For David Mitchell, what started as a second job became a full-fledged career that counts a hefty dose of glam among its perks. The colorist lists celebrity clients, international travel and national awards among his career highlights. Not bad for a former Outback Steakhouse employee and college student, who heard about a front desk position at the Aveda Institute from one of his fellow servers. David thought the position sounded like a good second job, but he ended up falling in love with the salon industry.
David Mitchell | Source: David Mitchell
“Paris Parker taught me about professionalism—how to conduct yourself in and out of the salon,” he says. “I’d waited tables since I was 17, so I had people skills. But Paris Parker really raised me and showed me how to be a pro in this industry.”
After working the desk for the Aveda Institute in Covington in 1999, David moved to Conroe, Texas to help open an Aveda Institute there. Although he’d never considered becoming a stylist—he had studied singing in college—he was slowly realizing the salon industry was just right for him.
“I decided I really enjoyed being part of that world,” he says. “I realized doing hair would let me be artistic and not have to sit behind a desk.”
David graduated from the Aveda Institute in 2002 and interned for Heidi Downum-Fisher at Paris Parker Prytania as a colorist. His work quickly drew national acclaim. When he entered Aveda’s North American Colour Harmony’s competition in 2005, he took home first prize.
“I did large bursts of orange within a copper brown, and the model had this porcelain face with a denim eye and nude lip by Nicole Klein,” he says. “Her head almost looked like it was floating in the photo—it was kind of celestial.”
David’s prize included a weeklong trip to London, where he studied at the London Academy. When he got home, he saw a banner outside the salon announcing that two of its team members won the prize. The clientele numbers increased sharply after that.
“Paris Parker helped move me along by advertising that we won,” he says. “That was a really pivotal point in my career as a colorist.”
David went on to be an educator for us before leaving the company in 2013. He’s developed a reputation for delivering beautifully flattering, natural-looking blondes and highlights. He counts celebrities Julianne Hough, Mandy Moore and Brittany Brees (wife of Drew Brees) among his clients. It’s a glittering career trajectory, but David says that on a day-to-day basis, the experiences that serve him best are those he accrued while working the front desk at the Aveda Institute.
“It opens your eyes to a lot of other things you may not know that the desk has to deal with,” he says. “Knowing what the front desk goes through on a daily basis, and how that differs from what we go through as stylists, helps me 100 percent.”
David says clients often treat stylists more warmly and politely than they treat people at the front desk—perhaps because their stylist relationship is more intimate. Sometimes, it’s a little too intimate, as in the case of one client who was in her mid-60s and said she was ready for a change. She wasn’t talking about her hair.
“She literally asked if I had any tips on how she could cheat on her husband,” he says. “I told her I wasn’t in the business of helping people cheat on their spouses. She seemed dissatisfied with that and never came back. I saw her at a festival later, but she ignored me.”
David credits the professionalism instilled in him at Paris Parker for helping him navigate this and other awkward situations. “I learned everything I know from them,” he says.
David was new as a stylist when he won the award that launched his career, as well as the reputation of the then-newly opened Paris Parker Prytania. We like to think we’ve grown—and learned—together.
