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Vidal Sassoon, RIP

David Pescovitz at 2:34 pm Wed, May 9, 2012

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Legendary hairstylist Vidal Sassoon died today. He was 84. (Los Angeles Times)

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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  • Warren_Terra

    Anyone who gets a chance should listen to the BBC Archive Hour of April 19, 2008, entitled “A Rage In Dunston”, an excellent hour-long documentary about “the 43 group”, a bunch of lower-class Jews who battled Mosley’s fascists in the streets of post-WWII London, a group Sassoon joined at the age of 17. He became famous for his hair care, but he was quite the macho badass as a young man, and in a good cause. Sadly, I can’t find a copy online.

    • David Pescovitz

      Wow, this sounds fantastic! Thanks, Warren!

  • http://devojane.blogspot.com devophill

    John Daly was a fan of the callipygian woman? You learn something new every day, I guess.

  • Antinous / Moderator

    I used to get my hair cut at Sassoon in SF.  It was quite the event.  You had to tip about a dozen minions.

  • http://www.facebook.com/KBENBENEK Kurt Benbenek

    Hair today, gone tomorrow.

    I remember Sassoon from his kicky and kooky hair product TV ads and over-frequent talk show visits, where he would grab several schlubs from the audience and do Sassoon makeovers (“There, darling – now doesn’t your hair look fan-tas-tic!”)

  • chgoliz

    I remember this show!  Admittedly, I saw it in reruns, but still.  In some ways, it’s better that way, because it provides a longer-term view of the guests’ successes.

  • http://twitter.com/vornicus Dan Uznanski

    Vidal Sassoon is one of those people who I forgot was actually a person – I thought somebody’d just come up with the name for a hair products company and gone from there.

  • http://twitter.com/ChrisBellNZ Chris Bell

    Sassoon also promoted a smoothie containing lecithin, tryptophan and various other ingredients in the 1980s (I have a copy of the recipe in my 1984 desk diary). Off the top of my head I remember it contained raw egg, banana, milk and wheat-germ. Healthy enough to get him to 84, assuming he carried on drinking it all his life. On the other hand, I know of lots of smoking, drinking health refuseniks who at this stage seem just as likely to reach 84. I’ll keep you posted.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/OKEONAMLFIOS5WI7MPQY6SXBCQ IRMO

    Dude fought the good fight.

  • LinkMan

    Vidal Sassoon the Movie is actually a very worthwhile 90 minutes or so.  I had no idea what a rock star the guy was, and while the movie is a bit overly effusive, I came away with a much greater appreciation for hairstyling as an art form and Sassoon as a master entertainer and businessman.