all good.

Q: If it was that bad, how’d you wind up on the celebrity circuit styling for videos?

A: When I first moved to Atlanta, I went to Bauder College. While I was in school I met a woman who was a hairstylist and was looking for an assistant. She was already working in the [entertainment] industry and she introduced me to that world. I’ve been blessed.

Q: Now you also work with the “Real Housewives of Atlanta”. That has got to be a hot mess.

A: I cut NeNe Leakes’ hair from long to short.

Q: And how agreeable was she to that?

A: She didn’t like the way I explained why I did it. I was like, “Girl, you’re a big girl with all that long hair. You don’t need all that stuff. You’re too big for it.” And she was like, “What do mean I’m big? I ain’t big!” And I’m like, “You know what I mean. You’re 5-11.” And I’m working with Kim [Zolciak]. I brought her out of her synthetic wig. Now she has human hairpieces that I make for her myself.

Q: You’re in the new Chris Rock documentary “Good Hair.” He filmed the footage of you at the 2007 Bronner Brothers International Hair Show here in Atlanta, which is like the Super Bowl or the Oscars of the black hair care industry. You’ve been named the show’s Stylist of the Year for 2006 and 2007. That’s not an easy title to win.

A: All of us involved in the ’07 show got a great break. Chris Rock came to Bronner to tape, and we were already part of the hair show. But since I am more eccentric and more vibrant than all the rest of the people, I stood out more than anybody else (Laughs).

Q: Because you’ve got to have a heck of a lot of confidence to wear the 5-inch, peep-toe, sling-back pumps that you do.

A: (Laughs) Before I became this Derek J., I was a tennis shoe freak. I had 300 pairs of tennis shoes. Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t want people to believe I’m in these heels every day. I’m not. My slogan is: I’m just a boy in pumps.

Q: But in this world that can make you a target.

A: I know. But I just deal with it. It’s hard sometimes, but I’m comfortable within myself. It took a long time. But I’m proud of all of it.

Q: Speaking of identity politics, a premise in “Good Hair” is the question, “Does the way an African-American woman wears her hair make a political statement?”

A: It is still political. When I get clients who come in here and they wear their hair natural 364 days a year but they come in wanting to get their hair straightened, I say, “Why are you doing this? You wear it natural.” And then they say, “Well, I have a job interview tomorrow.” It’s a really sad thing.

Q: What does that have to do with a person’s ability to do a job or interact in a professional environment?

A: There are so many negative stereotypes to natural hair. People find it intimidating. And this might sound harsh, but when people embrace themselves [and express it], that’s too much power for some other people to handle. [As employers] they want to know that, “If I tell you to do something, you’re going to do it.” And [wearing your hair natural] suggests that you won’t.

Q: But tell me really, whose hair would you love to get your hands on, to change their look. For example, what would you do with Shirley Franklin’s hair?

A: (Rolls his eyes) Whew. You know what, I’m not gonna even do that. Her hair works for her. She’s an older woman so there’s really not much you can do. But that Monica Kaufman Pearson, I don’t know what goes through her head. Every time I watch the news, one day she’s got a piece on, the next day it’s short, and it’s ... it’s just all wrong. But you know, I’m too busy dealing with all these crazy people I’ve got as clients to be looking at other people’s hair trying to figure out how to fix their stuff. And that’s just the truth.

Q: Ever had your hair chemically relaxed?

A: Everything I’ve done to women’s hair, I’ve had done to myself. I’ve had a relaxer. I’ve had a relaxer burn my scalp. I’ve been burned by a curling iron. I’ve had braids, hair tracks glued in, hair tracks ripped out. I’ve had everything. So I have no sympathy [for clients]. I’m like, “Girl, deal with it.”