The Hairdresser

Carlos Cambelopoulos developed into a master of the hairdressing art, having started at the age of fourteen, cleaning sinks in one of the biggest salons of Cairo, across from the Opera House. Thanks to his talent, he soon became responsible for dealing with the wigs and the hair of the Cairo Opera singers, essentially doing actual sculpting with his hands, as he himself used to say.

At the age of twenty he got a diploma attending a hairdresser’s course in Paris, while he decided to live there. In Cairo, he had left behind an exclusive clientele, such as Farouks’ princesses and Lebanese aristocrats.

In Paris, initially he worked at Fernand Aubry Salon with clients from the arts and he later moved on to work for the famous Carita sisters, Maison de Beauté et de Haute Coiffure.

Carlos Cambelopoulos also travelled all over the world to deal with his clients. Maria Callas, Melina Mercouri, Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve, women from the world of arts and politics, as well as thousands of anonymous women trusted him, not only with their hair, but they also confided in him. Probably this is why the famous psychoanalyst Lacan had told him, half-jokingly: “You are a better confidant than me”.