JJ Kings blowing torch Credit: Rolyn Chambers
I’m lucky. I have short, naturally black guy hair. I used to have it all fancy in an up-do, but these days I just take a pair of sheers and trim it myself. Sometimes, if I’m going to make a night of it, I do “down there” at the same time. For those who visit a hair crafter regularly, a new walk-up salon has opened shop just across from the Eaton Centre. It’s above a Taco Bell, but at tonight’s opening party (a month after their soft launch), fresh sushi is the hors d’oeuvre du jour.
Owner Carlos Pang is a gracious, attentive host with silver-grey hair as wild as Andy Warhol’s. “Have you always worn your hair like that?” he asks immediately. Why? What’s wrong with my hair? I just cut it this morning (along with my pubes.) But no, it is just an innocent question by a man who has been in the business of hair care for two decades. Though this is his first downtown Toronto space, his other salon in Markham has been doing well for over a decade.
“I finally decided to do it and open a studio downtown,” he says, beaming.
He and his experienced team have also done many gala and fashion events (including FAT) that you’re sure to leave with the look you want and not a wanting look. But what I want now is a drink. I join some of the FAT posse, including creative controller Vanja Vasic, art and design concessioner Rea McNamara, PR spin-wiz Sonja Andic, FAT staple Phillipe, and skinny FAT model JJ Kings. Also in the house are Vancouver expats Tia and Ross, the dancing duo who form RiaToss Productions, in fur, fur and more fur. “Carlos did our hair when we performed at The Mod Club last weekend,” they both tell me at once. Like twins. But they’re not.
A woman in a Spellbound up-do floats past us with a tray of sushi and a blowtorch, which she expertly uses to heat up the bright-red-fish-egg-topped mackerel. Up-dos are Carlos and his team’s specialty. It’s what they do best. But I’m sure he has something creative in store for the fellas as well. A new-age pompadour? They were big just a couple years ago . . . and in late-1700s France . . . and are due for another comeback. Maybe by then my hair will have grown longer . . . in both places. C’est bon.
Spellbound Hair Design
261 Yonge St
spellboundhairdesign.com
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