When Justin Bieber isn’t making headlines about his dates with Selena Gomez, he’s making hair-related news. This month alone his hairdo led to some healthy debate and then, earlier this week, it was learned that a lock of Bieber’s famous hair sold at auction for $40,668 (the proceeds went to charity).
When MTV News caught up with Bieber’s hairstylist, Vanessa Price, she admitted that she was surprised the hair sold for that much money, but grateful that someone had the funds to help the Gentle Barn Foundation, an animal rescue organization in California.
“It’s great and it’s for charity and how great is it that we have something that’s disposable that’s worth something,” she said. “It’s a lot of money, but like I said, we’re just so lucky that that’s happened.”
The star’s shorn locks might end up doing a lot of good, but fans couldn’t initially get over Bieber’s decision to lop off those famous swooping bangs.
“We knew it was going to be a big deal,” Price explained. “We knew it was going to shock fans, but we also knew it was going to be a change in terms of growing up. I think that’s something that people adjust to.
“We’d been talking about it for a while and shared some ideas, but literally the day off he was adamant about the haircut. He amped himself up for it,” Price continued, before describing his momentary hesitation. “The minute we started cutting, he was like, ‘Wait, wait, wait.’ He loves it. He’s enjoying it.”
Girls certainly have always been drawn to Bieber because of that signature ‘do (which she calls the 1.0), but Price says that his camp quickly got over any PR doubts that arose when the idea of the haircut was brought to them. “I mean, I’m not gonna say that everyone was 100 percent onboard,” she revealed. “But they trusted in Justin’s style and my abilities and they kind of held their breath.”
These days, Bieber has readjusted his styling techniques for the shorter look. “With his hair before he didn’t require any product. It was super-easy and now that it was cut shorter and choppier, he wanted to be able to experiment,” she explained. “I’m not around all the time, but I definitely groomed him into learning how to do his own hair.
“I don’t know if it’s more work but I told him it’s the ‘we don’t care haircut, just do it haircut,’ ” she continued. “The 1.0 version, it was cut a certain direction, it was cut to style. He’s loving it right now and he’s liking experimenting, so I think we’ll just see that it’s a natural evolution for any young adult.”
Price says she’s only had positive feedback from his dedicated legion of Beliebers, much to her relief. “The only things I’ve heard were positive, so that makes me really happy because the fans were taken into consideration,” she said. “They’re a huge part. Without them, we wouldn’t be here. Since that haircut I have a fan club now. It’s all positive.”
MTV
Today, Price and Justin Bieber are inseparable: “You’re the only one who’s allowed to cut my hair,” Bieber told Price. A week before his seventeenth birthday, Bieber was ready for a change, so Price pulled out her shears. “Teenage angst,” explains Price, who chopped the bangs “to death,” revealing not just a new look “suitable for a young man instead of a teenage boy,” but also unveiling his forehead. “The world had never seen it before!” The pop princeling also relies upon Price’s makeup skills to cover the occasional zit. (“He’s a teenager, he works hard—of course he gets breakouts,” she says.)
