I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Marcia Hamilton, Hair Artist to the Stars. She was recently cast as a celebrity hair stylist on Style Network’s number one rated show Split Ends.
Marcia has created looks for Jada Pinkett Smith, John Legend, Kim Kardashian, Kelly Rowland, Minnie Driver, and Venus and Serena Williams. She’s definitely the ‘it girl’ of hair!
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CN: Tell us all about Jada’s hair! What products do you use? Styles she likes?
Marcia: Taking care of Jada’s hair is pretty simple. As you know she’s a naturally curly girl with a busy schedule and lifestyle. Our favorite shampoos to use are Carol’s Daughter and Rene Fuerter. These two lines are perfect for curly textured hair. Each line has a moisturizing shampoo and conditioner. And Rene Fuerter has the most amazing dry scalp shampoo.
When Jada’s not on set or the red carpet she prefers to rock her natural curls, she’s very low maintainence. To achieve this look her curls are shampooed, conditioned, then a leave-in conditioner is added for polish and her hair is left to air dry. Most of my celebrity clients are natural girls and follow the same routine, Serena Williams being one of them. For intense moisture, I highly recommend an overnight Extra Virgin Olive Oil treatment. First you shampoo, then saturate strands from scalp to ends with the extra virgin olive oil, leave under a plastic cap or wrap with towel then rinse out thoroughly the next day.
CN: What is your favorite ingredient, and why?
Marcia: One of my favorite ingredients is Shea Butter. I love it because it’s all natural & very moisturizing.
CN: What made you decide to specialize in naturally curly/kinky hair?
Marcia: I wouldn’t really label myself as a stylist that specializes in natural hair however I am against relaxers. When I get a new client that has relaxed tresses my goal is to educate her on the dangers of sodium hydroxide, which is the active ingredient in all relaxers. I don’t twist arms I just preach the knowledge. Having natural hair just opens the doors for room to color safely and healthy, shiny, bouncy hair that is full of life.
CN: How do you care for your transitioning clients?
Marcia: When my client is convinced and ready to transition she is placed on a once a week scheduled visit for intense moisture and protein treatments. For the “growing out” period the hair must either be maintained in a straighted form which it is accustomed or kept in a curly textured style which is its destination. Daily pressure should not be applied to the strands while in transition because you will experience extreme breakage. Also the hair must be trimmed every six to eight weeks.
CN: Tell us about your salon and how the Average Joe can get an appointment with you.
Marcia: I do accept new clients! And I can be contacted via email, Hamiltonhair@gmail.com I work by appointment only at The Juan Juan Center, in Beverly Hills California.
Great tip with the olive oil treatment! And Jada hair always looks so beautiful.
If I wanted to do the T-N-C after I rinse out the olive oil would I T-N-C from that state or would i still add my products like the deva one conditioner etc.
I've paid hundreds to have my natural hair done at very expensive salons and in all honesty it boils down to the hair knowledge of the stylist. I get asked 24/7 who cut and colored my natural hair because people think I paid loads of money. My stylist is 38 year old gay male who can hook a sister's hair up for $50-$75 bucks and you come out looking like you paid a couple hundreds. A great hairstylist is not always based on how expensive they are, but the quality of the work that they do.
Well, she's not a stylist for the average person. She does celebrity hair. The people who pay that price and are not celebrities are usually independently wealthy ladies or wives of the rich. That's why she works in BH, not in a neighborhood salon. Some things just aren't in one's budget, so you gotta find the best thing you can afford. If I had it like that, she'd be my stylist, for sure.
LOVELY interview..I loved it.. a PRO-Natural Hollywood stylist.. she is my new person to cyber stalk! As for the price.. if she wasn't worth it no one would pay it.. If I had it I would pay it and if I were her I would charge it!
I think she's a little too high, I love the ladies hairs that she styles, but I just feel that $250 for the average person is a little too high. My mother owns a hair salon and just for her to touch your hair it's $170! the reason my mother charges so much is because she lives a very high lifestyle and must get the bills paid, but believe it or not people pay to see her. I respect the art form of styling hair, but $250 is my car note. I have a great natural hair stylist(my mother doesn't do natural hair) who hooks my hair up for 45 bucks plus a tip and my hair stays fly. Looking good should never empty out your pockets. If you have that type of money to spend, go ahead and do it.
Thank you for posting this! She is very well educated in natural hair and that's what I love. She also mentioned color and seeing how she's worked with so many familiar faces I figure I could possibly trust her with color. Honestly I would rather have someone of my same decent color my hair, but only if they're knowledgable and she seems like she is.
Also, about price. I really don't think it's bad to blame people for being frugal, especially these days. People have bills to pay and families to take care of. People shouldnt be afraid of weighing the prices over the outcome, it's called being smart with your money and wanting to have some left over in the end. JMO
Thanks again Nikki.
I do have to GO THERE and just put US, including myself, on blast for often only looking at the price tag and not the quality that goes into it. While I do believe some of these celebrity stylist over price themselves, alot of them have every wright to charge what they do and more. i manage a day spa in FLA and all I get all day is how much? Any college educated person knows that education and experience equal more money. Think that doesn’t appy to the beauty industry?If she takes her style from beginning to end (wet to dry) if she cuts wet and dry, spends at least 45min with your hair, and works in BH then hell yeah charge $250 or more. Have you priced rent in BH. I would rather pay that to a sister that the other ones. Not to mention the price of cont. ed in the beauty in dusty. All cuts are not created equal.
Great interview, most sistahs in hollywood are natural. Because of industry standards they wear long weaves to appeal to the general public. I 100% agree with the olive oil leave in at night, I do it about once a month and especially when I’m about to flat iron my hair. I wonder what she uses on her colored hair? thanks for the interview.
I saw her on Split ends and was a great episode and I think her styles were very good. Thanks for the interview!
I’m gonna try that olive oil treatment this weekend. I never thought of drenching my hair with it overnight and rinsing it out the next day.
She styles hair nicely. I saw her on Split Ends. I think she won the ladies over by the end of the show. She seems like a very cool spirit.
I work in Beverly Hills and everytime I walk by her salon I think about that episode of Split Ends. I would love to contact her about cutting my hair. The Juan Juan Center charges $75 – $250 for a cut. Just the thought of how much she would charge for a cut makes me shiver. Hmmmm…I’ll have to think about that one.
Sounds like a girl after my own heart.. and I saw her on “Split Ends” too. She was great and took it all in stride, and got to show off her skills at the same time. 🙂
This was a really great article. Thank you for interviewing her!
I saw her appearance on split ends! Oh the drama!! She seemed like a lovely person in the end though.
Out of curiosity, assuming that is her real hair (and not weave/extensions) I wonder if she is natural herself since she is against relaxers??