Melissa Parizot’s work is a cut above the rest.
The celebrity hairstylist and co-owner of IGK Salon, who goes by MelissaWillCutYou on Instagram, has chopped the locks of style stars like Sofia Richie Grainge, Paige DeSorbo, Brooks Nader and even Sir Paul McCartney. Her bespoke cuts, which currently have a five-month waitlist, will set you back between $400 and $600.
But when Parizot moved to NYC in her early 20s, she was making just $8.75 an hour as a salon assistant.
Melissa Parizot/Instagram
“Surviving in New York on $280 a week is really difficult, but it’s also the thing that pushed me. It forced me to love what I do,” the beauty pro tells Page Six Style.
Parizot also quickly learned that even at a top salon, competition for clients can be fierce — so she harnessed the power of social media to reach out to influencers, offering them free trims in exchange for posts on their platforms. It worked.
“I got a few girls in, and then their friends wanted to come in too. And I still do hair for those girls today,” she says.
Parizot’s big break came in late 2018, when she lopped Hailey Bieber’s long, blond locks into a chin-length bob. The model’s new ‘do went viral, and requests from beauty editors and new clients started pouring in.
She says Bieber, who has fine hair, was excited by the prospect of a beauty reset; most celebrities and models subject their strands to daily damage through the use of hot tools and extensions, and a big chop can make a major difference in the health of their hair.
“You can hold onto hair that’s not working and have the length that you want, but what if we work with what you have and try to make your hair look its best where it’s at right now?” Parizot says.
Another early high point came when the hairstylist found herself in the home of a music legend.
“I got the opportunity to go to Paul McCartney’s house to do his wife’s hair, and that was pretty epic,” she recalls, adding that she wound up giving the 19-time Grammy winner a trim too — but was able to maintain her composure because she “didn’t grow up listening to the Beatles.”
“When you don’t really know how cool it is, you don’t fangirl,” she says. “Celebrities are real people! Discretion is always really important.”
While a short cut might’ve catapulted her career, these days Parizot is best known for her long, bouncy, layered looks. She also prefer cutting clients’ hair while it’s dry rather than wet, which gives her a full picture of the hair’s natural shape and texture as she works.
“I’m definitely known for very big, voluminous blowouts,” she says, but adds that she always tailors her cuts to her clients’ individual face shapes and lifestyles: “These voluminous looks are gorgeous, but at the end of the day, how many people are roller-setting their hair at home?”
And given the considerable cost and waiting time attached to her appointments, Parizot also considers the grow-out period before she starts snipping away; after all, some of her clients fly in from other continents for her services.
