Going to Great Lengths : A Trek From Florida or New York to L.A. for a Haircut May Sound Spacey to You, but for Those Who Do It, It’s Shear Sacrifice

Ain’t no mountain high enough, ain’t no valley low enough, ain’t no drive long enough to keep Peggy Weisbly from getting to her hairdresser.

With baby daughter in tow, Weisbly recently set out at 8 a.m. from her San Diego home for an 11 o’clock appointment at Morgan Hoskins salon in Studio City. Once permed and cut, Weisbly headed home. Total beauty hours consumed: nine.

Weisbly’s loyalty to stylist Brandon Hoskins hasn’t wavered since she left Los Angeles four years ago. “My parents think I’m absolutely insane,” she says.

Perhaps, but she’s not alone. Plenty of other loyal, trusting souls go the distance for their hairdressers, including President Clinton. His now-famous Cristophe cut may have appeared extravagant to the average American. But Hope Martin can relate. Every eight weeks for the past seven years, the Orlando, Fla., paralegal has flown to L.A. for a cut and blow-dry by stylist Allen Edwards.

“Before we got engaged, I told my husband, ‘There’s something you should know--I fly to California to get my hair cut,’ ” she says. He married her anyway.

Martin’s relationship with Edwards began when she saw Donna Mills’ hair on TV one night. Impressed, she wrote the studio to find out who did it and waited two months for an appointment. It was love at first cut; other stylists never even came close.

“My hair looks so good!” she squeals from the salon, where, this trip out, Edwards lopped off nine inches of her blond hair. From there, Martin will visit friends, shop and spend the night before flying home. But she has done the whole thing in one day. “My travel agent loves me.”

Washington, D.C., attorney Chipp Sandground times his business trips to L.A. and San Francisco to “coincide with my need for a haircut” so Beverly Hills stylist Laurent Dufourg, co-owner of the Jose Eber salons, can do the job.

“Sometimes I go three months and people think I’m reverting to my college existence,” he says with a laugh. In those days, a mere barber was entrusted with Sandground’s hair. Then a friend recommended Dufourg. “I really thought that using gel would put me in a whole new category--men who wore shiny suits. And then I saw the salon, and how everyone was dressed.” But both men spoke French and a genuine friendship ensued. Sandground has stayed faithful for four years.

“Usually, I have terrible bed hair when I wake up,” said Sandground on a recent morning in L.A., “but Laurent cut my hair yesterday, and this morning it looks really good.”

Not even a transfer from L.A. to New York came between Linda Ellman and stylist Germaine Morgan, co-owner of Morgan Hoskins salon. “I never even thought about getting my hair cut in New York,” Ellman swears. While working as producer for NBC News, Ellman, like Sandground, would arrange trips to L.A. to coincide with hair appointments.

She recalls needing a haircut so badly during her 2 1/2 years in New York that she “freaked out,” and almost cut it herself. Instead, she says, “I just walked around with bangs in my eyes for two weeks.”

Screenwriter Lee Marshall was so loyal to his stylist he used to drive from his home in Redondo Beach to Leucadia in northern San Diego County every other month for years. “People used to ask me why I would drive 100 miles when I could get my hair cut down the street. I told them the conversation was better in Leucadia.” Once, Marshall recalled, his head was covered with rods for a permanent and he got a phone call. His wife was in labor. Fortunately, it was false.

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A spokeswoman at Modern Salon, a hair-salon trade publication, says there have been no surveys on how far clients will travel to see a hairdresser. But Morgan says a professional rule of thumb is that a hairdresser who relocates can expect to lose about 10% of his or her clientele for every mile moved.

“That’s why I’m so flattered when someone goes out of their way to see me,” she says.

Tracey Blitz, a hairstylist at Textures in Brentwood, believes she gives just a bit more, mentally, for loyal patrons--such as the stylish, well-connected wife of a New York-based entertainment bigwig who, for five years, has been paying twice-yearly visits. “I would think she’d go to Cristophe,” says Blitz. “But one day, she was roaming around Brentwood and stopped in for a blow-dry. We laughed and yapped for 45 minutes, and now she books with me whenever she’s in town.” When it comes to such customers, Blitz says, “I squeeze them in somewhere or I talk to them about their problems.”

And clients notice. Dan Koffman, who with wife Sandy moved their ad agency to Pacific Grove, near Monterey, flies to L.A. every other month for color and a cut by Morgan. “She makes me feel that mine is the only head of hair she ever cuts,” he says. She also plays along with his flair for the theatrical.

“I have an asymmetric tail,” he explains. “She’s dyed it aquamarine, teal, honey blond. . . . It’s a source of fun and conversation, but not a traffic stopper.”

In an emergency, the Koffmans visit a local stylist. But Dan Koffman prefers to save himself for Morgan. “And my wife understands.”

What’s the driving force behind all this driving and flying?

Linda Ellman says it’s all a matter of trust. “People get very intimate with their hairdressers.”