Badaude's Paris Address Book - David Mallett Hair

After a year and a few experiments, it seems I'm now committed to short. I see all these girls walking round with great long hair and they look wonderful but I'm beginning to regard them as a different species.

 

The great thing about short hair is, I no longer own a comb. At least, I do, but I last saw it about April. The less good thing is, you have to spend more on haircuts. But not this much, at least, not often...

 

As as I step through the door of David Mallett’s by-appointment-only salon, I am greeted a six foot ex-model/receptionist of extraordinary beauty. It’s a bit of a shock but, after I’ve been there for half and hour, I start to figure she can’t help it. After all, everything else in the salon is beautiful.

 

David Mallett has been cutting hair since he was 16. 'I love my work,' he tells me. 'Whenever I go on holiday, I get itchy fingers.' He moved to this high-ceilinged Hausmannian townhouse in order to create an ‘anti-salon’ after his international celebrity clients decided they all preferred having their hair cut at his apartment rather then his workplace.

 

And the salon is like a very tasteful apartment: all calm, mushroom-coloured walls with 19th century mouldings picked out in cream. Each hairdressing station is a little antique table in front of a floor-to-ceiling mirror which reflects the light from the tall windows. Just to take the conventional salon-busting a little further, there’s also Babette, a nine-foot tall stuffed ostrich standing imperiously in the middle of the room, occasionally losing her dignity when her tail-feathers are impishly ruffled by a blast from David’s hairdryer.

 

 

Like all good hairdressers, David’s a a ‘hair-whisperer’, adept at persuading

nervous clients into a new cut.

 

And he has a theory. 

 

'I think there are cut people and there are blow-dry people. For some clients with long hair, it’s all about the blow-dry but, for you, I’m going to do a cut. It will be very simple. Easy to maintain. Because you have fine hair, you don’t want to do too much with it.' (I suspect this is a nice way of saying I don't look like I have the money to be high-maintenance). 

 

A couple of weeks later, I find that he’s right. Despite any differences in lifestyle between me and some of his more fabulous clients, my hair is looking good without blow-drying, and getting me plenty of compliments. This is without doubt the best haircut I've had. Ever.

 

I ask him who he’s worked with. 'Sharon Stone, Natalie Portman, when they’re in Paris. I’m just going over to London to do a shoot with model Saffron and photographer, Miles Aldridge.' What about the French? 'Oh, lots of actresses. Isabelle Huppert. I think you look a little Huppertian. Elle a un coté Huppertian?' He asks Laurent, the resident manicurist, 'Huppert-ian?' he asks. 'Can you say that?'

 

I look like Isabelle Huppert? I’m sold. I’ll have what she’s having...

 

Cuts from 100 Euros, 150 Euros with David.

14 Rue Notre-Dame des Victoires, 75002 Paris
+33 1 40 20 00 23

www.david-mallett.com

Don't forget to leave a comment on this post before 6th December to win a Badaude Paris or London print!

Comments

[Adam]

Yikes! I guess another advantage of being male is that we don't have to worry about our hair so much (other than it falling out). This reminds me of the place I used to go when I was at college (I'd hesitate to call it a hairdressers...). One price for everyone - £2.50 - but the hairdresser didn't even ask what you wanted - everybody had the same cut!

[Iheartfashion]

I think it would be worth flying back over to Paris just to get my haircut in this salon! The place is beautiful, and your cut sounds fantastic.

[badaude]

I imagine this is what Natalie Portman does - or at least I would if I were her...

[Term papers]

Despite any differences in lifestyle between You and some of his more fabulous clients, Your hair is looking good without blow-drying, and getting You plenty of compliments. This is without doubt the best haircut I've had. Ever.

[Cosmetology School California]

I've being researching about Beauty & Hair and reading your blog, I found your post very helpful :) . I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading.

[soft cialis]

What is the best shampoo and conditioner product out there to renew my curly hair?
I hate my hair.My friends are always suggesting me to straighten it but I just can't come to my senses of having all of that heat on my hair. Whenever i take time to comb my hair it just starts to get nappy and starts to get tangled........
I need to try a hair care product that will renew my hair back to it's curly form!

[seascape art]

Great comments, well said guys!

[art on canvas]

What an awesome ostrich!