Fearless Hair Artistry and Timeless Style Secrets from Dimitris Giannetos

0:02Hey guys, welcome back to Shamanarchy. Today is a very special episode because we're going to be learning all about hair and the industry of professional hair design and professional hair.

0:30here with you today. Yeah, no, I'm very excited to chat with you because you're truly, you know, an expert in your field and, you know, you've worked with so many amazing influential people and your work is so influential and I can't wait to dive into that, especially from like a career standpoint, right? Because there's not enough here education, you know, for people who want to go into this field and they want to learn more about that. But I would love to start with you, Dimitri, if you can tell us about your background and what led you down this route for your career. Yes, my background. Oh my gosh, from where to start?

1:00I'm from Greece, from a small town in Greece called Thessaloniki. I went to the beauty school at such a young age. I was 15, almost 16. Funny story because growing up in a small town in Greece, like, you know, the queer community, it's still a thing. it was but I have a feeling it's still a thing like for example a little boy uh to want to be in the beauty world it was kind of a red flag at the time and so I lied to my dad I told him um I think I want to go to uh a barbering school uh to open a barber shop in uh my little village he's like oh that's a great idea of course when I went to the beauty school I never pursued the barbering even i have some of the most beautiful and amazing uh boy clients but um yeah the goal is to pursue my career in uh hair styling and yeah so i went at such a young age and i moved to athens in the capital city in greece i was there for 12 years um and i had a really nice career like i ended up being the ambassador for l 'oreal doing all these amazing covers for vogue magazine in Greece and I was 29 at the time.

2:19I was like, okay, what's next? What should I do with my life and career? And my best friend at the time had moved to New York and she's like, why are you, you're not coming here? And it was really, really hard decision because I was at the peak of my career in Greece. And I was like, you know what? I'll do it. I don't want to have regrets in life. And yeah, I took the decision. I moved to New York. But I'm very fearless in life. I was like, I feel, and this is an advice I want to give to people. If you want to succeed in life, you have to risk. Without the risk, you don't go anywhere. You just stay in your comfort zone.

2:58And you have the limit in your career, in your life. Not always the risk is going to be positive. It's going to take you somewhere good. But at least you try. if you have built a foundation you're going to go back and you're going to be still safe the only way to move forward in life and have new things come your way no that's so true I love that you said that and I really love that you speak from this place of you've really built your own way in this industry because I think a lot of times when we look at how hard it is for non-conventional people to make a name for themselves I mean I just find it to be it's I mean it's daunting you know for me even looking at this and seeing it and so from that perspective I mean when was the first time you know in your career where you realized you know this is going to be this is going to be hard like you know I gotta I gotta make a name for myself and you know what was that first hurdle that you encountered I came from a place of like being successful in my field on in And even Greece is a small country, but still, I was successful.

4:09I made it in my industry. I have tasted how that feels. And when I moved to New York first, first of all, it was very, very hard. Because, again, I'm very fearless, but I wasn't speaking any English. I always had a way to communicate. If I wanted to go to a coffee shop or a restaurant, I would find my way to communicate. But that was a completely different story. It was like I moved my life here. I was trying to put myself out there and find an agency to get representative. Even I wanted to take some meetings and I couldn't communicate. I remember the first time four models at the time had a hair and makeup department.

4:52And they asked me to go to a meeting. And I had this friend of mine put an email in perfect English like, hey, this is my work, blah, blah, blah. and because I had a really nice portfolio so everybody asked to see me on a meeting to take a meeting with me and remember I went there they put me in this big meeting room and they're like okay Dimitri tell us about yourself and I was like my name is Dimitri I can imagine how how it would be I mean I think like you know when it comes to hair this is the most fascinating part for me is that I think this is like the universal love language and beauty when I look at hair you know and that's why I'm so fascinated by your work because obviously you've worked with the most a-list celebrities I mean your work speaks for itself you know your art speaks for itself and that's where I I'm so fascinated by what you by what you've accomplished because I think when it comes to hair like I'm Indian you know by heritage and you know how much we love our hair right so it's like I spent so much of my life focusing on this and I realized you know even from a beauty perspective that like we all connect in some way when it comes to hair you know we can have we can sit down over coffee and talk all day about hair and that's what I would love to hear from you like what in your opinion like what is truly like what does beauty really mean to you when you look at the that word and what it right now like the way society is and the way that we're perceiving ourselves like what does that mean for you especially when you're approaching your work and working with such high-impact clients?

6:20It's what defines the personality to a person. It's what creates the personality, makes someone feel confident, makes someone feel pretty. I see if someone, they don't have a good hair day, their mood is going to change. So yes, I understand. It's very, very, very personal. And it's what gives me joy. Like I want to do to my client my best. And I see themselves in the mirror when they feel themselves, they feel good. They're going to have a smile on their face or people are happy or people feel sexy. People feel like it sets the tone. I feel the hair for me. Of course, it's the same with makeup and the same with clothes or your nails.

7:10Especially hair is the element completes the look. even with celebrities going to a red carpet if they have the most amazing outfit and the nicest makeup if the hair is not right something is off they're not going to have the confidence they want it really inspires me also having all these huge people trust me with their looks in such big moments also the pressure is very high Ahmed Gala, Gigi Hadid like because she's gonna be out there she's gonna be like uh if i don't do a good job and the hair looks not good she's gonna be the one to be jazzed like oh how she looks like that like why her hair is like that obviously this is gonna have a big impact on me but i want to make sure like uh i keep all my clients happy i love that and i love the looks you create i follow you on instagram and i'm always like in awe like you make the most beautiful styles and you you create the most beautiful styles and I'm always like curious you know when I see at your caliber I wonder what's your favorite genre or like maybe time period when it comes to inspiration for your styling to be honest I'm always thinking out of the box I feel the decades repeat themselves over and over and it's something I like about it because the hair is I like the hair I like is to be timeless you want to see a picture today I want to be like see the same picture in 20 years and feel good about it because some people follow all these trends and the trends sometimes can be a little aggressive and then you see yourself in a picture in 10 years you're like oh my gosh why they let me go out the house I feel this amazing era of the 40s the 50s the 60s those are my favorite decades but I'm always even I follow a I'm gonna do a retro hairstyle I'm always gonna try to put a modern twist I want to make it mine I want to make it cool because it's very tricky when you follow when you try to copy a look from the 40s or like something we did with Gigi at the Met Gala this year I'm always going to make it modern because it's such a fine line I love that I love that and I think it really shines through you know in your work I I think it's for me you know I've always loved the look like from the 60s the 50s I've always been kind of obsessed with that era when when it comes to even like editorial, you know, I used to be that girl that was clipping magazines.

9:42And you know what I mean? So I've always loved it. But it's such a hard style, I feel like to replicate because, you know, it doesn't look good on everybody. And especially if you don't know what you're doing. I mean, what are some of the biggest, I guess, hurdles that you see people might deal with when they're trying to recreate looks from like past decades? Here's the thing, you have to think of the tools they had back in the day and the tools they used to use to create these images like um back in the day everything would be with rollers like with hot rollers like that would be um the technique they would use to achieve these looks not that you have to use the hot rollers today but you have to kind of use the same technique with a hot tool so yeah like it's different techniques and it's something uh you have to have the foundation because another advice I wanted to give to upcoming new hairstylists.

10:34Some people, they start their career now and they're so focused just to learn to do the new trend. The hair is now, but you have to have the foundation. When you start your career, you have to learn everything. You have to learn to do the classic hair. You're not going to do it in everyday life, but you can use the foundation of it and make it yours, make it modern. So if something is going to separate you from the rest, because you see everybody now is like the clean girl hair look, which is beautiful. And I love it. And it's like something everybody wants these days. But if the trend is going to change next year and everybody wants to have, like, let's say the 60s bouffant with the volume and like flip bob, and you have to have the skills and it's something you have to practice for it.

11:23No, it makes sense, actually. And, you know, I'm curious, like when you're getting into the zone, right, whether it's for a campaign shoot or for red carpet, what does your creative process look like? I mean, do you have a storyboard? Is it intuitive? How does that work? It's always a teamwork. It depends the situation. And I'm a team player. I always like to create the look, taking as a consideration of others' opinions. What has to do with a celebrity? Let's say they're going to a red carpet. There are many people usually involved. There's going to be a stylist. There's going to be sometimes a creative director.

11:54There's going to be the makeup artist. So we're all going to put our opinions down. But for me, at the end of the day, the most important opinion is my clients. Because I want them, they're going to be out there. I want them to feel their best, to feel confident. Because their picture, their image, video is going to be out there forever. So if they don't feel good, if it's a decision I made with the rest of the team, and they don't feel good in this hair, then it's not right. Again, when it has to do the photoshoot, the photographer is going to be involved, the creative director of the magazine.

12:25So always many people involved. I love that. That's really cool. And, you know, I think it's really relevant for upcoming stylists and anyone wanting to come into the field because I think, you know, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong. I feel like your creative process has to be very central to what you're doing and it has to be something that you're, you know, kind of rooted in. So whenever you approach a new client, you know, you have to know, right, like where you're coming from. So like, I'd love to get your advice about this for anyone listening that's in the field or wants to come into the field about how to find that creativity in themselves and not just copy what they see, you know, like out there in media or social media, but rather like create something unique that's true to them.

13:08But it's also true to like exactly what you were saying, true to their client, true to a new vision, but it's still kind of incorporating, you know, inspiration from old things. You just have to be open. You have to look at everything. Like to me, I'm going to get inspired from being on the subway, for example, to see like how this cool young generation like to wear the hair. I'm going to take an inspiration runway, which most of my inspiration comes from there. and I'm fortunate enough to be to have worked in the past with Guido Palo which is like he's a creative genius he's the hairstylist in our era has created the most iconic look so I was a part of his team for a few years and it's where I learned fashion so always fashion for me is very important I'm always gonna see a Vogue magazine or an editorial suit or like I'm going to get inspired from everywhere, but I'm never going to copy the exact look.

14:13I'm going to make it my own. I'm going to like add one element from this look, one element from the other look. But you have to treat every client different. I think a mistake people do is like trying to, they have in their catalog four hairstylists, straight, a ponytail, the clean girl hair, mid part of a low bun, and then they're gonna do the same hair to all the clients this is a big big no no no because every face is different every every uh head shape is different like there are yes the trend is mid part but like not everybody can pull a mid part there are people very hands on their hair like i do jimmy more and she's hands on like and she loves to play with her hair and she has oh my Because guys, this luscious, gorgeous hair.

15:02So I'm going to be cautious if I'm going to make a look like she cannot touch the hair. So I'm going to approach the hair. I'm going to do it any different than I'm doing to Kim Kardashian. Kim, literally, the way you're going to set her hair, one hair is not going to move out the way. I admire her so much. I did a look with Sam Banks, I remember, one time. And one hair was poking her eyelash. and I would go personally crazy if I have something poking my eyelash and she was so patient. She's like, can I move this hair from here? It's going to ruin your look. I was like, oh my gosh, of course. So you have to have different approach to every client.

15:45Create what fits their aesthetic, their style. Also speaking of that, like always you have to read the room. You have to understand because our work and our, it's not only to do beautiful hair, is to have an understanding what fits to everyone. And for example, for me, I'm working with such a big genre of different clients, like from the lawyers, from the supermodels, from the pop stars, actresses. So everybody has different needs, but it's me have to understand what I have to suggest or what I have to propose to do for the look. read the room is such a such an important key to work with these people and succeed that's so interesting and i've always wondered like what goes behind that like when you're working with someone like kim kardashian like do you just like come in for her glam and then you you go with whatever feels good to you or does she like kind of guide you as to what she wants i mean how does that whole process work for those of us who have no idea yeah it's again it's again a teamwork it's like something like symbol she's gonna come and she's gonna be like uh oh shall we do that what do you think she's the nicest human being like she's again always gonna ask your opinion she's gonna trust uh my opinion so again if it's a big project there's gonna be as i said before like a stylist involved or a creative director involved and it's always teamwork but again i'm always going to give the final say and I'm going to ask my client do you feel good about like I'm going to finish the hair I'm going to I'm going to ask them how do you feel I want them to feel good I want to see themselves in the mirror and feel good about it and you have to have no ego because some people take it so personally and like if the client doesn't like it doesn't mean you did a bad job right just don't feel it some sometimes myself I do my hair I do every day and I wake up one morning and I'm gonna be like oh I don't feel this hair it's the same I had yesterday so it's not I did a bad job on my hair it's just like my mood is different so I want to make sure like they feel good in the hair I did to them and then that for me that's the most important so my curiosity is also in this idea of like you know how like everybody has their everyday kind of hair look like you know it's like whether it's a blowout whether it's you know curls every day what is like what is your like i guess recommendation for when we're trying to figure out like what's a good everyday go-to for us i mean do you suggest like ease when it comes to like the tools we're using or i mean what what's your take on that in terms of how we can find our routine hair hairstyle again it depends the age the hair texture is so many different aspects but my overall answer I'm gonna give you is try to keep your hair simple people get so confused like trying to be very creative and if sometimes you don't have the knowledge the results are the opposite than being good and always something looks very simple but simplicity is more elegant and more chic than doing something more creative like a ponytail it's so clean beautiful elegant classy and timeless if you want to follow the trend maybe don't do a slick back ponytail do like with a little mid part like you can adjust some things if you want or like there are people we don't want their face to be very exposed you can leave a little small piece of hair in the front so there are things you can adjust but always I feel a ponytail is like my go-to suggestion for everyone or like as i mentioned before the clean girl bun just do a beautiful sleek bun if you have like a beautiful afro like leave your afro like it's so beautiful i love like everyone keeps their hair their natural texture so not always i have to be like a blow dry with like many hot toes sometimes leave your natural texture but define your natural texture instead of transform your natural texture that makes so much sense i love that because you know i see a lot of times hair is one of those areas of beauty where like culture plays such a big role in my opinion in terms of like you know how you obviously how you perceive culture but then also how the world is allowing you to express your culture right and i feel like this really applies to women of color you know people of color because we we come from such different backgrounds right so exactly what you said like if you have a beautiful afro you shouldn't be scared to shine and and have that you know i think that's such a huge huge point because i mean i told you like i'm indian for me for a long time i was always trying to like do something with my hair that fit into the crowd you know even though my strands are thicker right so if you look at like caucasian hair you know this but like exactly 100 i didn't know what to do you know so yeah over that yeah that's that's my advice like try to highlight your natural texture to define your natural texture instead of transform always there's gonna be a mean you're gonna be bored like you want to be something different but we fall in this trap just trying to follow a trend like people I feel just sometimes get trapped to this just to follow a trend and why you have to create your own trend right you do that's so real I love that and I think that's also like it feeds into your confidence so much right it's like when you find your vibe and like what looks good on you it's like absolutely a confidence boost like the next level you want it you are the trend like make that happen and inspire other people right now i have to ask you dimitri because i have to know like what are your go-to products like things you've been like things that have always been in your kit you know or like for a long time you've used these products anything you can like kind of share with us oh my gosh my god literally if you're gonna drop me in an island with nothing i'm always i'm always gonna take with me the l net by l 'oreal paris is like the old school like you know the smell i i grew up with like uh my mom was using it it's the most iconic hairspray and it's the hairspray literally in every fashion week backstage runway it's the hairspray every everyone is using because it's like so easy to use it has um it's long lasting and then it's not heavy it's not sticky so i really love uh also i love because so many women suffer with the gray hair and you don't have the time to go to the hair salon every nine days some people have so many gray hair like every nine days they need to do a touch-up laurel perry's has this device called color sonic which you can like kind of touch up your grace and you don't have to waste like a a whole box because sometimes you just want to do your hairline so yeah it's this device it does it all itself and like uh you save so much money but don't waste like a brand new uh hair color so it's the perfect um device between the color appointments at the the hair salon and of course this root touch-up sprays from Laurel Paris again because you just spray on the roots and go even sometimes you want to do as I said the ponytail like our hairline has so many gaps and you just feel a little the hairline that's so I love that I'm going to find all these products because I have a big graying problem like I grade very early in my life so I'm always like trying to find new ways to like deal with that I think that graying hair is such a thing because women really struggle with this like i feel like when you start graying i mean everybody i keep saying women but it's everybody we have like this idea that when you're 70 that's when you start graying but no it's like nowadays everybody's starting to get gray hair faster you know so yeah my best friend like i started having a gray hair once he was 24 and also gray hair you know can be like a stress shock the body can have and all of a sudden like you wake up and you have so many gray hairs it's like yeah it's so unpredictable right no absolutely now i want to you know really kind of round things out and like get you to give us some advice for all of the wonderful people out there that might need advice on how to navigate this industry you know when it comes to either anything right like politics egos pace you know while they're trying to figure out how to establish themselves like any career advice you could offer of course like because it's something i learned the hard way by myself moving again from Greece here is like such a comparative industry I was kind of spoiled being just first in my industry on top of the world in Greece and when I came here I was like oh my gosh there are like thousands of talented people and how you're gonna highlight yourself out there like how you're gonna be the one is gonna clients gonna gonna book you I realize you just have to to be true to yourself you have to stay authentic because again as we said before people try always to copy something and like no when the original exists why people want to use the copy have no ego ego takes no one and nowhere i don't know we grew up in a society if someone give us an advice or try to tell us something for some reason, which I find is very silly.

25:12We want to give them a backtalk and tell them like we know something better, which this doesn't take you anywhere. Honestly, listen to everyone. And like, even if you don't agree, just go home, think what they told you and keep 5 % of what they told you. And at the end of the day, you're going to win in life. Because if you think you know everything and you're close to any new information, any new advice this is going to take you anywhere you're just going to stay in the same level for the rest of your life listen to people and read the room you have to adjust yourself in every different situation every different client and like when i'm asking uh when i'm looking for a new assistant the first thing i'm gonna ask read the room because i find it very important and work hard because there are such hard work people in the new generation but like i feel the majority and this comes from a place of the young generation grew up with internet and social media and everything so everything everyone feels has access to everything and you see an influencer do makeup to themselves and they're like I can't do makeup I'm a makeup artist no you have to put the work down you have to go through the hard route to learn and so yeah like now I'm like kind of quite in a good place in my career.

26:37I'm a stabilist. Like I'm working more than ever. Like you have to put the work down. Nothing is going to come your way if you just expect other people to do it for you. You have to do it yourself end of the day. I love that. I love that you're, you're really kind of putting that out there and sending that message because I couldn't agree with you more. I think a lot, we live in a time now where everyone wants immediate gratification, you know, in their careers. They're like, okay, immediately overnight, I should be a success. And it's just not possible. Like, you know, no matter what industry you're in, you're going to have to put in the long hours, you know, just like you said, like the hard work, you know?

27:12Exactly. And be passionate. If you're passionate, and I saw an interview also Oprah gave, it was so accurate because they asked her, why do you think people don't succeed? And she said, like, because people don't know where they want to go. And it's so true. People with strong vision and they know what they want to do in life. no matter what, like you're going to take, sometimes the path is not going to be always easy, but you have a clear vision. End of the day, you're like, I want to do that. I always knew what I want to do. I always knew I want to be eventually in America and work with these amazing people.

27:50And yeah, I found my way to be there. There are people still confused. They're going to, someone going to come their way. They're going to be like, oh, why you don't try this? and they're gonna be like oh you're right that's a good idea i'll try this and then they go out of their way so and then they get lost right they don't stick to the path like yeah you have to stay focused that's that's key well demetra this has been amazing and i am such a fan of your work i mean truly you create the most iconic no you do you make make the most iconic it creates the most iconic styles and i'm always like in awe of you know everything you post i i'm always following you and so I really just thank you for your your wisdom here and for for chatting with us today it's been so lovely of course it was a beautiful I'm so grateful uh you have me and yeah hopefully we're gonna get to do that again I would love that I would love that yeah if your schedule allows we got to do a part two yes yes thank you so much hey guys so I hope you love that episode please make sure to hit subscribe if you're tuning in to us on any podcast platform we are available on so many different platforms so wherever it is that you're tuning in just go hit subscribe you will be immediately notified when we publish new episodes this way you're able to tune in to amazing insights from experts brand founders industry leaders authors all the wonderful people that we host and that's very important for me because i love to hear from you guys and really understand what you love and what you want to hear more of.

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