New York-based Damian Monzillo is an elite editorial hairstylist, educator, and entrepreneur with a 25+-year career spanning beauty, fashion, and fine art. He has trained at the School of Visual Arts in NYC, Vidal Sassoon Academy, and the elite Alexandre de Paris Académie for hairdressing in Paris.
Monzillo's creations go beyond hair to fantastical mixed-media wigs and headpieces, and his work on editorial shoots and fashion campaigns has appeared in publications such as Vogue, ELLE, and Glamour magazines, and on A-listers including Ariana Grande, Helena Christensen, and Dita Von Teese.
He’s also a passionate educator, teaching techniques and trends around the world.
Seeing a gap in quality hairstyling tools in the U.S., Monzillo created a line of professional hairpins and bands designed to replace disposable versions with durable, reliable alternatives.
Monzillo spoke with American Salon about how his journey through the upper echelons of beauty, fashion, and art ignited a desire to create an industry-changing hairpin.
American Salon: Tell us about your career path. How did you get involved in beauty?
Damian Monzillo: My entire family has been in many different creative fields for generations. So, creating came very naturally to me. My mother was an actress, an artist, and loved fashion and beauty. There was always creativity flowing all around. Her friends were writers, artists, and actors too.
The story of how I got into doing hair has a lot of twists and turns to it. From being creative with my own hair, going to art school, moving to San Francisco sight unseen, working as a bouncer and getting stitches in my head at work, to the next day figuring out what I wanted to do with my life. That was my last shift as a bouncer. Hair sounded like a good cross-section of all the things I liked.
How did you come to connect hair with other forms of artistic media?
DM: I’m always cross-pollinating between art and hair. There are always pieces of different influences in my work.
As much as I love fine art, hair was such a natural progression — from a flat surface with a little depth to working in a 360-degree environment with bone structure and personality.
Mixed media felt natural to me; I could express myself best that way.
The first headpiece/ wig I built was in beauty school for Surface magazine, made out of dry penne pasta. Some of my favorites include a Marie Antoinette shape — I studied the techniques of the hairdressers of the time, and with some reverse engineering, I just worked it out. And a 1920s bob I made out of cut mirror for an ad campaign.
What do you like best about teaching?
DM: This world would be too heavy if we all didn’t help lift each other up. Personally, being part of an artist’s “light turning on” when they learn what you’re teaching is exciting and inspiring.
In my class, we do a creative exercise called “Blind Hairdressing.” The artist stands in front of the client, looking at their bone structure, silhouette, haircut, and color — then turns them around to get a full picture of where everything is sitting.
They go behind the chair; I blindfold them and give them one long hairpin and 60 seconds to use their mind’s eye and their hands to put the person’s hair up however they’re able within the allotted time.
It’s meant to take them out of repeated behavior and into more free-flowing expression, so the work doesn’t get too stiff or regimented. It’s produced great results every time!
How did you start working with high-profile clients and campaigns?
DM: I’ve never gone after “names.” The work is the most important part to me. I honestly don’t care who it’s on.
When I started freelancing in Los Angeles, some artists I knew were represented by agencies that connected them with photographers and clients. Thankfully, I’ve always had agents throughout my career. There are clients who won’t work with artists who aren’t represented because it offers more of a guarantee of quality.
Having representation also protects you more than being an independent artist, because chasing money, images, or videos — as well as getting more work — can get difficult. If not, we can get ripped off.
All of this helps me concentrate on the job at hand rather than payment or collecting work.
My favorite part about that type of work is traveling and collaborating with different teams to accomplish something bigger than you could have done yourself. Seeing your work expand because of all the other talent on the team.
When did you realize the industry needed a better hairpin?
DM: It happened when I went to study hairdressing at Alexandre de Paris. I’d go into the beauty supply stores there to see what they had. It was another universe of quality and detail I’d never seen or used before.
When you leave beauty school and get your own pair of shears, you see, feel, and know what a big difference quality makes. Somehow, no one had thought to do that with pins in the U.S.
Do any specific instances come to mind that cemented this realization?
DM: I see it every day — the many bands that have turned the color of the user’s broken hair instead of the color they were when purchased. All the single-use pins strewn around, which is ridiculously wasteful and painful when the coating comes off.
The public and professionals have unfortunately gotten used to subpar tools because there haven’t been any serious alternatives.
What’s different about the structure of your hairpins and bands?
DM: Similar to the construction of materials in a comb, the right balance of “ingredients” is the difference between something reusable and something disposable.
The right tool and strength for the right shape are important. Neither of these were options with the pins and bands that were easily accessible before I started my line. Another important point is the difference between wavy pins and my curved bobby pins: wavy pins are designed to hold more hair.
Rubber and synthetic bands are often too tight or too loose, and they catch hair very easily. Bungees are significantly healthier for hair because you can control the tension. You’re not locked into a circle where you have to pull through each hair blindly and cleanly. Bungees wrap around without pulling through, allowing you to control the stress on your hair and limit breakage. You can adjust the tension at will or change sizes.
When I started, there was only a small 10cm size. I created 20cm and 30cm bungees because people have different hair densities.
The range and strength of the line have been curated to work with everyone’s hair simply and consistently. Each section of the line is named and color-coded for easier referencing, rather than “Grab me a pin …” I also created packaging that opens and closes with tongue-lock tabs to hold your pins.
What do you understand about hair and creating hairstyles that perhaps other hairpin manufacturers don’t?
DM: I’m a hairdresser. What I sell is what I’ve worked with in detail and through experience. I’ve done countless event styles where hair has to be locked in, to the cover of French ELLE, doing 24 looks in 40-mile-an-hour wind.
I’ve styled a model wearing my Marie Antoinette wigs who ended up eight feet tall, as well as runway looks with wire-wrapped ponytails that can be bent in any direction.
What makes you so passionate about your product line?
DM: Having a range of tools curated to support every creative idea with simplicity and consistency. These tools give everyone more options. I wish I’d had them in beauty school.
Hairdressers are artists who work with fabric — hair that we shape, color, and cut. The joy we get creatively and technically from every different texture and density fascinates me. When it’s done, you wash it out and start over.
I’ve seen people get nervous about styling when they have no problem cutting someone’s hair off or putting chemicals on it.
I’m working toward building styling back into a routine, respected service — not only for “updos,” but as an expression that subtly fits your bone structure, style, and silhouette. Something that can be done for fun and not always feel so stiff. The range of opportunities styling has provided me has been a gift that I want to shout about and share!
Lastly, we promote quality and reduce quantity. Our professional pins and bands can be reused again and again. If I drop a pin, I wipe or spray it with alcohol and put it back in my “pin roll” — something I hope to be launching this coming year.
What are the most important things stylists need to know about creating amazing hairstyles?
DM: Consistent education — hands-on if possible — in classic techniques is key. You have to know the rules to break them.
I’ve found that an amazing hairstyle lives in the details, just like every kind of art.
Here’s some important information I share when I teach:
- Practice with a mannequin attached to a table. It’s hard to get consistent tension using a tripod.
- Hair is fabric. Heating and cooling are massively important in achieving a longer hold in any style.
- Be attentive to the heat that’s put on the hair, even if you put heat protector on. Heating up a section should only take a handful of seconds.
- Have patience to take sections proportionate to the density of the hair when blow drying, styling, and teasing.
- Treat the hair with kindness. It’s your canvas.
- I use all-natural bristle brushes because it creates a better finish and I’m not concerned when I wear it out about putting more plastic into the garbage or recycling.
- Tension can be your best friend. It can also be your worst enemy! Using strong combs keeps consistent tension.
- Teasing done well shouldn’t hurt, whether you’re building a shape or taking it down.
- Using spring-loaded silver roller clips to hold each section in the shape you’ve created will also create a consistency in your styling.
What’s next for your brand?
DM: Last summer, I received a U.S. copyright for my hairdressing education system. It connects my brand with my teaching, and I’ll be releasing the full system later this year.