Olivia Rodrigo's Hairstylist Clayton Hawkins's Career Story
Clayton Hawkins: From Theatre Kid to Celebrity Hairstylist
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Instead of going to CAP21, Hawkins decided to enroll in beauty school. Then came a chance encounter with celebrity hairstylist Mark Townsend, whom he met through his close friend Elizabeth Olsen. "My best friend Lizzie is an actress who I've known since I was a baby — she's like my sister," Hawkins says. "I was attending her first Vanity Fair event with her and I was watching her hairstylist Mark do her hair, asking him a million questions."
As Olsen got ready, Clayton seized his opportunity. "I started handing him pins and irons, and he was just like, 'Are you a hairstylist? What's going on?' And I was like, 'I love hair.'" Then, Townsend promised Hawkins an assistant job if he got into beauty school.
"I started beauty school that Monday," he says. Once he graduated, he took a job at a hair-extensions shop and messaged Townsend twice a week every week for six to eight months. Finally, he got a response: "OK, my assistant just left. I need someone, let's have a meeting."
"Most assistants are told to be quiet and not talk, but for some reason, Mark just let me be me."
Hawkins started assisting Townsend full-time four or five days a week and travelling with him, which was ultimately Hawkins's ticket to the glamorous world of celebrity hair. "I was like a sidekick — he taught me so much" Hawkins says. "Most assistants are told to be quiet and not talk, but for some reason, Mark just let me be me."
When Townsend would find himself double-booked, rather than rescheduling, he sent Hawkins in his place. Slowly, he started building up his celebrity clientele. After four or five years — and countless gigs assisting other big names like Chris Appleton and Adir Abergel — it was time to venture out on his own. He just had one request for his agent: "Say yes to everything. That's how I'm going to meet people."