Lots of stylists can tell stories about how they’ve had a passion for hair since they were children giving trims to Barbie dolls. Don Paul Leblanc isn’t one of those people.
“I never wanted to be in this industry,” he says, laughing. “My first wife was a hairdresser, and from what I saw, there were a lot of flakes!”
Don’t take offense if you’re a stylist— Don Paul has since revised his opinion. “People who have creative ability can be misunderstood a lot,” he explains. “Creative people think differently and see things differently.”
As a boy, Don Paul had fantastic hair, but never thought of becoming a stylist. | Source: Don Paul Leblanc
Don Paul Meets his Mentors
And if that means being thought of as a flake? Well, Don Paul doesn’t mind. He’s gotten so much out of this career that a silly stereotype doesn’t faze him. More importantly, he knows some of the greatest people who have had the most influence on his life worked in the beauty industry—and Edwin Neill II was chief among them. Don Paul counts Edwin as a mentor, as so many of us at Paris Parker did, and says he owes his career to his former brother-in-law’s charisma.
“He had this magnetism; you couldn’t hardly tell the guy no,” Don Paul says. “Edwin was such a visionary, he could predict the next big thing coming down the road. He saw potential in me—my people skills and social skills. He said he could supply the technical ability, and he convinced me to go to beauty school.”
Unleashed Talent
Edwin was right about Don Paul’s potential (surprise, surprise). Don Paul’s career took him from intern to designer to manager to educator, and he’s now back behind the chair at Paris Parker’s Mandeville location. Our Mandeville salon’s growth is pretty amazing: it opened as one small suite in a shopping center in 1996, and today, it encompasses the entire building.
“As our business grew, we took over the shopping center in phases, eventually purchasing it,” he says. “We honored our tenants’ leases until they ran out, didn’t renew them, and renovated the whole building. It’s been quite the ride!”
Award-winning work, Crazy Clients and Celebrity Encounters
Don Paul has been voted best stylist on the Northshore two years in a row and has won Alpha awards for his work. He has cut hair for celebrities including Lynda Carter and Mickey Rooney.
“Mickey Rooney barely had hair, so I did a nice fade on the sides and back, leaving a little on top,” Don Paul recounts. “It was a pleasure to be in the presence of someone who had done so many great things. I was honored and humbled—I tried to control my excitement!”
Don Paul says that while not every day brings a living legend to his chair, there’s always a lot of energy in the salon. “This is a crazy job,” he says. “You better be ready every day when you come in, because there are no days where you take it easy.”
Don Paul describes himself as “just a boy from Baton Rouge,” though he has traveled the world over doing hair. | Source: Don Paul Leblanc
He says his customers keep him on his toes—especially when they have out-there requests. The craziest? “I don’t know if I can repeat some of the things clients say to shock you,” Don Paul muses. “I literally had a woman sit in my chair and say, ‘I want my hair to have a just-f***ed look.’ My wife worked nearby, so I leaned in to the client and told her, ‘I don’t think you need a haircut. You need something else, and I can’t help you with that.’”
The ’Do That’s A Don’t
Don Paul ended up giving the client a messy, tousled look, but he says he’s no longer surprised by the things that come out of his clients’ mouths. The Baton Rouge native is a lot worldlier now, both in that sense and because he’s traveled the world thanks to his career. If there was one person’s hair he could cut, however, it would be Donald Trump’s.
“I want to fix it,” he says. “I’m constantly looking at it, trying to figure out what’s going on here. I’d get rid of all these sweeping directions. Some of the hair moves forward, then he combs it back, almost like he’s hiding something. I have to believe I would be able to make it better.”
Although Don Paul never saw himself going into the beauty industry, he admits he now stays awake at night thinking about haircuts. He’s deeply grateful to Edwin and everyone at Paris Parker for changing the trajectory of his life.
“I knew Paris Parker had a unique way of doing business. They weren’t followers. They were leaders and willing to shake things up,” he says. “I’ve been in business now for 25 years. It’s been quite the journey for me.”
Don Paul at an education event. | Source: Neill Corporation
