Clayton Hawkins, Olivia Rodrigo's Hairstylist, Shares How He Landed His Big Break

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For Clayton Hawkins, doing hair was in his roots. “I’ve always been so obsessed with hair. Ever since I was a little kid,” he said. “My sisters would have wigs from their Halloween costumes and stuff. That was my favorite thing to play with.”

When Hawkins was a freshman in high school, he was getting paid by the seniors (yes, really!) to do their hair for prom. “I would be in ninth grade doing the seniors for prom, which, honestly, that felt more glamorous than when I do the Met Gala now,” Hawkins said. “To be in ninth grade and be doing seniors, I was like, This is Hollywood, baby.”

After graduating high school, Hawkins attended beauty school in his early 20s and eventually began assisting celebrity hairstylist Mark Townsend. Today, Hawkins works with some of the biggest names in Hollywood. His client roster includes everyone from Olivia Rodrigo to Jenna Ortega.

For the latest episode of Who What Wear With Hillary Kerr, Hawkins sits down with Editor in Chief Kat Collings to share how he landed his apprenticeship with Townsend, the summer hair trends he’s loving, and more.

For excerpts from their conversation, scroll below.

I've read that you began playing with wigs since you were a kid and even did people's hair for prom as a teenager. Can you tell me a bit about what sparked this early love of hairstyling and that journey in the early days?

I’ve always been so obsessed with hair. Ever since I was a little kid. My sisters would have wigs from their Halloween costumes and stuff. That was my favorite thing to play with.

My parents would buy me toys, and I’d be like, “Where is that wig that she wore for Halloween?” They were like, “Okay.” I was the fourth child. I grew up in L.A. My parents were like, “Whatever. We’re going to let him be him. He’s not hurting anyone.”

They sort of just supported it and were like, “Well, if he wants to do that, whatever.” So they started buying me wigs, and I started really doing hair. I would do my sisters' hair and stuff when I was 8, 9 years old—like at least curling my sisters' hair. They were older.

They were teenagers and their little 8-year-old brother would be doing their hair before the weekend.

Tell me about your first professional gigs when it transitioned from doing your sisters' and friends' hair to the real first job?

I kept going through high school, and I started doing my friends for prom. I would be in ninth grade doing the seniors for prom, which, honestly, that felt more glamorous than when I do the Met Gala now. To be in ninth grade and be doing seniors, I was like, This is Hollywood, baby.

I ended up going to beauty school in my early 20s, and then I assisted Mark Townsend, who's an incredible hairstylist. I met him through Elizabeth Olsen. She's my oldest friend. I was going with her to an event, and we were probably like 20 at the time, and Mark was doing her hair, and I just kept asking him questions and handing him things. I was sort of acting like an assistant, and he's like, “Wait, are you a hairdresser?” I'm like, “On the side, I am for fun.”

He was like, “You should go to beauty school.” I'm sure he just said it offhandedly to be nice or whatever, but I took him up on it, and then I emailed him every week for like a year until he finally responded.

If you had to play a little desert-island game, if you couldn't bring your whole kit for some reason, what are the top three things you would need to create a hair look?

I've had situations where my kit hasn't shown up, and I've been in Cannes and I don't have anything. That's when you just go and run and get a bunch of bobby pins and some gel. And you're like, “We're gonna do a really sleek, clean look.”

Maybe gel, a brush, and pins because you honestly can turn out a pretty cool look with that.

Thinking about the summer coming up, do you have any hair trend predictions for what might take off the rest of 2024 and into summer?

You know who's really killing it with hair? It's the boys. The boys are doing their hair, and this next generation of guys are having fun with their haircuts.

I feel like with girls, girls are always killing it. You see it all with the girls, but I feel like—and I say this as someone who does have a fade—but for the past 15 years, it was like guys only had fades.

Now we're seeing guys with mullets, we're seeing guys with shags, we're seeing guys with bangs, we're seeing so many different styles on guys, and I think that is so refreshing and exciting.

I think that just guys with that '70s rock-star hair is what we're gonna see a lot of this summer.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Next, check out our interview with celebrity stylist Dani Michelle.