Interview with Annie Lorial

How did you get the name Simple Annie? Well, when I was born, I had a mole on my nose which was my birthmark, and my dad looked at me and said, ‘Oh look at little Annie Palmer.’ But my first name is Lorial, my middle is Ann, so that’s how Annie came about. So I’m Annie Palmer the white witch of Rose Hall! [Laughing]

Who was your inspiration to get into hairstyling? I always had a passion for hair. When I was little my mom got me all these dolls, and I’d start off with a haircut then a layered cut then a short cut then no hair, and the doll would be no use to me anymore. So she stopped giving me dolls. She said, ‘Yuk mek mi a waste mi money. Mi naw buy yuh no more dally.’ She had these French pillows, so I started cutting into those and she’d be mad and everything, but I up and became a hairstylist to all types—from celebrities, models, actresses, it doesn’t matter, or just regular people. It’s ironic that she named me Lorial; she just knew I’d be in the beauty industry.

What was one of your most memorable moments in hair school? I graduated top of my class in hair school. I went to Dudley, and I always had hair competitions with the other students and I basically won every competition, so they hated when I entered the competition. They would say it isn’t fair because I was gonna win, so they didn’t want to enter. So after my hair school experience, I started teaching cosmetology for a year. I decided that I didn’t just want to be behind the desk as an educator. I wanted to actually be on the floor doing what I love the best and that’s what I did. I did it for a year to experience it, and then I started doing hands-on hair all over again.

What are the top hair don’ts? Don’t sleep with cotton pillows cases; it dries out your hair. Do not apply double chemical process in the same day, that’s a definite hair don’t. You can’t relax your hair and then colour! You can’t bleach and then colour your hair the same day. Don’t cut your hair yourself. You know those people that like to give themselves a trim? That’s a big hair don’t.

What are the top hairstyles that look good on everybody? The number one hairstyle that looks good on everyone is the simple ponytail. The pulled back ponytail with the hair hanging from the middle is always gorgeous. You can do it with jeans, you could do it with a very sexy cocktail dress. It’s all in your moment—you can be very sophisticated or casual with a ponytail.
Then there is always the bone straight hair, just falling back and just letting it flow in its natural capacity. That’s very sexy. I love that. Then you have just the wet diffused hair, where you didn’t get a chance to do much to your hair and you just have it wet. If you dry it halfway, have it a little frizzy. It’s like the virgin girl look. That’s so beautiful.

What’s one of your best kept celebrity hair growing secrets? Well one hair growing secret that definitely works is extensions. When you want instant hair, the best hair growing secret is an extension piece. You can sew it in, you can clip it in, you can fuse it in. You can do any of that for instant gratification. There is nothing like clip-ins. You can have really long flowing hair, beautiful hair. If your hair is thin, you can clip in some pieces—it enhances your whole look. You look like a different person and everybody will look at you and say, ‘I don’t know what’s so different about you, but you look really good today.’ Hair enhances beauty every time!

What is a natural hair growing secret? Well, I work with all different types of hair, so if your ethnic black you have kinky hair and it’s natural. The best secret for hair growing is don’t ever blow-dry your hair. A lot of people believe that if they blow-dry kinky hair it’ll be straighter and easier to manipulate. But if you wanna keep that hair at its natural state and have it grow really long, what you wanna do is style it while it’s wet by adding palm aid, like a hair oil, or hairdressing and simply twist it and let it dry in its natural state. When I say twist it, you can use double strands, and if you have natural hair you’ll know what I’m talking about. Allow it to dry naturally and then let it out. It’s beautiful, it’s soft and it allows your hair to grow healthy without split ends.
Hairstyle Breakdown….PHOTO AND THEN DESCRIPTION.

What were you doing when you got the news about working with Serena Williams? Actually I know exactly what I was doing and I remember that very well. One of my clients was in the supermarket, and Serena Williams saw her hair and she actually got the number from my client and gave me a call about doing her hair. Serena called me and she was like, ‘Hi, I’m Serena and I’d like you to do my hair, and I’d like it to be Saturday.’ And I said, ‘Well Saturday is one of my busiest days. I can’t really do braids on Saturday.’ Because she wanted single plats all the way down to her butt, I thought there is no way I can do that on a Saturday because I’m full! ‘Well, I’m playing in Wimbledon.’ So I said, “Ok, no problem. I’ll reschedule all my appointments girl. I will be there.’ So on the Saturday I had an appointment with Serena Williams, my first celebrity client, and I braided single plats in her hair for Wimbledon 2001 and it was really good. She won! From there I just started getting referrals and it’s been really good for me.

Who are the other celebrities that you’ve worked with? I’ve worked with Mary J. Blige, Soledad O’Brien, Rihanna, Beyonce, Tracee Ellis Ross, Mya, I can go on and on and on. Keke Palmer, she is one of my favourites because she is so innocent and cute, I love her. I love Tracy because of her hilarious sense of humour. Rihanna, her and I got along great. I love her. She’s Bajan from Barbados and I’m Jamaican, so we click from the island aspect of our lives. I have a lot of people that are very close to me. I’ve worked with Sean Paul, who is cool with his crazy girlfriend, probably his wife now. [Giggles]

What would you say to people that would like to follow in your footsteps? I say never give up. Take pictures of everything you do. Keep a video log or a photo log of everything that you design, because you never know when you have to draw and pull from your creations to let people see who you are. Just by saying who you are is never enough; you have to show who you are.

What is your favourite part of the hair process from start to finish? I love the before because I always say to my clients, ‘OMG girl, you look a mess!’ When I see the after, I let them see what they looked like before and what I turned them into, then they know that hair is art and it’s magic! With good hair you can be in a busted bathrobe and everybody’s saying, ‘Damn you’re fly!’ But with bad hair, you can be in a Prada dress and you look like garbage. Hair is everything.

How important is hairstyling for people? Everywhere you go around the world, hair is everything! You can be in the Third World, where people are living off coconuts and mud pies, and everybody’s getting their hair done! They will find the money to do their hair. They can’t eat for a week, but they gonna do their hair.

If you were not in this profession, what else would you be doing? I guess I would be an actress because I took theatre so many years ago. I found school boring because I was so advanced. I think I’d just act because I can become different people. Without hair I guess I’d have to make up something, probably become a housewife and have a bunch of kids and do their hair. [Giggles]

What is your favourite hair colour to apply? My favourite hair treatment to do is to turn a dark haired person into a platinum blond in two services. Without damage! Only a bad bitch can do that!

What is your favourite hairstyle to do on long vacations? There is one hairstyle that you can do that always looks good. I call this the flat twist. It’s twisting your hair in double strands but flat to the scalp. The reason for this is you can swim—you can do everything in it. But right before you are about to go out on your big date, you pull that apart and it’s wavy big manes of hair just looking sexy and exotic no matter what colour you are. You can wear that and you look good all the time, and it’s very low maintenance.

What is your favourite colour? I like all earth tone colours, so I don’t really have a favourite. I just love earth tones.

What’s your favourite breakfast meal? Ackee and saltfish, and dumpling and banana!

What’s your favourite way to relax? Be locked in with my boyfriend and have sex all day!

Is there anything that you want the readers to know? Yes, please check me out on Inside Couture. Go to www.insidecouture.com and go to Jessica Sutta [one of the Pussy Cat Dolls] and watch her interview where I change her look excessively. I had fun doing it!

Personality Questions. (Finish the sentence approach)
Annie is happiest when … I’m working and creating what I love. When I see a person and they’re a canvas and I create art by fashion, face and clothes. That’s when I’m the happiest.

Annie feels the proudest when … I see my work on television or when somebody says to my client, ‘OMG you look amazing. Who ever did that?’ That’s when I’m the most proud—when my work actually speaks for itself.

Annie has plans to … Conquer the world! Pinky and the Brain better watch out! I wanna do big motion picture movies because I see what’s on the movies now and I can add so much more to what’s already there, and I believe that the more I watch and see what’s going on. If they give me a chance to create and see what I have inside, I will take over the world!

Annie thinks the secret to success is … Perseverance. I believe the secret to success is no matter how many millions of people tell you no, somebody out there will tell you yes and you never stop, you never surrender. You never give up until you get that yes that you need so you can conquer the world, that’s the spirit.