DC Hairdressers Want Michelle Obama in Their Chair, They'll Do Anything to Get Her

Michelle Obama's Washington Checklist.
Home. Done.
Inauguration gown. Done.
Kids' School. Done.
Where to get my hair did. Open.

Michelle's mane is a beautiful, healthy-looking bob that deserves only the best products and a skilled stylist.

So, like fashion designers, Washington hair stylists are throwing their cards and portfolio in the game in the hopes of securing the fashionista and soon-to-be First Lady as a client.

"I'm going to be doing her hair!" says positive thinker Barry Fletcher, the 52-year-old owner of The Hair Palace Salon in Mitchellville, Md. He cites his experience in international hairstyling challenges and working with actress Halle Berry and singer Mya, a D.C. native.

"This would pretty much validate all of my hard work and effort to get to a level where I could handle a powerful queen like the First Lady," added Fletcher, who sent Michelle Obama a 17-minute DVD about himself.

Hairdresser Keith Harley of Keith Harley Hair & Scalp Clinic in Arlington, Va. uploaded his resume to President-elect Barack Obama's Web site a month ago.

"It would be the highlight of my career. It would be an honor," said 39-year-old Harley, who styles Black Entertainment Television chief executive Debra Lee.

Nicole Cober-Blake, the 37-year-old lawyer-turned-owner of D.C.'s Soul Day Spa and Salon, plans to get her name in the mix by sending Michelle Obama a welcome basket with bath gels, hair products and a robe. Cober-Blake said she's excited about the possibility of having Obama experience the services at Soul, where she said they "treat everyone like a Michelle Obama."

For election night, Michael "Rahni" Flowers of Van Cleef Hair Studio in Chicago — Obama's stylist since she was 18 — did her hair. And for the Democratic National Convention, Obama turned to Chicago-native Johnny Wright of Frederic Fekkai's Los Angeles salon.

"The thing about being the first lady, you're only as fashionable as your last picture," said Dennis Roche, 58, of D.C.'s Roche Salon, which has African-American-hair experts he said could style Obama. "This is kind of risky because of the fact that we all have bad hair days."


Source: AP