Braid New World
The only virgin mane at Purple Circle belongs to Rumble, the salon’s shop dog, and if he doesn’t watch his tail, he may be the next to trot down Vermont Avenue with tufts of Day-Glo dreadlocks.
Purple Circle attracts a varied clientele to the Bohemian warren in Los Feliz from as far as Japan, London and Idaho. The salon specializes in synthetic and natural hair extensions, dread perms and maintenance, pinch braids, color, cuts and makeup. The salon is expert at making Rapunzels out of G.I. Janes.
While the occasional curious businessman comes in search of a cut, most customers seek radical image modification. Purple Circle clients frequently exit with longer hair than they arrived with, artistically festooned with a tropical selection of colors and textures.
Cleopatra is reputed to have been an early fan of hair extensions, but it was Boy George who helped bring the age-old art back into fashion in the early ‘80s with his brightly colored, gender-bending mop. Many celebrities followed suit. John Travolta in “Pulp Fiction,” Naomi Campbell, Mel Gibson in “Braveheart,” Madonna, Halle Berry in “Bulworth,” Ani DiFranco, Jane Siberry, Oprah Winfrey and others have covertly used extensions to subtly lengthen or thicken their hair. Like the Barbie knockoff Tressy, Models, actors and musicians can rely on synthetic hair when in need of a quick image change. Fuller, longer, greener--whatever the role calls for.
The job of locktician at Purple Circle calls for a bit of role playing as well. The triad of women who own and operate the salon undergoes constant changes. One week it’s platinum dreadlocks all the way down the back, the next fluorescent pink nubs.
Dutch sisters Victoria and Lynn Hyndman met Jennifer Warmsbecker, an American, in Amsterdam while working at one of the premier extension salons there. The three moved to L.A nearly two years ago to start their own business. The salon has since earned a reputation internationally for its inventive service.
“It means taking everything they learned in hair school and reversing it,” jokes Warmsbecker.
She says this as she carefully “shreds” the long locks of Mike, a client from the Valley. Mike is undergoing the dreadlock perm process. He seems unperturbed by the pink curlers Warmsbecker and Victoria Hyndman have twirled around his teased and ratted hair. The two entertain as they go about their work, joking with a steady stream of friends and clients who pass through the salon, serving tea, talking shop. The “Barbarella”-esque decor, designed by the owners, offers a friendly, feminine (though about half the clients are men) and futuristic backdrop for the quick-change artists.
Purple Circle offers synthetic and natural hair extensions, which are tied onto existing hair. (Some salons use hot glue.) Disembodied ponytails of fuchsia, forest green, fluorescent yellow hang about the salon waiting for a fearless fashion habitue. The salon also has a range of natural-looking hair samples that can be matched to a client’s hair.
One male customer with a thick head of hair requested that his dome be shaved shiny except for several long strands to create the comb over look a la Johnny Depp in “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” Why? It’s stylish to be a gross little lounge lizard, suggests Lynn Hyndman.
The Purple Circle crew has also dyed armpit hair to match tattoos and chest hair to go with piercings, but they stop at the waist. They will soon be addressing other body parts, however. A tattoo artist-cum-nail technician has been invited to join their team sometime this month.
In the meantime, Victoria Hyndman ponders her next look. She is tired of her Silly String pink buds of hair. Once a demure long-haired bank secretary, she fingers a wad of frizzy blond hair that is used for braid-weaves and suggests attaching some to her head unbraided to create the Chaka Khan look. Lots of lip gloss, lots of hair.
The look should surprise her old banker friends when the Hyndmans and Warmsbecker open a second salon in Amsterdam early next year. She’s not concerned. It’ll grow back. No need for the virtue of patience; she can always tamper with Mother Nature.
