Colorist Marie Robinson earned her stripes at Bumble and bumble, John Frieda, and most recently, Sally Hershberger Downtown. In case you’ve
been under a hair dryer for the past six months, she created plenty of
drama there by poaching most of the staff in order to open an eponymous
salon in New York’s Flatiron District, where,
she tends to the locks of Sienna Miller, Anne Hathaway, and Michelle
Williams.How did you get into this business?
My grandmother saw that I liked to work with my hands. We didn’t have a lot of money, so she thought I should find a job right away. A week after high school graduation, I was in beauty school.
What do you love most about your job?
The challenge. There’s such a rush when you deliver something special that people really want, even if it’s something silly like hair color. What celebrity’s hair color is most requested? Since Sex and the City 2 came out, a lot of people are looking at Sarah Jessica Parker’s color again, because it’s a little bit more caramel-y and golden. For a more natural highlighted blond, I get a lot of Sienna [Miller]. She’s a good represenation of the whole beachy feel without that kind of “extreme root” going on.
Do you always think about how you’d color random people’s hair?Not when I’m walking down the street, but if I’m sitting on a plane or in a restaurant, I tend to do that. I have never approached anyone, because what if they’re really happy with what they have?
How many different colors has your own hair been?
Probably every single color—until I became completely satisfied with being a bleached blond, which has been about four years now. I get it done every four weeks. My colorist worked at another salon and I loved him, so I made him come here!
