Michele StuevenThe name Jay Sebring is often reduced to a footnote in the Manson murders. What the headlines never captured, however, was who Sebring was: a revolutionary hairstylist and the architect of modern men’s grooming.
Jay Sebring: Cutting to the Truth is the first comprehensive biography of Sebring’s life, based on exclusive access to family archives, collaborators, investigators, and never-before-released documents. Written by journalist Marshall Terrill (Steve McQueen: The Life and Legend of a Hollywood Icon) and Sebring’s nephew Anthony DiMaria, the book unearths a gripping true story of ambition, glamour, reinvention—and how it was all overshadowed by one night in August 1969.
In the late 1950s, barbers were getting $1.50 a haircut. When Sebring opened his shop on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles, everything changed. He not only broke the mold for what barbers were paid, but he also charged what he felt he was worth. At his peak, he charged $2,500 in August 1965 to fly to Ireland to cut George Peppard’s hair for the WWII film, The Blue Max. Stylists became the rage and were getting five times the amount that barbers were charging. What Sebring created from scratch six decades ago is now a $100 billion industry annually.
His revolutionary techniques and signature charm drew legends like Frank Sinatra, Steve McQueen, and Paul Newman to his chair, making him a trusted confidant to Hollywood’s elite.
In the book, the authors challenge several narratives in the media and pop culture, including the fact that the Manson family was a cult but instead cold-blooded killers, and also address current victim distortion and vilification. It explores the emergence of celebrity styling and the price of fame. The Sebring family has been fighting for decades to keep the convicted killers behind bars. The Los Feliz 3 Theater will be hosting a book signing and screening of Anthony’s 2020 documentary Cutting to the Truth, followed by a Q & A with the authors on Saturday, Aug. 9, the 56th anniversary of the murders.
Hair stylist Jay Sebring was flown in from Los Angeles to Dublin to cut George Peppard’s hair between takes of the film The Blue Max
6 September 1965 (Courtesy of Jay Sebring Collections)
Jay with staff at the Fairfax salon, circa 1962. His one-station salon quickly expanded to almost a dozen chairs. (Courtesy of Jay Sebring Collections)
Jay and Sharon on vacation in Italy in 1965. (Courtesy of Jay Sebring Collections/The DiMaria Family)