Jay Sebring: A Forgotten Genius
Prior to the 1960s, men's hairstyles were limited, to say the least.
And when I say prior to the 1960s, I mean prior to Jay Sebring.
Before Jay Sebring completely changed the profession and the industry, a man's barber had a pretty cut-and-dry job of trimming hair to keep it neat, tidy, and presentable. Jay brought in the idea that men's hair should be an individual expression of himself, and that it should be cut to suit him individually, rather than giving everyone the same thing.
Jay Sebring was born Thomas John Kummer on October 10, 1933. He grew up in a middle class home in Detroit, Michigan. During the Korean War, he joined the Navy, and that's where he learned to cut hair.
After returning home, he moved to Los Angeles went to cosmetology school. This is when he started going by Jay Sebring, inspired by a car race in Florida. This is a time when men's hair and women's hair were two very different things, and never the two should cross. This is where he learned techniques land ideas like cutting the hair to suit the customer's face.
He had the idea of bringing these women's techniques to men's hair. He started shampooing his customer's hair before cutting, using small hand-held hair driers that were popular in Europe, and using hair spray instead of Brylcreem.
All of this happened alongside what was called "The Peacock Revolution." For the first time in nearly 200 years, men's fashion was once again colorful and flamboyant. On Carnaby Street in London, tailors like John Stephen, Lord John, and Mr. Fish created new, unique men's clothing that was adopted by bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Who.
Jay Sebring stood, boldly, at the other end of that, declaring that men should take interest in their appearance. His salon in LA became the hottest place for men, and he began cutting hair at unheard of prices.
I wanted to try to list all the influential celebrities whose hair Jay Sebring cut, but the answer is everyone. Watch any major Hollywood movie of the 1960s, the men were styled by Jay Sebring. Any man who was an influential celebrity in 1960s Los Angeles got his hair done by Jay Sebring, everyone from Frank Sinatra
(reportedly, one of Jay's custom hair pieces managed to prolong Sinatra's career by decades)
to Jim Morrison
Yes, that haircut- perhaps one of the most iconic men's haircuts of all time- was a Jay Sebring work of art. Sincerely, it just fucking breaks my heart at the amount of credit that Jay Sebring simply does not receive for his enormous influence on men's fashion.
His personal life was, well, kind of messy. While the stereotype of the time (and of today) was that all male hairdressers must be gay, Jay Sebring really, really, really loved women. Srsly the dude FUCKED.
While he fancied himself a playboy with more girlfriends than he could possibly keep track of, one girl did genuinely catch his heart: Sharon Tate.
The two dated very seriously for a while, but Sharon had to take a long-term stint in London for her career while Jay had to stay in Los Angeles for his salon. In London, Sharon met Roman Polanski, and that romantic fate was sealed. In spite of everything, Jay and Sharon remained incredibly close friends. He was sitting with her when their murderers entered her bedroom.
After his death, something deeply disturbing and shocking was found in his home: some whips and basic bondage gear. Yes, he had a kinky side. While to well-versed modern folks a basic taste for kink may seem incredibly tame, to folks in the 60s, it was considered to be something only sick freaks and perverts were into. This lead to incredible rumors about sex cults and weird satanic rituals being the motive for the murders.
This, along with some other factors, led up to Jay's name being overshadowed in death. At the time of his murder, he had taken on a large amount of debt so that he could expand his business into a shampoo brand and a salon franchise across the US. This business wasn't able to function without the force of its founder's personality. Eventually, his salon was sold off.
With Sharon Tate, I feel a tremendous sense of loss think about what could have been. With Jay Sebring, I feel a tremendous sense of loss at what was: a legacy that changed how men take care of themselves forever, overshadowed and ignored by the horror of the Manson story. Jay Sebring is a name that deserves to be talked about for his place the history of men's fashion, not for how he died.
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