When I first started doing hair I worked in Manhattan. Frederic Fekkai Beaute de Provence. It was in the Channel building at the time. The address was 15 East 57th street, between 5th and Madison. It was amazing and to this day it is still greatest salon I have ever worked in. The salon was seven floors. T11 was the employee lockers and lunch room. T1 was reception T2, 3 and 4 was color and cutting and T5 was the spa. The entire salon had marble floors and of course there were mats to protect our precious feet. In the reception area there was a beautiful water fountain. Was there drama and politics?? Of course there was drama, all those stylists and colorists?? Please.
When I was in beauty school a bunch of us went to New York on a salon tour. We visited Fekkai, John Sahag and a few others. The moment I walked in to Frederic Fekkai I knew I wanted to work there. It was beautiful and had a reputation for having a tough training program. I was in. I applied a few months later and met with the head colorist. She told me when I get my license come back and I did.
The salon was departmentalized meaning you picked a side color/chemical or cutting and styling. I chose color it has always been my first love…next to up do’s that is. Each assistant spent 3 to 4 months with a different colorist everyone had a different way of working so you learned little tricks from everyone. It was brilliant!! Being a color assistant was like being an executive secretary. Seat the clients mix color shampoo and constantly check the books. You had to make sure your colorist had their formula cards lined up the night before. And when Countess Von so and so called because she just flew in and had to have her color done, you found time where time didn’t exist to fit her in. Not kidding. We didn’t have to worry about folding towels because we had maids to take care of that for us. Tuesday night was class night; models were there for us to work on with a slightly mean French colorist breathing down your neck. I learned so much working there. I will never forget it.
They believed in hair and beauty and it was more than that. It was about style. All the stylists wore dress pants and shirts, the colorists black pants and white tops. That was important looking the part. And yes those French men were kind of rude. Once working with “Bill” one of his customers wouldn’t stop turning her head as he was trying to color her. Without warning he grabbed her head and just turned it, as if it were in slow motion. She stared at him wide eyed and he just looked at her as if to say “WHAT?!” She didn’t move her head again.
I ended up leaving because I was commuting 4 hours (yes four) a day to work and after three years it just became too much. I often reminisce about working there. Hairstyling is truly an art, and at Frederic Fekkai they really believed that.
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