Flipping Out with Chaz Dean on Jeff Lewis, Hair, and the Number 13

By Ket Lamb
June 13, 2011

Celebrity hairstylist Chaz Dean has a roster of glamorous clients, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Alyssa Milano, and Juliana Margulies. He's also the founder of Wen, a revolutionary line of haircare products meant to combat the long term damaging effects of shampoos.

If you've never spotted him hawking his wares on QVC, where he appears regularly, then perhaps you've seen him on "Flipping Out", Bravo's hit reality show starring Jeff Lewis, the infamously obsessive-compulsive and anal-retentive house-flipper and designer, who is renovating the Chaz Dean Studio.

During our interview with Dean at his beautifully redone salon, Lewis, his assistant, Jenni Pulos, and the Flipping Out camera crew arrived for a brief consultation. (Always the droll drama queen, Jeff immediately told us that Chaz was firing him, but you can see what actually happens when the show debuts July 6th.) After Dean selected new wallpaper and Jeff and Jenni departed, we finished our chat.

Chaz Dean

The Chaz Dean Salon, as renovated on "Flipping Out"

The Inside Source: You’re back on "Flipping Out"?

Chaz Dean: Yes! Jeff is harassing me because we’re at the end of our renovation. It’s been three years, and we’re almost done. It’s very emotional. There’s a lot of drama.

Flip Out on eBay

Roll over items for details

Flipping Out Season 4 DVD

(buy it now price, $25.50)

Flipping Out Season 3 DVD

(buy it now price, $16.55)

Flipping Out First Season Poster

(buy it now price, $21.80)

Flipping Out with Chaz Dean on Jeff Lewis, Hair, and the Number 13

The Inside Source: During Season 3, Jeff hired a cute assistant named Sean. When Sean gave you his business card, Jeff fired him. Did anything happen afterwards with Sean?

Chaz Dean: Jeff still brings Sean up. When we started working with Jeff and Jenni, I invited all of them to do yoga with us. Sean came once, on a weekend. On Monday, Jeff was like, “Oh really? Sean came and did yoga?” Then he told me Sean had been fired on Friday! He never did come back. He’s straight. There was nothing there. He just said he wanted to do yoga. That was it. There’s no Sean.

The Inside Source: Who are your hair icons?

Chaz Dean: Growing up, [Vidal] Sassoon for sure. And Oribe. It was all about the shapes!

Sassoon Memorabilia on eBay

Vidal Sassoon Autograph

(buy it now price, $22.50)

Vidal Sassoon Hand-Signed Letter

(buy it now price, $64.99)

Vintage 1976 Vidal Sassoon Photo

(buy it now price, $14.88)

The Inside Source: Who cuts your hair?

Chaz Dean: Mostly, I do. Someone gives it a good cut twice a year, but I like doing the maintenance.

The Inside Source: Who is your dream customer?

Chaz Dean: One who trusts you and says, “Do what you think is best for me.”

The Inside Source: How did you come up with the name Wen for your product line?

Chaz Dean: I used to literally mix concoctions for my clients. I told them they are never going to use lather shampoo again; they are going to cleanse their hair with conditioner. They thought, that doesn’t make sense—conditioner weighs my hair down. I explained it’s a whole new way of looking at it. I wanted something that was a three-letter word, something you couldn’t look up in the dictionary. “New” spelled backwards is Wen!

The Inside Source: What do you have to have when you’re working?

Chaz Dean: Wen and peace of mind. I have to be grounded and centered to focus on what I’m doing. I don’t like chaos, or drama.

The Inside Source: Yet, you’re working with Jeff Lewis?

Chaz Dean: Yes, but, I’m the one who tries to calm him down, reminding him to just breathe. He’s helped me to be on time. Even as a kid, I was always late. My Mama joked, “You’re going to be late for your own funeral.” I thought, “Why would I want to be early?”

The Inside Source: You’re also a photographer. What do you shoot?

Chaz Dean: All of our labels, all of our models, everything on our website. I love shooting abstract photos, especially when people ask, “What’s that?” It makes them think.

The Inside Source: You travel half the year to QVC and New York. What do you have to have on the road?

Chaz Dean: The puppies—Hunter, Spencer, and Ella—but I can’t always take them… My shears. They’re Hikari, the only shears I’ve used for over 20 years. I stick with my Super Solano blow dryer. I’m open to changes in other things, but those are my staples… My yoga mat… I can’t go anywhere without Wen, and my phone. I always bring my feather pillow, too. It’s the one thing that makes me feel at home.

Chaz Dean's On-the-Road Must-Haves

Yoga Mat

(buy it now price, $11.79)

iPhone

(buy it now price, $589.99)

Hikari Hair Shears

(buy it now price, $249.99)

Super Solano Professional Hair Dryer

(buy it now price, $79.99)

The Inside Source: Have you shopped on eBay?

Chaz Dean: I have. There’s a lot of Wen on eBay! People buy it from QVC and then resell it. When we have the “very special value” on QVC, it’s an insane price. Sometimes, it’s even less than wholesale. People realize that, purchase it up, and sell it on eBay!

The Inside Source: Why did you name the new product you are launching “Wen 6/13 by Chaz Dean”?

Chaz Dean: I was trying to do “Spirit by Chaz Dean,” but Antonio Banderas has a perfume named “Spirit by Antonio Banderas.” 6/13 is my Mom’s birthday. She passed away. We’re launching the product on 6/13 in honor of her and Spirit. [Spirit is the homeless person Dean met on the property when he was scouting his salon space in 1997. Once she said her name was “Spirit,” Dean knew the universe was sending him a message to buy it. Much to Lewis’ chagrin, Spirit continued to live on a porch on the salon until she died during the third season of the show.]

"Wen 6/13 is made with lemon, rosemary, and vanilla bean because that’s what was on the porch where Spirit stayed. Recently, a client, who was having her hair done, relayed a message from Spirit. “Something keeps tapping me, but it’s not human,” she said. “I’m supposed to tell you to stop worrying about the formula. It’s going to be perfect.”

Wen haircare products

Wen haircare products

The Inside Source: Are you superstitious about the number 13?

Chaz Dean: No. Good and bad things happen on the 13th. I closed escrow on this bungalow on June 13th of 1997. I closed escrow on my Los Feliz home June 13th of ‘08! My brother passed away on September 13th. His passing prompted me to seek out my birth family [Dean is adopted], and I found them on the 13th. From my birth mother, I discovered I had a biological brother and sister. My biological sister was married with two kids. One daughter was born September 13th, 1997, the day my brother died.

Dean isn’t the only person who has something to say about the number 13 and other superstitions:

Brief Dictionary of American Superstitions

(buy it now price, $12.99)

Encyclopedia of Superstitions

(buy it now price, $4.99)

Dictionary of Omens and Superstitions

(buy it now price, $6)

The Number 13 & Other Superstitions CD Book Set

(buy it now price, $1.49)

Dean can easily come up with 13 reasons why he doesn’t suffer from triskaidekaphobia, the fear of the number 13. For more information about Chaz Dean and Wen, check out his website.

(all images courtesy of Chaz Dean)

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