Dave Mazza of Champions Hair Salon in Lake Forest, California has an amiable manner and a strong focus on client service. His cell phone ringer greets you with a sound byte from the film “Napoleon Dynamite,” a reflection of his light-hearted and charismatic style, as I would soon learn as we talked about his craft and its industry.

MM: Where did you go to beauty school and what was that experience like?

DM: The school was called Elegante and at the time there wasn’t much else out there. I mean I didn’t really think about what type of school I went to, I just wanted to go to a beauty college and get a license. I went and that experience was a lot of fun. It was scary because here you are cutting someone’s hair and you don’t know what the heck you’re doing, but you kind of figure it out. I was very visual in my learning so I could look at something and copy it. It was a lot of fun.

MM: How did you get started with your own salon?

DM: That happened at a very young age. I was 21 or 22 years old.  It was almost like I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into. My partners and I decided we wanted to do our own thing and have our own ideas and we wanted play this type of music and have this type of look and take care of our clients this way. We all put together a little bit of money and we opened up in back of another hair salon, which is crazy to think of, that you would walk through the front of this big hair salon in Orange County (to get to Champions). There used to be an aerobic room in the back where they did aerobics and the floors and the walls were brick and I thought “this is really cool.” I could care less where we were.  I didn’t care if we were at a storefront location, our clients are going to come to us no matter what and that was our philosophy.  So we opened up and literally if you came to me for a haircut, you’d walk in the salon looking around “Um, is this Champions Salon?” and you’d look around they and say “Where’s Dave?” You’d walk past the hairstylists, manicurists, aestheticians and then into a barely 500 square foot room and there we were, rockin’ hair. It was fun.

MM: What clients did you get initially? A lot of rock ‘n’ rollers?

DM: You had some people like that. My philosophy is you want to appeal to everybody. So if we had people who came to us that were in bands or were art students, I wanted to do hair for their mothers who were in knitting clubs. I couldn’t care less. I wanted to do people’s hair and make them look great.

MM: What do you look for when you employ a stylist?

DM: First and foremost, I look for somebody that is a good person. I feel like I can teach somebody to cut hair. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve had come and work for us that have been the “greatest hairdressers,” that are stars at beauty college and a lot of the time what comes with that is a bit of an attitude. I don’t think that’s attractive for clients. I don’t care how good you are, or where you’ve been or what you’ve done. People who come in just want to get a haircut. They want to look good. I look for personality. I look for character. I look for somebody that cares enough about the business to dress the part, to do their hair or (lack thereof like myself) and wear their makeup right. All those things are important because that’s what our clients look to, so if our assistants and our new stylists can do that in the beginning, they’ll always do it. If they can’t do that in the beginning, then they’re going to struggle down the road.

We kind of control that barometer in a sense. People look at us for fashion and clothing.  It’s like “what music are you listening to, what restaurants are you eating at, what movies have you seen?” So culturally you have to be there as well.

Interview continued below... 

Photos of Dave's work: 

Before Makeover Before Makeover

After Makeover After Makeover

After Makeover After Makeover

After Makeover After Makeover

After Makeover After Makeover

Emilie de Ravin Emilie de Ravin

Emmanuelle Chriqui Emmanuelle Chriqui

Emmanuelle Chriqui Emmanuelle Chriqui

Interview continued...

MM: Did you put a lot of thought into the ambience, set-up, décor, and music of your salon?

DM: Absolutely. I always wanted to be pretty progressive. And with that, we needed a welcoming face in the front. My receptionist knows when someone walks in and is looking a bit insecure so I want that person to be extra friendly to them.  I want our clients to feel welcome. The music we play tends to be on the progressive side of the spectrum.  Goldfrapp and Muse are some of our favorites.

MM: Do you have any famous clients?

DM: I did hair for Courtney Love for an awards show, Emmanuel Chriqui from “Entourage” and Emilie de Ravin from “Lost.”  We’ve also had local sports guys like Paul Kariya from the Ducks.

MM: What was Courtney like?

DM: She was great. We were up at a hotel in Beverly Hills doing an event for the Golden Globe Awards and she came in unannounced. The makeup artist came over to me and it was late. Our PR guy at the time was kind of annoyed and said ‘I don’t really want to hang out, its your call.”  I’m like “Are you kidding?” The makeup artist did an absolutely amazing job. I did her hair and put some curls in it. She ended up getting a photo in the L.A. Times the next day.  She didn’t talk too much, but she was really nice.

MM: Where do you see the hair fashion industry going, business wise and style wise?

DM: From a business standpoint, I’m such an advocate for it.  What a great job for people who struggle in school.  I think I have a bit of ADD! I joke about it.  I have to be five places in half an hour between the phone ringing in the front, somebody wanting to talk to me, my client needing to be taken care of and someone needing her bangs cut.  So what a great job for a kid in high school if you don’t have a college career going on or don’t want to be in an office where they won’t be happy. This job provides so much fun, energy and freedom and on the back end, you can do well financially.
On the fashion side of that, it’s always evolving constantly and the most important thing that hairdressers need to understand, is when that client leaves the hair salon they have to love their hair. Whether a Posh Spice bob looks good on them or not, you need to tell them, “Yeah that looks good on you.” You’re going to get more clients from that. And you’ve got to be smart enough to tell them (if the Posh Spice cut isn’t appropriate) “Your facial features will allow for this type of cut.”

Contact Information:
Champions Hair Salon
22722 Centre Dr. Ste. B
Lake Forest, CA 92630
949-455-0221

Photography: Header by James Lai

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