Justine Marjan's Journey to Becoming a Celebrity Hairstylist
Behind Justine Marjan's Ascent From Salon Receptionist to Celebrity Hairstylist
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Welcome to Big Break, where some of the most influential figures in the beauty industry reflect on the moments that made them — from the good to the bad and everything in between. Here, celebrity hairstylist Justine Marjan shares how she earned her A-list clientele, including Ashley Graham, Olivia Culpo, and Khloé Kardashian.
Justine Marjan's interest in hair all started with a bowl cut. In the '80s, at 4 years old with hair all the way down her back, her mom took her to get what she thought was a trim — and she left the salon with it all chopped off.
It was traumatising, in hindsight, but from that point on, Marjan was obsessed with beauty. At just 12 years old, she would flip through magazines with friends after school, pulling out trends they could re-create on each other. "I remember really vividly we were like, 'We have to do an icy, snowy makeup look for winter,'" Marjan told POPSUGAR.
When the flat iron came out when she was in middle school, she knew she had to have it. "That was a life changer for me because I have naturally poofy and frizzy hair," Marjan said. "If you look in my yearbooks before the flat iron came to market, everyone had poofy hair in all of their photos, and then all of a sudden, everyone had straight hair." She would get up every morning before school and flat iron her hair for hours trying to get it just right: "Of course, it was still a mess in the back, but I enjoyed doing it."
As a teenager, Marjan got a job as a receptionist at a hair salon in her hometown outside of Santa Barbara. She worked there for eight years, completely mesmerised by the stylists — right up until she decided to go to cosmetology school. It wasn't an easy decision: "My dad is an immigrant, and that type of career path is just so unconventional," said Marjan. "Now he couldn't be happier for me or more proud."
Immediately upon graduation, Marjan moved to L.A. in pursuit of a career as a hairstylist for Fashion Week, red carpets, or editorial photo shoots. She would look through magazines for names of hairstylists and salons under the credits section, which is how she found Madonna's hairstylist Andy LeCompte. "I used to go to Andy LeCompte's salon every Monday and ask if they were hiring," Marjan said. "They never were."
Eventually, another opportunity presented itself. Two celebrity stylists Marjan had been following posted they were looking for assistants on Instagram. Kristin Ess and Jen Atkin. Marjan was hired part-time for both jobs.
"That was really what catapulted me into the whole celeb styling world," she said.
As her days splitting time between both grew busier, Marjan realised she needed to assist Atkins full-time. She worked for her for years, building relationships with her clients along the way. That's when Atkins referred Marjan for her first solo celebrity client: Kim Kardashian.
"I did a couple of blowouts for her, just for personal things, and when she started wearing her hair in braids she had me do it because I knew how," said Marjan. "That was definitely my big break."
Fast forward five years and Marjan has added names like Khloé Kardashian, Olivia Culpo, Kristin Cavallari, Ashley Graham, and more to her list of clientele. Still, her pinnacle career moment didn't happen until 2019; it was her second Met Gala with Graham and the theme was camp.
"The Met Gala is the Olympics for hairstylists, makeup artists, and creatives, because it's that one opportunity to go all out and take a risk," said Marjan.
The "over-the-top," extra-long bubble ponytail decked out with hair accessories that Marjan created is her favourite red carpet moment to date — even if it was so heavy that Graham swore she wasn't going to be able to make it through the night in it. "I was chasing her into the lift pulling hair accessories off of her head until she got in the car. It was just such an iconic moment for me — I couldn't have been more excited."
From Met Galas to countless magazine covers and awards show red carpets, it's not lost on Marjan just how expansive her career has been in such a short amount of time. "I feel so fortunate," she said, adding that she's not anywhere close to being done.
