Hair’s How: What do you think about the comparisons to Jersey Shore?
Christy: It’s disappointing. I don’t dress or act like them, so it upsets me that people have lumped our entire cast into a ste-reotype. If you watch Jerseylicious, you see that many of us are very different from “The Situation” and Snooki. I’m a profession-al, running my mother’s business and don’t compare myself to that show whatsoever.
HH: How did you connect with Style Network to do this show?
Gayle: This past summer, a friend of mine heard they were looking to do this show and thought this would be good expo-sure for all the hard work my daughter and I went through with our renovation. We went out to meet the Style Network team, and everything happened from there.
HH: What has been most and least fun about the process of letting cameras into your life?
Christy: The hardest part about letting cameras into our lives was the preparation. We both work full time at Gatsby and added film-ing into our previously existing schedules. Doing this type of show isn’t something that most people get to experience. It was fun and we’re very happy to have done it, however we were overjoyed when filming wrapped because we could finally sleep and rest.
HH: What’s it like to work together, mother and daughter?
Gayle: Having your family backing you in your business, you have no worries. It’s always nice to have daily support at work from someone as close to me as my daughter. My daughter is an extension of myself. This is a blessing but can some-times become a drawback. We are the same person separated by decades. We can be hard-headed and stubborn which can make life and work interesting.
Christy: I absolutely love working with my mother and at this point in my life, I wouldn’t have chosen anything else or anyone else to work with so closely. However, try-ing to keep our professional and personal lives separate is the hardest part. We are so similar, it sometimes causes disagreements. But I’ve had years of practice separating Gatsby Gayle from my mother Gayle.
HH: What is your idea of Jersey style? Would you agree with your make-up artist Olivia that it’s about “big hair, long nails and a dark tan?”
Gayle: NO! Jersey style is about personal preference and personality. Each person represents themselves differently, but doing it in a classy, fashionable way is what defines Jersey style.
HH: What do you think of the negative stereo-types of the Jersey look?
Gayle: I’m not offended by them. I know who I am and what I am so what others think doesn’t offend me. I know many people throughout various parts of the state and none reflect this stereotype. It makes me laugh more than anything.
HH: What celebrity’s style do you most admire?
Gayle: I love Sarah Jessica Parker’s style. She’s unique, high-fashion and classy. She has a deep passion and affinity for clothing and fashion. I am never disappointed by her style, only inspired.
Christy: I adore Jessica Simpson’s personal style and quirky personality. She’s beautiful as she is and embraces who she is as a person. Her beauty radiates no matter what she’s wear-ing and I love that.
HH: What celebrity would you love to make over? What would you do?
Gayle: I love Julia Roberts and especially love her will-ingness to change her look. She always experiments with her color and cut so I think she’d be a lot of fun to make over. Due to her various looks throughout the years, I’d think she’d be open and adventurous.
HH: You both have such gorgeous hair. Is it naturally straight? Do you style it yourselves?
Gayle: We both have very thick, curly hair and it takes a lot for it to look gorgeous. We style it our-selves on a daily basis with the help of quarterly Keratin Treatments (an anti-frizz smoothing treat-ment). Our staff has become quite accustomed to help-ing us tame our unruly locks.
HH: Bumpits — pro or con?
Christy: CON! If you can’t tease your hair yourself, then you shouldn’t be creating this style. Plus, the bumpit is plastic and looks fake.
HH: What’s your favorite make-up look for summer nights?
Christy: My favorite make-up look is simple and classy. Using a little mascara, blush and lip gloss, I let my sun-kissed, bronzed skin radiate.
Gayle: Me on the other hand, I always wear a full face of make-up but I like to change up my color scheme from winter to summer months.
HH: What about days?
Christy: My signature summer hair style is wearing hair slicked back in a ponytail that’s braided. The heat and humidity of the summer months can sometimes be too much to blow-dry my difficult hair — this look is easy and fun!
Gayle: I like to curl my hair with a larger barreled curling iron rather than re-washing my hair everyday. It gives you a new look for that day’s work and doesn’t over heat you like blow-drying does.
HH: What’s your top complaint when it comes to unruly clients/customers?
Christy: The most difficult position to be in at a salon is working the front desk. When stylists are running behind or call out sick from work, clients rightfully get upset and sometimes agitated, taking out their frustrations on the desk. They never tell their styl-ist how they feel because that’s the person in charge of their hair. You don’t want to upset the person holding the scissors. On the other hand, stylists take out their frustrations on the desk when their clients are late or don’t show up. Again, the desk becomes the scapegoat because stylists don’t want to tell their clients how they’ve upset them because the clients are their livelihood. It’s a tough spot to be in.
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