Clayton Hawkins: From Theater Kid to Celebrity Hairstylist

Welcome to Big Break, where a few of the most prominent figures in the appeal market review the minutes that made them — from the excellent in the red and whatever in between. Here, Clayton Hawkins shares his journey from operating in an extensions store to hairstyling stars like Olivia Rodrigo and Dove Cameron.

Clayton Hawkins’s love for hair runs deep. The youngest of 4, Hawkins matured in Los Angeles and made his enthusiasms clear with his household early on. “I would get wigs from Santa for Christmas every year,” Hawkins informs POPSUGAR. “There are pictures of me at 5 years old with my little-boy bangs and then a clip-on fall — and b*tch, it was blended.”

Hawkins keeps in mind rewatching the 1990 “Dick Tracy” film over and over, just to catch a glimpse of Madonna’s hair (“I was just in awe”). Then, in high school, after investing years play-styling wigs and his own hair, he turned it into an informal side hustle. “I bought my first car from doing all the senior girls’ [hair] for prom,” he states, including that he’d typically purchase extensions and method schoolmates if he believed he might assist them with their hair.

While Hawkins was deep into theater — after high school, he was even accepted into NYU Tisch, Collaborative Arts Project 21 (CAP 21), a popular musical-theater program — hair was his very first top priority. “Even when I was doing all these plays and musicals, even if I had a big part, I would be like, ‘But I also have to do everyone’s hair.’ So before the shows, I was doing everyone’s hair. It’s always been a huge thing for me.”

His expert training was a little non-traditional: Hawkins found out how to use the extensions he’d acquire by enjoying the truth television program “Newlyweds” with Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey. “Half the program, [Simpson] was with Ken Paves getting extensions put in her hair, so I would tape on VHS and rewind and watch.” Hawkins attempted imitating the procedure of Paves gluing in Simpson’s extensions on his schoolmates. “I butchered a lot of girls, but we got there eventually,” he states.