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Black Hairstory

Stylist Spotlight

Ellin LaVar

Ellin LaVar has been on my radar since I became interested in hair as a profession in 1990, now Im a huge fan of the late and great Whitney Houston, and when I did a little research and learned that Ellin was responsible for keeping Whitneys coiffe, COIFFED.... I fell in love with the talent. I later found out that Ellin was also the force behind the pin straight, razor sharp hair of Legendary (Blackgirl) and supermode Naomi Campbell, When she was nine years old, Ellin started braiding her sister's hair, and soon all the girls in her Mount Vernon, New York, neighborhood were lining up at Ellin's door. By age 14 she had her own chair at a local salon, and at 16 Ellin met Susan L. Taylor the then, Essence magazine's fashion and beauty editor. Ellin created Susan Taylor's trademark hairstyle and has been braiding the editors hair for the last 20 years. While still in her teens, LaVar helped develop a new method for hair weaving that revolutionized the art. She created "Invisible Braids," a technique that, for the first time, made weaves look completely natural. In 1979 Essence magazine featured the new look, bringing Ellin LaVar instant international recognition and 

Hair is Ellin's passion. For all of her life, it seems, she has loved designing new hairstyles and creating natural looking hairpieces and wigs, which she has often made herself. Dozens of magazines and newspapers have profiled Ellins work and when not flying around the world to work on films and with clients, LaVar works in her welcoming and intimate salon, LaVar Hair Designs, on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Ellin also spends much of her time promoting her hair care line, Ellin LaVar TEXTURES, which is carried in all CVS/pharmacy drugstores across the country, making her the first black female to have a nationally distributed hair care line by a major drugstore chain. Thank You Ellin LaVar for being an ULTIMATE "Blackgirl" contributing your talent and creativity to the Folliclesandfashion industry.