Movie stars hairstylist defends white and natural strands

the chanel cut of Amelie Poulain? It was him. the dreadlocks of Jack Sparrow? Also. John Nolletthe hairdresser of movie stars such as Nicole Kidman, Monica Belucci, Uma Thurman and Juliette Binoche, claims to have been a hair freak since childhood, when he “followed the movements of a woman’s hair for an entire night at a dance.”

No wonder, from balls he went straight to red carpets, photo studios and film sets around the world. Today, from his hands come the most copied hairstyles in Europe. He always launches a trend, which is soon copied, especially by the French.

In Balenciaga’s most recent campaign, for example, he was the one who took care of none other than Isabelle Huppert, one of the most important French actresses today. Just a quick snoop on her Instagram, where she has around 70,000 followers, you can see that Charlotte Casiraghi and Vanessa Paradis are regular customers, just to name a few more famous ones.

The hairstylist is also a businessman and has, in addition to salons in the French capital – at the five-star Park Hyatt Vendôme palace and the Forty-One Studio Pop-Up – and in Courchevel, at the Cheval Blanc hotel, a hair jewelry line. made by Lemarié and Lesage – in other words, the best couture artisans in Paris.

“To mess with the hair is to mess with the allure, with the movement of someone’s body. I was lucky, because many actresses trusted me to live special moments on the red carpet. My work, mixed with the elegance and uniqueness of each of these women, made me who I am today”, says John Nollet to CNN Brasil.

“I have always been passionate about my work. It allowed me to discover very different universes, a real source of curiosities and very special encounters”, he continued.

One of them is epic. “I had the chance to work on a Brazilian film, ‘Tieta do Agreste’ (1996), with Sonia Braga, which allowed me to travel to São Paulo, Rio and Salvador. I’m passionate about the country and Brazilian culture: I’ve been to Rio Carnival many times, I love the music and the energy. Samba makes me completely intoxicated: Brazilian feather headdresses have inspired my hair accessory creations a lot”, she reveals.

beauty at the movies

Working with the cuts and hairstyles of a film makes it possible to print a strong image of the story through the characters, believes Nollet. “I always told myself that hair should help in the narration of a movie. You don’t think of Jack Sparrow (played by Johnny Depp in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ in 2003) without the long, tangled hair and bandana, do you?” she asks.

Just like Amélie Poulain, in which the chanel cut with straight bangs marked cinema forever. “This cut was born out of the fact that Amélie took so much care of others that she couldn’t find time to take care of herself and her own hair. She needed hair that didn’t even have to look,” she explains.

After all these years of career and hundreds of clients, stories and trends, today Nollet believes that her favorite haircut and hairstyle really comes from clutter. “It’s the messy hairstyle, the one that does require a lot of technique to look natural. As if a certain lack of concern would justify this elegance and this so-called Parisian ‘art de vivre’. A very simple style, but with great taste and audacity”, she teaches.

For him, by the way, a good cut is fundamental. Nollet compares it with architecture and its lines, undulations, obliques, curves, like those of a face and a look. “The hair intertwines, and I try, above all, to give freedom to the woman”, he says.

“A cut should work in 360 degrees, without angles, to last three to four months without causing concern. Hair, being a woman’s most important accessory, must be very well taken care of, as it is what accompanies her from morning to night”, she says, without forgetting to emphasize that “the most important thing is freedom of movement, of time , of being able to have different rhythms during an entire day”.

There are, of course, times when you need to have more sophisticated hair for a night out, or on special occasions. For this, John works as a team with a makeup artist, a stylist and his “conductor”, he says: the owner of the hair. “It’s a real synergy. It is the woman who is in charge and who will ‘carry’ that silhouette in total harmony”, he details.

Speaking of hair care, France is still light years away from Brazil, one of the countries where most hair products and treatments are sold.

John agrees and says that the hair should be pampered, as well as the skin. “They need complete and complementary care. These are habits that women need to adopt, just as they do with their bodies and faces. I test absolutely every product on the market and, above all, I work with my own compositions”, he assures. “Hair is a reflection of our state of mind and we should listen to it and look at it,” he says.

White hair

One of the most discussed topics in the beauty universe in the last two years, mainly because of the pandemic, was practicality. Several celebrities emerged bringing to light themes such as white threads, until then hidden until the last thread.

“We have to assume the white hair, which brings light to the face. Women in the 1950s would bleach their hair to catch the light, dyeing it platinum blonde. Time makes things better: getting old is living the time that passes with joy, naturally, it’s being able to show yourself without having to prove anything.

Nollet ends by saying that there are no rules. “I’m in favor of having short hair in my youth, for example. This is the time when we have everything to show and nothing to hide. Shoulder-length hair, on the other hand, allows the experience of femininity. Hair is a woman’s most beautiful accessory. They are an ally, support and accompany the aging face. The most important thing is to feel unique.”