A few weeks ago I was on a JetBlue flight back to New York from San Francisco. It’s a long flight, and they have that in-flight TV on the headrest in front of you. I didn’t want to watch Wimbledon and ended up on Bravo, watching a marathon of “Shear Genius,” which is like Project Runway for hairstylists.
One show they had Vidal Sassoon as a guest judge. Rather than hawk his salon or his styling products, Vidal used his appearance to promote his charity Hairdressers Unlocking Hope, which he formed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
He’s teamed up with Habitat for Humanity, one of my favorite charities, to rebuild homes in Louisiana. Hairdressers Unlocking Hope has raised over $2 million from the hairdresser community.
The reason I love this project is because Vidal Sassoon is not necessarily someone that you or I rally around, not someone that gets the mainstream media attention of Brad Pitt’s “Make it Right” Foundation. But he is a superstar demi-god in the hairdresser community (the stylists on Shear Genius certainly were slack-jawed at the sight of him). And he was very wise to aim his efforts and his leadership at a group of willing followers.
P.S. A new season of Shear Genius is on Bravo at 10pm ET Wednesday nights. Charlie rocks.
Tags: Celebrity Philanthropy, charity, Hairdressers Unlocking Hope, philanthropy, Vidal Sassoon
