ep83 – Dean Banowetz

My guest today is a seven time Emmy nominated stylist. He is the department head of So You Think You Can Dance, American Idol, and America’s Got Talent. He has worked with celebrities like Lionel Richie, Leeza Gibbons, Simon Cowell, Jennifer Hudson, Kelly Clarkson, and so many others. He is The Hollywood Hair Guy: Dean Banowetz!

1:53 – How Dean got into the hair industry through unconventional means

12:56 – Dean’s beard, beard competitions, and charity fundraising

41:48 – The daily life of a hairdresser on American Idol: the preparation, rehearsals, and live shows

57:51 – Hairstyling classes for TV and film, including wig making and drag wig styles

Complete Transcript

Chris Baran 0:00
How great would it be to get up close and personal with the beauty industry heroes? We love and admire and to ask them how did you learn to do what you do? I’m Chris Baran, a hairstylist and educator for 40 plus years, and I’m inviting all our heroes to chat and share the secrets of their success

Well, welcome to another edition of head cases. And have you ever had that inclination of you knew you’re gonna meet somebody and we’re dying to ask them questions and to get really excited about it? Well, that’s where I am with this with this guest we have today but let me give you kind of his street cred and maybe this will give you a little bit insight. Maybe find out who he is. He’s a seven time Emmy nominated stylist. He is an 11 time guild member nominee for time Guild Award winner. He is a department head of American Idol So You Think You Can Dance? America’s Got Talent? Also is some of his celeb isn’t there on the stables are Lionel Richie, Dara Q Leeza. Gibbons, Simon Cowell, Jennifer Hudson’s and, and Kelly Clarkson amongst amongst those peeps. And here’s a GI curveball for you. He was the soldier of the year in Fort Hood with a second armored division. So let’s get into this week’s headcase the Hollywood hair guy, Dean Banowetz. Dean, it is an absolute pleasure to have you here on head cases. I have been an admirer. And I mean, God Almighty, you know, all of those Guild Awards, Emmy Awards, you know, all of that stuff is some of this only dream of that. And I want to get into that in a short bit. But I always ask people straight off is about what’s your hair story? How did you get into the business?

Dean Banowetz 1:53
Oh, well, first of all, thank you for having me. And the hair story is quite, it’s pretty fascinating. First and foremost, I am one of 15 kids born and raised in Iowa. I’m lucky number 13. And so we all go by numbers. But you know, when I was in high school, I was a junior in high school and my my dad passed away. And I was the oldest, the oldest one at home. And I was really kind of trying to figure out what it is I wanted to do. And I had scholarships to sing. And I had all of these, you know, avenues that I could pursue for a career, but it never really spoke to me. And so I knew I needed to leave the farm. So I actually joined the army. And I joined the US Army 1985. And once I got out, I started to study art, education and art history. In two years in, I was literally just trying to figure things out. Because I was like, why am I doing this? I don’t want to work in a museum. And I don’t want to teach. What’s the point of this. And I just had I had a coming to Jesus talk with myself, if you will. And I reached out to my brother Leon, who’s number 12. And he, um, and he goes, You know, I really think you should do hair. And I was like, What are you even talking about hair, and he’s an art director for a tourist magazine in Dallas at the time. And he you know, he goes, Listen, you you’ve got a great bass and art education. And he goes, you got a great personality, and I know how much money we have to pay people to do hair and makeup and people would love to work with you. And I go but I never thought about hair. And he was like you used to braid the tails on the cows when you were supposed to be milking them just do. And that’s literally how it started. And I enrolled at Bill Hills College of Cosmetology in Davenport, Iowa, which literally was in the back of a furniture carpet warehouse. And it was hideous. I mean, it needed to be it needed a full remodel. But I have to tell you, it’s the first time I ever walked into a, like an educational institution and I felt like I was home. I don’t know how to explain it. But I I felt, you know, welcomed and I didn’t know the first thing about hair. I didn’t know what a Marcelle iron. I didn’t know any of that. And I was so excited to just learn and that’s really how it started.

Chris Baran 4:34
So give me the first of all that it’s absolutely amazing story. I love it. What was it? I mean, I remember me walking in. And I didn’t want to I did that. The only reason I got in because my mom did hair and I knew I couldn’t get fired. But and I had a couple of rough years in there and I had kind of come to Jesus thing that happened, however, and I’ve told it on here before just about somebody coming in and telling me don’t cut my hair today, because I’m going to monitor Old to get a good haircut. But that was my turning point in there. But I remember going into school. And I was like you I knew nothing I had, I believe me, I knew how to milk cows because I was on the farm. But I didn’t. I had knew nothing about hair because I’d go into small and I’d watch but I knew nothing about it. How old I was. Because at when I got into I was just got out of I will say when I was finished with grade 12, which meant I was finished with grade 12. I never said I passed grade 12. So when I was finished with it, but the reality is I remember all the kids that were in there were pretty much my age. What was How old were you when you got in? Was there some disparity and age? Because if you want to

Dean Banowetz 5:45
Yeah, cuz I was in the army, I was in the army and I and you know, everybody else in my high school graduating class, they’re getting out of college, they had already done their four years and all of this and I was like, I am so far behind. And I remember I graduated from Beauty School at 26. And I thought that was so old. And, and it was just, you know, I constantly even today, I’m like, Listen, I’m right where I’m supposed to be. Right now, in my life. This is where I’m supposed to be. And once I started to, to just say that out loud. And like me, you know, mean it to myself? I just said yes to honestly, every opportunity. I could.

Chris Baran 6:26
Yeah, that’s awesome. And you know, it’s because I think, I don’t know if that was just a sign of the times that we had, then. I mean, when I went to, when I went, what I could have came in what year was 67? I think 66 or 67 is when I went to hair school. You know, I’m actually was born on Leap Year. So I’m actually only like, 30, some years old. But but the reality is, is I think it’s different now. Because I know in schools you go to skip to schools now as you do, as I do. And yeah, you know, you’ll still get the young kids that just straight out of school, but you’ll people have been through a career, they’ve been to college, they didn’t like college, and now they’re doing what they always wanted to do, do you? What’s it like for? What do you see in the differences? When you go into those goods? Is there any difference in their mindset, or their willingness? Or whatever? What do you notice?

Dean Banowetz 7:24
Well, you know, it’s, it’s interesting, because I do get, you know, because I probably lecture at, I would say 30, plus public schools a year motivation on my journey from Iowa to LA. And there are so many times people come up, and they’re like, you know, this is, you know, a new chapter for me. And, you know, I feel really, I feel like I’m the senior senior in this in this school. And I’m like, Well, how old are you? And you know, I’ve had, I’ve had everything from 36, up to 55. And I go, all you need to remember is if this is feeding your soul, and it’s giving you excitement, and energy and enthusiasm, this is where you’re supposed to be. If this is if this is not giving you that joy, then of course, you need to explore something else. I go, but just give it time, because there is so much wisdom in your yours that you don’t even know about. And you have other things that that other students don’t have. And that’s life experience, which is, to me by far more beneficial than anything else. Because you just get it, you understand it, sometimes we have to course correct. Sometimes we just have to jump into a whole new world. And I’m a firm believer, if you show up and you participate, great things will happen for you. But if you show up and you don’t participate, you’re an energy suck, and you suck the energy out of the room. And that’s not good. Because we all know those people who show up, but they don’t want to participate. And I go just those two things. If you do those two things, great things are really going to happen for you.

Chris Baran 9:06
Yeah, no, I agree. 100% i and i loved what you said because you made that the time element, you know is no one and all those people watching listening right now wherever you are at is just to remember that the time and the maturity that you have that goes along with the time allows you to handle things a lot better than what you did. I mean, I remember having a flight a fight with my, my then girlfriend and and I would go into school and I would be all pissy for the last for lack of a better word upset etc. Didn’t leave my stuff at the door. And and I would sit there and I’ll never forget this I would sit at the long benches that we had with a mirror in front of it in your barbicide container. And we always had a stack of endpapers because you’re always doing perms and I can remember making boats out of the Empire. Person floating them in the barbicide and watching him sink, you know, and if you could, that’s what’s happening in my life right now. And I remember the teacher, the, the principal would always walk by and say, Baron go do something. And so I pick up the rag and I clean my station, and she would come up to me and say, Chris, you know, when you have your salon, you’re gonna have the cleanest salon, in any salon in town, no customers, but the cleanest salon in town, you know, and I say that because, you know, when you would do your point that when you have some time behind the belt, and some life experience and some maturity, you won’t let that those little rough spots in your life, get involved with your success rate that you’re going through. And I think that you need that. And that’s why I take my hat’s off to anybody who’s got that they, they know they wanted here, and they jumped into it. So well.

Dean Banowetz 10:53
The thing that I always say, whenever I have that, you know, because listen, we’re human, we’re going to have those moments where this is the last place we want to be, we have other things on our mind. But we always have to remember we attract who we are. Now, if you’re not liking the clients that you’re attracting, take a look in the mirror and do some serious self searching. Because if you’re late all the time, you’re gonna attract late clients. And it’s the thing too is like I you know, I’ve heard it so many times, I don’t like this, I don’t like this, I go then change it in yourself. And it’s tough to hear. But I’ve had to do it. I’ve had to do it to myself over and over. And I’m like, Okay, why am I feeling this way? I need it, I need to get rid of this, and focus and, and just do whatever we can do to be better. And to really put out what we want to get back?

Chris Baran 11:47
Yeah, yeah, I heard it said, and I’m with you 100%. On that we’re looking in the mirror. And I and I heard people say that, it’s, it’s just a matter of when you look at yourself, just say what are you going to do and label whatever it is that you’re feeling? So in other words, if you’re pissed off at something, say, Look, I’m pissed off, and then just say, Why am I pissed off? Or if you’re, if you’re frustrated with something, like they say, if you as soon as you label it, then you’ll have a better chance of that feeling and that emotion going away. Okay, just to say, Well, I’m frustrated, why am I frustrated? Well, it’s because of XYZ, well, what I need to do about it, it’s this person, well, then let’s go talk to that person, and get it out of the way. And rather, sometimes we just Harbor that. And we become professionals at that emotion, as opposed to just getting it out of the way so that we can have the life we want.

Dean Banowetz 12:38
And I think you know, to me, one of the big questions is, is what, Can I do anything right now to change this? And if the answer’s no, then put it away until you can deal with it. And I’m always I’m always have that mindset as well.

Chris Baran 12:56
You know, it’s isn’t it really interesting. And for the, again, people watching and listening right now, other than this before, this is really the first time that we’ve met, and you know, but I feel it’s, I think that when you’re in a position in our industry in whatever we want to label it a leadership position, a higher up position, a thing where you gain certain notoriety, whatever, I hate to label it in that regard, but I think you get a certain sense of, of understanding of human nature, and where that goes. And the reason here’s the reason I bring that up, you know, in the research that I was doing before, and I have questions that are written down, everything was about Hollywood, and, and just and you’re fantastic. I mean, we’ve got to, at some point, talk about your beard for those people who may not know you, you’ve got to look up Dean, and look at his beard, etc. And I, I want to get to those things as well. But you know, and I would, I would be remiss if I didn’t take a light break from what we were talking about and and really talk about the beard that you had first and because we went up on your hair Hair story, but when I when I first saw you not on the research, but when I’ve seen you before, up here, it was frickin amazing thinks, you know, and and you had that long hair that went along with it. And you had that, you know, I had to label it enough. I had to give everybody an image of it right now if you’re just listening. It was part part. Baltimore part. Gandalf and with a little bit of hatred. Yes. mixed in there. But it was I got almost, I

Dean Banowetz 14:38
got a lot of are you on Game of Thrones? And I go, Oh, yeah, nobody should be. Yes,

Chris Baran 14:42
of course. Yeah. Yes. If you know anybody. Yeah. So what what I mean, obviously when you were bringing that beard out to its fruition, that was in the time when you know, we just were getting everybody was getting into beard. Yes. But you’re I have to say A yours was magnificent. Thank

Dean Banowetz 15:03
you, I appreciate that. And you know how that all started, one of the shows that I, that I used to work on was to tell the truth. And it’s, you know, it’s been a reboot, and you will have some iconic person, you know, like we had the, the World Beard and Mustache champion on and we had two decoys. And on the decoys, I had to literally put in hair extensions to make these beards look amazing. And the guy who won, he goes, dude, you’ve got a great beard, you should totally do that I go, tell me what I need to do. And he goes, really just grow it. Most people don’t have the patience to grow a beard. And literally after that show, I shaved and I’m like it’s on. And I I grew it for four and a half years. And the category because if you if you just Google beard and mustache championship, there’s so many different categories. And the one category I really was inspired by was the Jerubbaal D, which is a full beard that’s literally no more than eight inches, but that you can’t use any styling products. You can’t do any enhancements or anything, nothing like that. It’s just your natural beard. And the very first competition I ever did, I got third place. And it kind of every every single competition goes to charity. There’s zero money that’s given for prizes, you get a lot of beard products and that sort of thing. But there’s such a strong community of all of these guys that grow insane beards, like I love my beard. But when I got there, I was like, Whoa, dang. I just fit in. And it was a really great experience. And I had won the second national beard mustache championship second place. And it was in Chicago of of 19. And I was going to go to the World Championship that was going to be in New Zealand, but it was cancelled for COVID. And then I was like, You know what, I am a little obsessed with getting a world title. And I’m a Leo, if I set my mind to something, I’m a little obnoxious about getting it, I have to do it. And it was after COVID. And I was like, You know what, I want to get a world title. And I just the assistant I had at that time, she was like, Maybe you should break a Guinness Book of World Records. And I’m like, it’s on what record Do I need a break. And she goes, I’m going to do some research. And I broke the Guinness Book of World Records for most bobby pins in my beard, which was 4831. I have the plaque on this corner in the back. But it literally took 14 plus hours. And because it was during COVID We had a film every second because they had a you know they one standard adjudicator to just oversee it. So we had all of these witnesses, and it just took forever. And I was completely obsessed with doing it and taking tiny sections and loading up that beard. Because I wanted to number one raise money for charity, one of my assistants had passed away at the age of 36. From colon cancer, she had two kids and a husband and I was like, I want to I want to do something she was literally my one of my best friends. And, and we raised like 30 grand for her kids college education by putting bobby pins in my beard. So I was like, when I when I reached 2500 bobby pins, they go, you’ve broken it, you can stop. And I was like, I’m not stopping until all of these fingers are full of blisters, because no one’s gonna outdo me. Because trust me, it was a lot. And you know, my reward for that is a really awesome plaque. And I have to tell you one of my nieces because I’ve got 53 nieces and nephews and just a massive family. And she goes, Why would you do that? And I go, I am one person in a massive family. What are you going to do to stand out? She goes Fair, fair, fair. point. The point taken. You know what, it was just a whole different avenue. I literally took my beard off because I I like to get skin checks at least every five years. And and this is this is like a weekend and I’m I’m not gonna grow the massive beard back, but I’m growing it back for some more fun things to do. Yeah,

Chris Baran 19:47
well, let’s see that. There’s a couple of things that I wanted to find out there that one of my questions just answered because when you have this fantastic beard, why would you shave it? I mean, obviously time and all of that time is right but What was

Dean Banowetz 20:00
really, to really answer that the reason I shaved it was because on set, we had to wear masks and shields. And I was just I would get so hot. Oh my god would be everywhere I’d have to put it in a pony and braid it, put it in a knot a bun. And it was just I mean, every day, you’re doing that for 14 hours a day. It it was intense. But that’s, that’s the reason I cut it. But

Chris Baran 20:28
yeah, but so to get back to the point you had to you had to put the bobby pins in you couldn’t have somebody else doing it?

Dean Banowetz 20:35
No, I had to. Wow.

Chris Baran 20:40
I can understand what I don’t know. I don’t know how anybody got to 2000 much less 4000. I mean that I think that says something for your determination. That’s amazing.

Dean Banowetz 20:49
I mean, if I always tell people, if you’re gonna date a guy date a guy with a beard because they’re patient.

Chris Baran 20:56
Yeah. Good point. Right. Now, so you gave you had you had a great segue there for us is that, you know, so that when you had that, what kind of press did you get pressed out of that as well?

Dean Banowetz 21:13
You know, I I would decorate it every year for Christmas. Many times. I like I have God, there’s probably 50 some odd pictures of me decorating the beard. And it was just such a conversation piece. And it was I loved it. Because you know, when I’m working on set, people are like, whoa, you’ve got this massive, beautiful beard and people were Howie Mandel was completely obsessed with it on America’s Got Talent. And he was like, I really want to touch it. But he’s such a germaphobe. And of course, I go get in it. This beard gets more care than a family of five. Trust me. Yeah. It’s been reconditioned multiple times in the past two days, you know? And just to have fun with it. And it was it was great. I literally thought I was Hagrid. For a long. Yeah,

Chris Baran 22:08
well, there you go. You know, I wish I wish that we would have been closer together. Because if I I don’t know if you could have standed it. But when you had those, what I wrote down to 4831 pins in your hair. And I can remember doing a show that we had to do for grand Kemerovo zeal that was the opening of the show for the symposium. And we made I think we had to make it whether it was nine or 11 wigs out of tiny hairpins not not hairpins as in the putting hair but the ones used for sewing, you know, the closed up ones. And by the end of those Wait, you know, because I think each one of those had I can’t remember, you know how many 1000s of ones we had didn’t have an each wig. And again, raw fingers, etc. But my point would have been, wouldn’t it have been great if you had that? All those pins in there and then put on one of those wigs and now you’re talking about a metalhead? Yes.

Dean Banowetz 23:09
Metal as well. And it was it was six and a half pounds like it. Yeah, literally, we waited afterwards. And I was like, Oh, dang, I can handle a lot. Yeah.

Chris Baran 23:22
So you had a great segue in there for talking about because you mentioned how we and and fellow Canadian, and tell us what what’s, you know, what was it like for you? And I only say I came from a small town in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, we only have like 5000 people in town. We didn’t have any place in town, you could get it. I had to go to the next city, Saskatoon in order to get to go to a school Marvell beauty school. So I think I get it when you’re coming from a small town and you reach the level that you’re at now. What was that like for you? When you went from Iowa? to AM head med had to make that step? So many people wouldn’t think? Well, I’m from the small town, I can never do that. But what what happened to you that you went, um, this is what I’m doing?

Dean Banowetz 24:16
Well, you know, I’m, I’m a big goal setter. And for me, I have four parts to a goal, you have to be realistic about what it is you want, you have to be specific. You’ve got to do your due diligence. You’ve got to do that, that research, if you will, and then you have to have a deadline. And I was I was talking with one of my employees at the time. And you know, we talked about goals for retail sales and service sales and that sort of thing. And we had gone through all of her stuff and and you know, and this is part of my lecture too, that I do and a lot of homeschool schools. But she did something to me that wasn’t done before. And she turned it around on me and she was like, What are your goals? And I honestly my goal is literally To keep this salon alive and thriving, and she doesn’t know, but you have to have your, your own personal goal just like we do as well. And I was like, Okay, I’ll, I will definitely participate in this because I’m, what I’ve always wanted to do was do hair for TV and film. Of course, I live in the middle of Iowa. I know, realistically, my options would be to do, I don’t know, a farmer’s hair for a farming fleet commercial, or drive 45 minutes to a bigger city to do a blowout for an anchor, but literally, that those were the realistic options for me in that location. And just due diligence and and you know, when you when you when you do that research and take accountability, the way I take accountability for things as I talked about it, and at that time, I was a platform artists for matrix, and every single time I would do a class, I was like, hey, if any of you guys here have a place that teaches you how to do hair for TV and film, please let me know because I couldn’t find anything. And, and my employee and I were chatting, and we always do a six month review, you know, like you’ve got six months for this deadline. And she looked at me and she goes, I don’t think you can do this in six months. And again, I’m a Leo. So if you tell me I can’t do something, I’m going to bend over backwards to make it happen. And lo and behold, one of my friends, like, snail mailed me a newspaper clipping for a school in Santa Monica, California. I signed up for it, I thought it was incredibly expensive. But you know, when you when you need a large amount of money that you don’t have and somehow that money finds you legally you got to do I have. And I just took the plunge I went out, I had the best time I met some people from all over the US and the woman who owns the school said you should really you should live in LA and work out here. And I have my salon and all of that. I didn’t realize she was a headhunter, and she gave my name to a bunch of productions. And which kind of freaked me out because I had people reaching out to me, and I called her and I go, Are you giving my name to people? And she goes, Yes, you need to move to LA. And I was like, You need to leave me alone because you are stalkerish and you’re freaking me out right now. And she goes, you apply for one job and I’ll leave you alone. I applied for the at the television show extra. I faxed my resume. They called me within 10 minutes, a week and a half later, I flew out to do an interview. Five days after that, they reached out and told me that I had gotten the job. So I was like holy cow, I have to have to move to LA,

Chris Baran 27:50
every one of my friends close and close your salon. I

Dean Banowetz 27:53
kept I kept the salon open for like six months and traveled back and forth. And then I sold it. But all my friends were like, you’ve got to take this job. This doesn’t happen to people that live in Iowa. And it just happened to me and I’m not trying for it. You know, and I moved to LA and I it’s almost eerie how seamless I fit in. And it was a new experience. And it was a you know, I’m working for an entertainment news magazine that syndicated that, I don’t know, eight plus million people a day see, and there’s only 3.5 million people in the state of Iowa. And most of my family, I’m just saying, but for real. And I jumped in with feet first. And I was like, let’s do this. And I said yes to every opportunity and things just I mean, I worked incredibly hard. I remember I was doing Ryan Seacrest who was he was a guest correspondent on idol for I’m sorry, on extra. And when he got idol, he brought me on to do his hair. But because it was a new show, I had to do everybody’s hair. And, and, you know, this was the first competition reality show with hair and makeup. And it was a big deal. And it it was crazy being in that American Idol bubble because every week there were 1000s and 1000s and millions of more viewers and we’re like, whoa, whoa, what’s happening? And, I mean, it’s we just ended our 22nd year I’ve been with the show for almost 18 years now. Wow. Kinda crazy. You

Chris Baran 29:39
know, first of all, I have I can’t cuss words not applaud but I’m, I’m in enamored in the process that you went through. There’s a couple of things that I want to talk about is number one is because you talked about how seamlessly you fit in. And you know, you’re like me you’re on the road. all the time, and, and you talk to so many people that are, I’m happy just being buying the chair. That’s all I really want to do. But then you have that other side of the people to say look at I love doing I’d love doing here. But what I really want to get into is I want to do either session work or work for movie and TV and so on. So, I mean, you’re there. If anybody is you’re the Hollywood hair guy. What traits would you say that that person would have to have? Because you said you fit in seamlessly?

Dean Banowetz 30:30
I did. And you know, it was interesting, too, because my clients in Iowa were like, Why are you hear? And I go, Well, I don’t even know what that means. I’m not gonna take offense to it. But my family’s here. And I go, You know what, right now? And I remember saying this and answering their question like right now, this is where I’m meant to be. Is this where I’m going to be for the rest of my life? I don’t know. But right now, this is where I need to be. And when that opportunity happened, I just said yes. And the thing too, is listen, I’m at that time, I was like, You know what, I’m a great hairdresser. I’m not the best hairdresser. But I am a really good listener. And if you’re not a good listener, it’s not going to work. Because there are so many Yes, people. And I mean, my biggest pet peeve is when you’re giving direction to someone. And they’re like, Yeah, ha, ha, ha, I got it. And it goes in, why are we even here, if you already know everything that’s supposed to happen. And one of the one of my really great qualities is I know when to listen. And I know when to speak, because when you work with celebrity, talent, and any talent for that matter. Just imagine you’re working on someone who’s about to sing in front of 40 million people. I want to honor how they are processing their emotions. Because listen, some people are super quiet, because they’re in their head, and they’re going through the the mechanics of it all. And then you have some people that won’t stop talking. So I like to match that energy. And I like to be super mindful of that. And it’s all about the attention to detail. I mean, we always say love is in the details. And when little things are done properly, big things happen. So if you see something, I always say something. And I always I always correct because listen, I am responsible for this person’s look. And I want to make sure when you look good, you feel better. When you feel better, you have more confidence, and I work on competition reality shows, I want to make sure that every single thing I do enhances what they’re about to do, they’re about to tell a story. If it’s through singing, or through dancing, it’s a story telling job. And if what I do can enhance that story, I’m all about it. I never want to touch on away from that story, I want to add to that story. And so those are all key points for me when I’m when I have I just hired a new assistant who’s who’s going to be flying here from North Carolina. And so it’s all new. And those are the qualities that you really have to be mindful of. And, you know, we’re always the first people on the set, and we’re always the last people off the set. So you just have to be that you have to be that kind of beacon of light for some of those people.

Chris Baran 33:32
Yeah, first of all, here’s what I wrote down, which I thought was amazing. You’ve got really got to be an active listener. You have to be able to speak up when when it’s ready, when he would do something and if matching energy. And you have to see if you see something, you got to say something and you have to enhance their story. And when you said that it it when I was doing a little bit of research that you told the story about, you have an 8020 rule. Yes. And could you just cuz I think that fits in really well here how, what when you’re in that kind of environment? What what does an 8020 Rule mean? Well,

Dean Banowetz 34:10
for me, and I’ll use So You Think You Can Dance because I worked on that show for a long time. And it’s a live show, and it is a lot of work. I mean, there’s many, many, many times we will have four and a half minutes to do a full change hair, makeup and wardrobe. And this is where my military background come into play because I’m a bit of a drill sergeant because I want to make sure if you are prepared and you’re ready great things will happen. If you’re not organized, there’s going to be some issues and so on So You Think You Can Dance we would get we would get a theme from the creative director. And this one particular thing was he was like, imagine Galliano and Alexander McQueen having lunch at a sidewalk cafe in Paris. Okay, well, what the hell does that mean? And so that’s when I am like at 20. As long as I am happy with 80% of my creative, I can bend on 20% 10 for makeup 10 For wardrobe. And I am clueless, I have no clue what I’m going to do. So I go to wardrobe, I go, Hey, what kind of wardrobe are you thinking about? Just like, I mean, I really just want to know about shoulders up. And she was like, oh, I want to do this beautiful lace color. And I go awesome. Love it. So in order to make wardrobe happy, I know the hair has to go up. All of this has to go away, it has to go up. And then I go to the makeup artists, I’m like, What do you have in mind, and she goes, Well, I saw that wardrobe. You know, doing lace, I want to do beautiful lace applicators over the eyes, great hair has to be off the face and up. And number three, is I’m not doing anything with lace. It has to be a juxtaposition, something a little bit harder and a little more structured. And so that’s the 8020 as long as I am happy with 80% of that creative. I mean, I can bend it gave me it gave me direction to collaborate. And so I know that this is my focus. And then I go back I go how many people are wearing hats. And she goes to and I go done? Who are those two people because I want to make sure that I adjust appropriately. And things like that just make that entire show gel together. And you know, when we did that number, the creative director was like, This looks amazing. How did you come up with it? And I and I love Marina to IBNS she was the wardrobe person and she goes it’s a collaboration, we listen to each other. Yeah, which is so true. And and so many people who want to do what I do get stuck in their ego where this has to be exactly how it is. Doesn’t work that way. You have to collaborate, you have to listen to other creatives, and let that help and enhance your thought process as well.

Chris Baran 37:09
Yeah, and thank you for that. Because I think that Well, first of all, that’s a life skill, isn’t it? Yes. 8080 20 rules is a life skill. And if you want to have a proper relationship in life, your partner, you know, your friends, you know, or your co workers, it’s the same thing. Yes, you have to have an 8020 rule, I can be pigheaded and get my way, and scream and holler and stomp my feet. And then I don’t have a good relationship. Or I can I can say okay, what is it that you’re doing? What is it that I’m doing? And as long as I feel that I’m, I can back off 20% And I’m not going down. I’m only doing 20% of what I want to do because then I’m not in good relationship. But I think that’s it. That’s just a life skill that I think is so important to have. And the fact that it’s applicable wherever you do it in life and family. I mean, that’s, it’s exactly the same thing when we’re putting together a photoshoot. Except we have more time than you do. You know, like you have to do it. Like they have to have the habit. Okay, good. Yes. What do you think? What do you think? And you gotta go do it immediately. At least we can collaborate for weeks or months beforehand.

Dean Banowetz 38:20
We were using it one week to prep. Wow.

Chris Baran 38:24
Yeah. And so I mean, it’s, it’s make the decision to do it, right. Yes, yeah. Yeah, I know, when we, if it’s

Dean Banowetz 38:31
a group number, and you’ve got 12 People that have to have that same replica, look where you’re building, you’re building larger collections in one week’s time. So if we have to wait, if we have to build wigs, make wigs, make pieces, all of those things have to be done in literally a two day prep time. Wow, everything all the other time is when I order. And so it is it’s really crucial to just listen, be an active listener and pay attention and course correct and work together as a team.

Chris Baran 39:08
This episode is sponsored by the salon associate accelerator from trainers. playbook.com. Are you struggling with the time and cost of associate training? Do you feel like your salon is running you will get your associates on the floor, all with 90% Less time from you. So you can get back to building your business. Get them world class design, finishing color and client care skills they’ll use every day for the rest of their career. While you focus on realizing your vision. Go to trainers playbook.com and get the salon associate accelerator and now back to the show. Yeah, that’s amazing. I am so it’s funny how our what We do is has parallels and yet some of them are so different, like in doing photoshoots. Like if we’re doing or we’re doing a like if we’re doing a show, like we did when the show that we did last year, it was all based on Elvis Presley, one segment. So we had to make 19 Elvis Presley wigs that looked like that. But we wanted the more in the avant garde, so we didn’t want them exact. So we had to take probably what you’re familiar with his warbler, which is what they use for costume making, and we had to form and make these pieces, and like the, the shape of it, and then take little pieces of hair, cut them up and black hair, and then spray them on, so that they would stay on the dancers when they were working, etc. But we had, we didn’t know how to do that at the beginning. And we had to research how to do it. And we had, we had like three or four weeks where we could make these things experiment, do all the screw ups, you’ve got less time. So yours was I take my hat off to what that’s all about for you

Dean Banowetz 41:07
well in life is very different. You know, it’s, it’s one thing to be able to do a look. But that look has to stay on dancers that are literally flipping and aggressively dancing. And it’s all about how you secure and how you attach. And of course, you know, we’re hairdressers who are like, I’m getting this on this pen. I’m like, okay, but calm down, because they still have feeling in their head, we’ve got to be gentle enough, but it has to be secured. And so it’s a whole different way of an application. You know, because I remember I was doing a photoshoot, and I’m all like working on the back. And my friend does session stuff all the time. And he was like, don’t even worry about that. We’re not we’re not shooting that. And I’m so used to 360 Let’s see where everything needs to be done and locked and loaded. And you’re ready. It was crazy.

Chris Baran 42:01
Yeah, yeah. So tell us what so now we’ve got into the hair and all that goes. But for all of people watching listening right now what let’s just pick one like American Idol. Or if you want to switch to whichever one you find more intriguing. What’s the day in the life? Like? Like, what would what’s what would it be like for some I want some people to visualize officially if they want to do this. What’s the ups and downs? What what? Because it’s I’m sure it’s not all glorious. You have some stuff that you go and there might be some wrinkles in there. Give us some of that. What’s your day like? What’s What’s the good parts? What’s the wrinkles?

Dean Banowetz 42:38
Well, I will say in American Idol, it changes daily. So I travel, I work, I take care of Lionel Richie as well. So I traveled with him for all the auditions. And an icon, one of the nicest the kindest person you could ever imagine. And I mean, that was my childhood in the 80s. I was like dancing all night long, like everything, it was just I have that full circle moment. But so when I’m with Lionel, I’ll take care of him. And then I stand by him all day, which is, to me, it’s a luxury because he is such a nice guy. And then when we go to live shows, we have pre production meetings a week prior, so I have an idea of what the contestants are doing. And we can start, I can start to put vision boards together of what that local look like. And when I build my team, I am really making sure I have a great cross section of talent. Because like, I’m not a great braider if I need to do a braid to secure something, I’m fine with that. But a decorative braid and braids that are I, I am not that guy. So I always want to make sure that I have someone who is a great braider. But I also have somebody who does great extensions. And what you know, I have multiple people that work with me for textured hair, and all of these different people that really form a great team. So we usually show up about 730 unset. And this is for a 5pm live show. And we will start we are in the same room as makeup and a lot of times we will tag team. But trust me, it’s not just my say, I will do a contestants hair if the contestants not comfortable. I’m like What would you like to change? I want to make sure they’re comfortable. But I also have the network who’s going to have an opinion. I have the production company that’s going to have an opinion. I have the executive producers and the creative directors, every single one of those groups are going to have an opinion of what they want and what they don’t like. And I number one, you can’t take anything personally high because these are people who don’t do hair. It’s just what they see. And so If I’m really committed to a look, I will then go to that battle and go, here’s, here’s why we want to do this. And they go, what we like to hear this way, and I go with that hair was really hot two years ago. And it’s not really right now, and this is a contemporary show, and these contestants are performing. And it’s current, it’s contemporary. And so you definitely have to pick those battles. And we have a full dress rehearsal. So if there’s any changes, we do all those changes during the dress rehearsal, the commercials are crunched, meaning we don’t have that full amount of time. So we have a crunched amount of time where we do those changes. And then now social media is a massive part, we have to have them ready to do social media posts, because they shoot all of that before the show starts. So when their their telephone numbers or text numbers come up, they have that image from earlier in the day. And then we have to make sure we are ready to go live at five. But I love a live show. How

Chris Baran 46:03
long how long is the time from the shoots before the live show?

Dean Banowetz 46:09
Well, because we have to get him ready for that live can’t we’ll be at Davis camera block, and then they have the dress rehearsal. And then after the dress rehearsal, we have the live show. So in between each one of those, we have damage control, if you will. So if there’s anything that needs to be corrected, those windows have about an hour hour and 15 is when we make those changes, but let’s not forget, we also have to eat lunch. So we’re, I have split teams that, you know, I want to make sure nobody goes into meal penalties or overtime or any of that stuff. So it’s not just the hair, it’s like facilitating the department. And I have a number two person who’s my key Amber, she’s amazing. Because a lot of times, I will leave at like 330 In the afternoon, because I have to then go get Lionel ready for all of his press. So my number two person is really crucial in maintaining the main stage, while I’m with Lionel for his pre press and getting him ready to go live as well. And, you know, you think, Oh, well, every week, contestants get eliminated. That’s awesome. I mean, not really for them. But it’s it’s one of those things where just because there’s less people doesn’t mean there’s less work because we have guests that are coming in. And you know, like on Gene Simmons was a mentor, so we have to take care of him. And then we’ll have, you know, all of these other people that come in for the finale. And we just want to make sure we facilitate them with whatever needs that they have. And so it’s quite different from a dance show. Because when they dance during the rehearsal, sometimes it is a full redo, depending on what it is. But that rehearsal is crucial. Because if there’s a hairstyle that falls out, I’m like, alright, this needs more attention. How, how and what can we do to secure this? So we don’t have that happen? And that’s why the dress rehearsal is so important.

Chris Baran 48:05
Yeah, that’s, it’s really phenomenal. And I think there’s stuff in there that you were told us about, most people really have no idea what’s going on back there. So but there’s like you said something that was really interesting there about the planning and all that, but and how the planning of, you know that they might visualize something, and I, I have a little bit of a parallel, because you know, when you’re doing a photo shoot for a, for a manufacturer, you know, they might want something, but it’s really their shoot, and what I loved about what you said was that you have to have, your ego has to come out of it, because it’s not your hair. It’s not your plan. Yes. But what do you what do you how do you plan there’s got to be, is there a planned arc or a story arc that you do with the hair as it goes along from? Because sometimes they can be there. They can be there for X amount of time, but you’re, you’re it’s a season, but I’m sure that you’re doing this not over the whole season. It’s a how does that play out with the time when you go from one week to the next? Is it really that timeframe? Over 13 weeks? Is that less than that? How do you plan for that?

Dean Banowetz 49:17
Well, originally it was it was literally like a 14 week run. Yeah, and we know that hair grows about a half an inch a month. So if some if Clay Aiken Season Two had really short hair, and I was like clay, we’re growing your hair out. He was like, I don’t know what to do with it. I go you don’t have to do anything. That’s why I’m here. And the thing is, is over that course, for the finale, they they are so used to seeing him transition and kind of change a little at a time. Because I always tell people it’s not like it’s not like a talk show. It’s not like The Oprah Winfrey Show where you want an instant gratification aha moment for that makeover. I want to do little changes frequently. If not all at once, over the course of time, because we want to build that celeb we want to build that superstar. We always Katy Perry always calls it just wait till you go through the star wash because it takes a village. I mean, if you saw the crew that takes care of Katy or JLo I mean, it takes a crew of people. And it’s, I always love it because my sisters are like, Well, my hair doesn’t look like that. And I go because you didn’t put any on. I’m just saying. But it’s it’s that process of really cultivating and creating a superstar. Every single person on this planet has the potential to be a superstar with the right team. Yeah.

Chris Baran 50:43
Yeah, Truer words, Truer words right there. And I want to let that sink in just for a minute. For sure. Yours is just that, you know, it’s, you know, everybody out there that’s battling and trying to get things done on their own. And they’re trying to compete. And I think there’s one of the differences. They’re trying to compete against somebody who has a team, and they’re doing all this work for them. That it can be ominous, you know, and I think and disheartening, if they don’t understand what they’re competing against.

Dean Banowetz 51:16
For sure. And, you know, there’s other shows, we, you know, like legendary, which was on HBO, Max, one of my really close friends Geralyn ran that show. And I loved it because I was hired as a builder. And so we would build wigs for to, we’d have to prep days. And I have to tell you, it was literally one of my favorite shows to work on. Because I would show up and I go, What am I working on today. And they would go we need you to build a swap Princess like today. And I was like, What the heck is a swamp princess. And they would literally hand me a bag of Michaels arts and crafts and they go, we trust you figure it out. And I had so much fun, doing so many crazy things that you would just never do on a contemporary show. And it just, it just really fed my creative soul. And so many different times i there, we did these Marie Antoinette’s but they wanted me to do the bell fishing. And so I’m braiding and caging like, there’s so many things that we were doing. And when you have someone who’s running a show that has so much trust in you, because your actions speak louder than your words, and you show up and you jump in. And you even when you don’t I mean, I don’t know what a swamp princess is, but I I’m like, Okay, I’m gonna, you know, I Googled swamp hair. And, you know, like, the creatures of the last login or whatever it was, they would come up and they’re seaweed and there’s so much other stuff. And I was like, Oh, well, I can take that. But I mean, if I curl this wig really nicely, that’s a little princess vibe, and then shoved Mohsen and fines and all of these other things. And the only stipulation they gave me for that prompt that that, that swamp princess is they go, the hair has to go back. And I was like, okay, so I tracked it back with gel, and I use some glitter. And it was great. And the drag queen that it went on was from Paris, really picky. And she came up and she was like, This is amazing. And I was like, that’s like a badge of honor. You don’t even Yeah, very few people could make this person happy. And it just kind of opened up a whole new realm of creativity for all of us. And when that show was canceled, I was more sad about that show going away than anything else. Because the team was just amazing. And we had the best time just being creative.

Chris Baran 54:03
Yeah. You know what I love that you said in there, Dean was? How, if you again, I’m taking it back to a relationship with the people is that the is how, if you really keep that person in mind, whether it’s in the salon or at a show or at a competition or whatever that might be I can remember there was this. This we were working with this Russian model, and we’re going on the road with her all the time. And to most people, she was a royal pain in the ass. Pardon my language. But, you know, I just made fun of her to her face, you know, in a fun way like a friend would do to another friend. And she always had this. Our whole team was making fun of her on it. The only thing I did is I just did it to her face, you know, because she would go oh, this is so horrible. And she would start her wine thing, and then she would do something and I would just make her laugh. And I would just go, Oh, yes, it’s so horrible. And she would laugh like crazy. And then it didn’t matter what we did. It’s just like that. But it’s a relationship. And don’t let all other people’s negativity get in your way when you’re trying to do Just do your job. So you can’t make excuses. But it’s fun. And I love that. I love that you do that. So but

Dean Banowetz 55:25
you also need to find out what works for you. Yeah, because you can’t take on that energy all day, you’ve got to do something to block it and just check it and move on and have fun with it. So many, you know, because Simon Cowell, he’s been a client of mine for 22 years, I met him when he first came to idle. And I was like, Is he really that mean? And I go, he’s one of the nicest people. He hates it when I say that, because he thinks I’m ruining his reputation, which I think is, but he is one of the the nicest guys. And there’s a difference when you match that energy. And that’s exactly what I mean, even if it’s that negativity, when you check someone like that, it, it either is going to really piss them off. And you’ll probably be exited from that at that space. Or it checks them. And you they understand what they’re doing. Because sometimes people are oblivious to it. And he’s always been super kind to me and my family. And I think having kids really softened him up a lot to the public. But he’s always been really great to me super picky. But I appreciate. I appreciate when people know what they want. And they can Yeah, yeah,

Chris Baran 56:40
because I think there’s a difference between being to being a pain for being a pain or for, for upsetting people just to upset them. And I know that at the beginning, certainly a lot of people didn’t like him at didn’t like him for that. Right. But you know, I would go well, you know, I wouldn’t want that person on for making a million dollars. So what are you getting so upset about just because you told them the truth? But here’s my question. Did that happen to him? Were they you know, let’s face it every show, if you’ve got to have some drama on the show, to make a real was was he was that appointed to him? Or is it something he just did in previous shows? And that was became his trademark or? Well,

Dean Banowetz 57:24
no, he, he um, I think he’s he was just like that, because he’s been in the music industry for a long time. And if you don’t speak up and say what’s on your mind, you will get overlooked and you become a yes person. Yeah.

Speaker 1 57:40
And he just is he’s done. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That makes yes person. And he

Dean Banowetz 57:46
just, he just, he just leaned into that. And that was so new in the US, because no one would ever say you’re a horrible singer, because we just wouldn’t do that. But sometimes, you know, people just need to be checked, I guess. Yeah.

Chris Baran 58:03
You mentioned something in there about, because I know that you do classes as well, because here’s gonna be the thing. Everybody’s gonna listen to this and know that how can I get into this? How can I do that? And I know that you have you have some classes that you teach us. So just Could you give us just a like a brief oversight on what those classes are? Because I want to go back and and just forgive me for a second because I wanted to write this down. And, I mean, I haven’t hardly looked at anything that we’ve done here. So I gotta find the question of where I want where I had it. But here’s what here’s what people said about the classes and this was your set hair, one on one bootcamps and the drag weeks wig styling and I think I want to come out I’d love to take that class just so because I love weight making wigs i That’s been my specialty what I love making them from scratch. But I would really love to do that. But here’s what people said about Dean. He said he’s personable. He’s realistic. It’s fun. You learn you learn the secrets from behind the scene, the scenes is easy to understand. And what is one that I’d like to see, they said it builds my confidence. Because I never thought that I could ever do this. And they said they said you put it in such an easy way that everybody comes away feeling great about themselves and what they can do. I love that. Can you tell us a little bit about the class? Well, you

Dean Banowetz 59:26
know, I’ve just like in the beginning, I was always trying to find classes that would teach me how to do hair for TV and film and there’s just they’re not i i found one and I’ve never ever seen anything else. And so when I moved to LA and started working on set, everything was trial and error for me. I had never been on a soundstage. I didn’t even I didn’t know all the ins I didn’t know what a fire lane was. I didn’t know all of these things that are honest on a huge soundstage and terms and chain of command. I’m like What is it RIP do What does you know what, what is the utility all of these things, I had no clue. But I’m also I was in the union, because I started non union, then I got into the Union when I was working on Idol. And if you’re a union member, they expect you to know all these things. And I had no clue. And when I was on set, I would I hustle like crazy. If I’m there, like, oh, we need to put this and we need to do a wig wrap. And I was like, Oh, I don’t know how to do that. And I’m like, I hustling everybody around me watching them, and replicating what they’re doing. And that’s how I was learning. And I was like, there’s no place for people to learn. So the reason I created this, that hair 101 is because it demystifies all of those things, I didn’t know how to do a fracture wrap for a wig, I didn’t know how to do all of these other things, I didn’t know how to measure someone’s head for a wig, I didn’t know how to make a casting for that. And those are all the things that we talked about in the set one on one, and we have set 102 That just elevates it out, like creating small caps. And, and like you said, being able to create a wig from scratch, that might not be one that you’re gonna use, ready to wear every day. This is a specialty thing for for a scene or creative. And, for me, that’s one of the reasons I moved into my loft is because I wanted to create space for that. And Johnny, who does the drag wig styling class with me, he worked on that show legendary, and we built so many drag wigs. And he used to work at Disneyland for 10 years. And so he did the character wigs and all of these things of how you know, to manipulate synthetic hair to work to your advantage. And I was like, these are fun classes. And it’s it’s for people who want to do what I do. And all I want to do is mentor because, you know, when you really think about it, we have to relay our knowledge to others, in order for the craft to carry on. And there’s so many people in this industry that I’ve learned from who are no longer around. And I feel I feel like it is a responsibility to to create that magic, if you will, and enlightened people. Because trust me if I was, you know, born and raised on a farm in Iowa, a member of a 15 kid family, if I can do it, anyone can do it providing you know what to do, and you’re coachable. Yeah, and everybody who’s come to the classes, it’s been a really great experience. I don’t take any I don’t take more than 10 people at all, because I want to make sure everybody gets that individual attention. Because I’ve been to big classes, and I feel overwhelmed and feel like I’m not hurt, I’m not heard. And eight is my sweet spot. For for, for attendees. And, and I have another set here, one on one class coming up. I believe it’s in September, the first weekend of that. And there’s a drag class coming up in July. And those are the things that I love, because we’re looking for new styles. And we you don’t even need to be a hairdresser to come to the drag styling course. It’s just if you have a fascination for styling, and we had so many people that came to the drag class and they were overwhelmed. They’re like, I’ve never done this, I don’t know. And I go we’re doing it step by step, we are doing this section, we’re going to teach you exactly how to roll. And trust me by the end of these two days, you will be surprised at your level of success. And people were like, damn, I did that. I did that. They were so mesmerized, and I go Yeah, and you get to take it home with you because it’s yours. And wow, we have the best time.

Chris Baran 1:04:05
You know what? I don’t know where I didn’t get to dance to hardly ask you any questions I had really written down other than a few but I’ve got to have you back on here again. So I’m always available. And I want to run to a rapid fire rate. And it just, I’m gonna throw stuff at you first thing that comes to your brain. What turns you on in the creative process.

Dean Banowetz 1:04:30
The thing that creates magic with me is when I can use unrelated items and create awesome hair.

Chris Baran 1:04:38
Love it, and what stifles the creative process for you negative

Dean Banowetz 1:04:42
people on a team

Chris Baran 1:04:44
and go a thing in life in life in general that you love the most.

Dean Banowetz 1:04:53
My mom kept a diary since she was 12. She died at 94 and when she passed I started journaling. Every day, it has changed me completely. Wow, I

Chris Baran 1:05:06
love that. And then life as a whole, what do you dislike the most?

Dean Banowetz 1:05:11
i It’s always it goes back to negative people. Because I just don’t want to surround myself with any of that energy.

Chris Baran 1:05:20
Industry. What do you love the most? In

Dean Banowetz 1:05:24
this industry, I love that people are creative and open, we touch people for a living. I take it really seriously and I just people count on us for taking care of them. And I just think that’s a great responsibility.

Chris Baran 1:05:43
And in our industry, what do you dislike the most?

Dean Banowetz 1:05:47
Ego?

Chris Baran 1:05:51
Yeah, because it can run rampant, doesn’t it? A person that you admire the most

Dean Banowetz 1:05:57
person that in or out of hair

Chris Baran 1:05:59
doesn’t matter. Just the one that hits you in hair.

Dean Banowetz 1:06:02
I have three mentors and bray Sharon Blaine and Tim Walsh, those those three have inspired me so much. And each one of them has built my confidence up more than I could ever even imagine. Yeah, love them.

Chris Baran 1:06:21
Your most prized possession,

Dean Banowetz 1:06:23
my most prized possession? Oh, geez, do you not I mean, I the awards and everything are really great. And they are. They’re wonderful. And I feel like I strive even harder to make my family proud. And my my greatest accomplishment is when I get an Emmy nomination, and I can take my family as my plus one. Yeah, it is such it’s such an honor to be able to do that. Like physical possessions. I don’t know. I’d probably say I have a really awesome picture of my mom that I just love. Yeah,

Chris Baran 1:07:05
that’s sweet. You know, it’s interesting. You mentioned Sharon blamin. I think we just did win with her. I think just the beginning last week, and she’ll I think she’s going to be on. I think our next week’s session

Dean Banowetz 1:07:17
will tell her Hello, because I adore her. She’s great. Yes,

Chris Baran 1:07:20
she is. I’m trying to I’m trying to get her organized with a couple of there’s a trio of them with a share with Sonya dove, Sharon and, and candy. Candy Shaw. And then I’m trying to get all three of them together and one which I think should be hilarious. The person that you wish you could meet,

Dean Banowetz 1:07:41
you know, a person I’ve always wanted to meet with Jimmy Carter. Oh,

Chris Baran 1:07:45
I think we’ve got a couple of we got to make it happen. He’s only got a while hopefully more than he

Dean Banowetz 1:07:51
I mean, it’s close. But you know, just he has just been, you know, the stuff that he’s done for habitat, humanity and just the relationship with him and his wife and how they liked each other. There’s just something very inspiring about him. Yeah,

Chris Baran 1:08:06
I agree. Something that people don’t know about you.

Dean Banowetz 1:08:10
People that don’t know about me. Um, oh, God, I’m an open book. That is the hardest. Yeah, I’m pretty transparent. I mean, but you know what I have to say we I think every single we all have our insecurities. And so those are the things that, you know, I work on and I’ve been, you know, addressing those this past three years and just enlighten.

Chris Baran 1:08:38
Yeah, it’s funny, the number of people that I talked to on hearing insecurity or, you know, just you know, being a worried about being found out as a fraud or whatever. We all know those, those feelings. So it’s interesting. If you had a month off, where would you go? What would you do if

Dean Banowetz 1:08:59
I had a month off? Can’t be here. If I had a month off, I would probably either take a cruise for a month, because I’m all I love cruises. I’ve been on like 20 Some, I would either do that. Or I would rent a house in Hawaii and just walk everywhere. That’s another favorite place. Yeah, love it.

Chris Baran 1:09:23
Some. Excuse me. Something that terrifies you.

Dean Banowetz 1:09:30
Anything underwater? Oh, really? Yeah. I don’t know if it’s cluster phobia. I don’t know. I love the water. I just don’t want to be in it.

Chris Baran 1:09:39
Or under it specifically? Yeah, it’s good for drinking or mixing with drinks. Right?

Dean Banowetz 1:09:44
How funny that I love cruising. I’m on top of that. Well, there

Chris Baran 1:09:47
you go. There you go. Favorite curse word.

Dean Banowetz 1:09:51
I take it from my mom. She would always say Son of a biscuit. She says she would say it all the time. It just cracks me up.

Chris Baran 1:09:59
Yeah, Haha love it. favorite comfort foods? favorite

Dean Banowetz 1:10:02
comfort food? I love ice cream.

Chris Baran 1:10:05
Oh, what flavor?

Dean Banowetz 1:10:08
I can anything with caramel.

Chris Baran 1:10:11
Oh, me too and peanut butter something in the industry that you haven’t done but you want to, you know,

Dean Banowetz 1:10:19
I um, I’ve always wanted to work on a complete film I’ve helped out on you know, like Hunger Games and you know a bunch of different movies, but I just don’t want to have to, like uproot from my home for three months and go on location. That’s the only thing that bugs and they don’t shoot any films in LA.

Chris Baran 1:10:43
Yeah, the Okay, so the let’s see, where am I at here? If you had one do over in your life, what would it be? Do over?

Dean Banowetz 1:10:56
One Do you over? Um I don’t know. Do you know what Honestly, when I bought my first house in LA, I wished I would have done a better budget because that house you have a lot of work.

Chris Baran 1:11:14
Okay, here’s one that you’ll find really interesting. Tomorrow, you couldn’t do hair? What would you do? Oh,

Dean Banowetz 1:11:21
I would either be an interior designer and event organizer. Those two speak to me quite a bit. Yeah, love

Chris Baran 1:11:29
it. Okay, now. So I’ve got one last question here before we sign off at the end. But before I do that, well how do if people want to get on your classes or they want to get a hold of you? Or find out how you can help them? Where would they go

Dean Banowetz 1:11:44
to my website, which is Hollywood hair guy.com There’s a little menu, click Courses and it gives you all the details and you can sign up for my email list. And the email list is really kind of fun too. Because we we do a lot of different things that you don’t necessarily think about in entertainment. You know, it’s like how do you land your first gig, all of those, all of those things. And of course, my Instagram de banno and my Tik Tok both of those have really great tips tricks and just kind of a behind the scenes of what I’m doing on a daily. Yeah,

Chris Baran 1:12:19
I agree. Okay, so, last question. If you had one wish for our industry, what would it be, um,

Dean Banowetz 1:12:28
one wish for our industry. Um, you know, it’s an i i really enjoyed the hair shows back in the day, in the 80s and 90s. And just the level of participation, I remember going to, you know, the Chicago show, and it would be just massive in this energy. And it I mean, there’s definitely energy now but it is very different. And especially my wish would be probably more control over retail.

Chris Baran 1:13:17
Oh, interesting. Because most people just

Dean Banowetz 1:13:20
buy it online away from the student the salon, so it takes money out of that industry. So probably that honestly. Yeah.

Chris Baran 1:13:29
Yeah. Well, Dean, I, I just have to say, first of all, Son of a biscuit. It was great to have you on here. It was, it was a really a really, really good time. And I want to thank you for that. It was a pleasure. Appreciate it. Oh, anytime, anything that I can do to help or whatever, I’m always there. So just thank you and it was a pleasure and listen for all the people listening and watching what we’d really appreciate if whatever platform you’re on if you could just go on that platform and and just give us a good rating on there. This so we get more people that are watching great people that we have out there like Dean would really appreciate you so in the meantime, Dean, absolute pleasure and Son of a biscuit. We got to have you back on here again. Yes. Thank you. Thank you