Julius Michael
If you’ve ever tuned in to Bravo, you know that one of the few things reality stars agree on is their disagreement. That and the talent of hairdresser Julius Michael.
When Lisa Rinna first changed her iconic pixie cut, she trusted Michael to add long clip-in extensions. When Ariana Madix got her first See what’s happening live At her first appearance after “Scandoval,” it was Michael who created her messy updo.
The hair guru of choice for almost every housewife (not to mention Vanderpump Rules Star, Garden house Tenants and Southern charm-er) Michael has been styling the most famous reality stars of our time for more than a decade.
Born and raised in New York, Michael is a first-generation Italian-American and has been doing hairdressing since, as he says, “the hairdryer was invented.”
“I helped (my mom) dye her roots with hair dye. So, even as a young boy, I had this passion for hair,” Michael recalls. That passion turned into a career, and he worked at a salon in the city before opening his eponymous salon in Scarsdale, a village in Westchester, New York. “I shot for the stars,” he jokes. But in reality, “I fell in love with Westchester. I built a huge clientele.”
Then Real Housewives of Orange County Star Tamra Judge’s PR agent DMed him with a hair emergency. She was so impressed that she wanted to introduce Michael to her client.
Although he was familiar with the Housewives, Michael did not know Judge. However, he says, “She was known for her bad hair.” She booked him for an appearance on WWHLand he took the opportunity to transform her look with custom-made hair extensions. It paid off: “People went crazy on Twitter,” he says of her transformation.
From there, things went uphill. “Kathy (Wakile) had seen Tamra’s hair and she had just finished her first season of (The Real Housewives of New Jersey),” he says. “jersey was the only show I watched. I could identify with it the most.”
Bravo!
The untold story behind Teresa Giudice’s internet-savvy wedding hairstyle
The Real Housewives of New Jersey star and her hairdresser give an oral history of the biggest haircut in Bravo history (literally).
It wasn’t long before virtually every Housewife in the tri-state area wanted Michael on set. Then Judge flew him to LA to do her hair for one of the famous Summer by Bravo commercials, where he met Beverly Hills Housewife Kyle Richards.
“Every time Kyle came to New York, I worked with her,” he says. And yes, he was responsible for one of her biggest transformations ever: “I cut Kyle Richards’ hair – we gave her a real lob.”
Beverly Hills today, Miami tomorrow: When you scroll through Michael’s Instagram, it becomes clear that he really is the Andy Cohen of hair, getting up close and personal with various Bravo models every day, if not every hour.
“My schedule is crazy,” says the stylist, who is also a brand ambassador for Voloom. “I literally have two full-time jobs, I’m in the salon four days a week and then on set as often as possible.” He works around WWHL recordings and meetings, although nonstop days are not uncommon. “Sometimes I go into town at 6 a.m. for press, then I go to the salon, then I go back to Watch what happens”, he says.
Meetings last all day and he often does several ladies’ hair at once. After all these years, Michael has built up the trust of the housewives and has largely reduced unnecessary back and forth in terms of glamour to a minimum.
“Sometimes they have their own ideas,” he says. “For the Salt Lake City meeting, I didn’t want to put a ponytail on Whitney (Rose). I wanted short hair.” Eventually he gave in, noting that he was happy with how she looked in the end. “But I didn’t like her dress,” he says. “She knows that; it’s no secret.”
Brutally honest? Maybe. But Michael is one heart and soul with his Bravo family. His best friends from “Housewives” were all at his wedding in 2017 and Wakile even gave a speech.
In Scarsdale, clients can even hang out with their favorite stars while getting their signature Julius Michael beach waves. “It’s so funny, a client points to (the photo of a housewife) and happens to be in the salon. I’m like, ‘Oh, she’s right there,'” he says.
And according to the stylist, there’s no drama within the salon walls. “It’s a happy place,” he says. “If they’re not nice, they’re going to have problems with their hair.”
Lindy Segal is a freelance lifestyle writer and editor whose work has appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, Fast Company, InStyle, and others. She also writes the Substack newsletter Gatekeeper.
Originally published on Glamour
