From Aug. 28 to Sept. 13, for the third year in a row, Farel was selected to set up a temporary salon at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y., so that athletes could come in for a relaxing manicure and pedicure or to have their hair cut and styled or makeup applied.
In talking by phone with The Epoch Times, Farel said, "Every year things are improving. The more we move forward, we see that the players are different each year, starting to brand themselves [and] pay attention to how they dress. They use tennis to approach their own brand. Young players become celebrities and models, even if they're not in [the] top five. And the event is becoming more elegant, more like in Europe, more like a fashion show; spectators dress well. We're starting to see it in the U.S., which is great—it should look like a party!"
It was raining the day we talked, so no one was playing. But Farel watches as many matches as possible, partly because he is a great tennis fan and partly because he wants to support his clients. Most of the work he does styling and preparing the players and their staff is done during the day, so most of his spectator time is at night. He says he sleeps very little during the event, wanting to participate as much as possible.
This season he has styled the hair of players Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Gilles Simon, Jelena Jankovic, Nadia Petrova, and Na Li. Other clients who have come to him at the event are Ilie Nastase, Billie Jean King, Hana Mandlikova, Mary Jo Fernandez, and Hannah Storm.
For Jankovic, he cut her hair and gave her a new look—a 2009 style. He said the players do care about how they look. Imagine the challenge he faces, with the hours of time the players spend in the hot, humid weather jumping and turning and running!
Multiple Beauty Services
Asked how he is able to make them look good, he said: "Most of the time we cut their hair and style it, but nails are important, too. They use their hands a lot, and a pedicure is important because they are on their feet so much." He said he knows how important feet are since he runs every morning.
"We also do eyebrow shaping for the women. It's important to have the right cut and to protect the color; they spend hours in the sun. And we must use good products. Plage Phyto is good. For so many hours in the sun, products are important."
A New Technique for Styling
One of the ways he keeps active hair in place is with a new technique called HairThread, by which the hair is secured without any clips. He feels it is really good for people who want that specific look, and it is also good for layered hair. It stays for hours. With their hair held in place, the players can really focus on their match, Farel said.
When asked what he liked best about working in this location, he responded immediately, "The energy!" Only the participants have access to the salon, so it is celebrities and top-ranked athletes who come to him. He explains "Coming from a small town in France and now being with people from your dreams, I don’t take it for granted. It’s like a fairy tale."
The clients from this event continue to have him take care of them when they are in the city after the season. In fact, Jankovic’s agent asked him to come to the French Open. He couldn’t do it, but it was nice to have the chance. And he could recommend a good hairdresser in that area for her.
Asked how it works to have the players shift from a focus on their physical playing and performance to a focus on their physical appearance, Farel says simply, "Our job to make them look as good as possible, their job is to follow what their coach and all say and play well."
His Madison Avenue Setting
His salon on Madison Avenue is set up as a place to restore and rejuvenate his clients: "I’ve made this a sanctuary," he says. He used feng shui in designing it because he believes in energy and destiny. "Create energy with your team. Maybe a person is not the best soccer player, but they can be part of a winning team. A team needs synergy and energy. It can only happen if there's a nice friendship. When I come to work, I come to see my friends—the team is like a family. A client feels it. The client wants to come for more services and stay longer; they feel generous in that environment—you always want to help people who make you feel better."
Another welcoming feature of his salon is that there are receptionists who speak many languages. He said he has always believed that the world is small and that in a few years you’ll be able to fly from New York to Paris in one hour. The more languages you can speak, the better. He has speaks three already—Italian French, and English—and will need to speak Spanish soon, since he is opening a salon in Mexico.
He mentioned that Italian has been a lot more important than he expected. He is working with a lab in Italy to develop products, and he needs to be able to speak Italian with them.
At the salon, there is someone who speaks Romanian, someone who speaks Korean, Spanish, French, Arabic—almost all the languages of the world. Farel expresses the importance in this way: "If you are a client and you come to a place where they speak your language, it opens you up. You feel more comfortable, even if you speak English well. I developed an Italian clientele, and now I can speak with some Brazilians and Argentineans, too, who also speak Italian. Then they go home and tell their friends, and [through] word of mouth, the salon is known around the world. Yes I do believe in it!"
In closing, he talked about his response to his clients. "We touch everyone, from models to jet setters to sports or movie people—anyone can come to us; they are just like you and [me]. Everyone comes in the same way. When a client saves up their money to come see us, or if it is given as gift, they are treated the same as everyone else. I have that mentality from working as a kid. A person who comes in at 7:30 a.m. or at 9 p.m. gets the same treatment. If a client comes from Florida, changing airplanes three times to get here to have their hair cut, that person is just as important as people who fly here in their private jets. Both are just as important.
“We’re doing anything we can to support our clients to look great. Hair is the most important tool we have. We all have to work with what we are born with, whether we have money or not. We help you look good. Our motto: The client is most important. We have to give consistency and service, with this goal: If a client comes to us 10 times, 10 times they are happy. We sell the experience. We help with makeup, their total look, everything to make them look good.”