The royal hairdresser speaks! What does Duchess Kate hide in her Sausage Curls of Secrets? Is Princess Anne able to cut someone with just her eyes? Does the Queen collect her royal follicles in her purse?! These questions and many more could be answered by a woman named Denise McAdam. Denise was the official (??) royal hairdresser for years and years, and now she’s part of a reality show in the UK. While promoting the show, Denise told all… except not really, because she’s very discreet. Still, she managed to shade Kate with one word (“overdone”) and it’s pretty clear that the Princess Royal is all about ruling through fear.
While the rest of the world continues to gush over Kate Middleton’s long, luxurious and flowing tresses, there’s one person who remains relatively unimpressed: former royal hairdresser Denise McAdam. Click here for more recent pictures of Kate.
“I think her hair is wonderful, maybe a little overdone at times,” McAdam, 55, said in a new interview with Radio Times magazine. “But she always looks lovely,” she continued of her “good friend,” the Duchess of Cambridge, 32.
“I don’t do the royals anymore,” said McAdam, who worked with the Queen’s family for about 35 years. These days, she has made the swap from royal secrecy to reality TV in a new BBC series called Hair — a styling competition show. “I’ve heard some very good stories from my clients over the years. I could write a brilliant book,” she told the Radio Times.
“There are things that William and Harry have told me. But you have to be discreet. That’s why the Queen awarded me the Royal Victorian Medal,” she went on. “It was for 35 years of keeping my mouth shut.”
While McAdam spoke fondly about most of her clients, ranging from her very first royal (and former movie star) Princess Grace of Monaco, to Sarah Ferguson on her wedding day to Prince Andrew, the stylist recalled working with one particularly terrifying member of the family: “Princess Anne was the scary one, particularly when I was young,” she said of Prince Charles’ sister, 63. “It was a simple up-do, so I just used to go in, close my eyes and do it as quickly as possible,” McAdam said of styling her hair.
Gearing up for her new show as a judge, McAdam will be joined by celebrity hairstylist Alain Pichon, who’s worked with David Beckham, Madonna and Claudia Schiffer. “Madonna has the best hair of anyone I’ve ever worked with,” Pichon told the Radio Times. “If you want it straight, it goes the best straight you’ve ever seen, but if you want it curly you get brilliant curls. Contrary to what you might think, she wasn’t difficult to please.”
I would love to know Kate’s hair secrets, but I suspect that we already know the big one: weaves. As for Anne and her up-do… it’s sort of a wonder that Anne even agreed to sit with a hairdresser. Anne just seems so… salt-of-the-earth. You would think that she would just tease up her hair and toss it in a bun herself, and it would take all of two minutes. Two minutes she’d rather spend on a horse, for sure.
I actually thought the Madonna part was interesting – who knew Madonna had a hairstylist’s dream hair? That’s the problem with my hair – I have “good hair” (Indian hair) if you just want to wear it long and not have any drama. But my hair refuses to take a curl. You can’t really “style” it at all.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Madonna looks scary these days.
Oh, that grill just irritates me to the point of wanting to slap her.
I’ve wanted to slap her for years. The most accurate quote I ever heard about her was apparently from Mick Jagger who summed her up as “A drop of talent in a sea of ambition”. Now, I don’t mind that — what does annoy me to no end is that ridiculous sense of entitlement and delusion. You’re twelve thousand years old, lady: deal with it.
I’m sorry but am I the only one that doesn’t get this hoopla over the length and style of her hair. There have to be more important things these ppl should be concerned with.
While you’re right, it’s not really important in the scheme of things, sometimes it is nice to just take a break from my work and read about something trivial and non important. It brings about some levity and breaks any monotony in my day.
I understand the appeal of fun gossip but why is the length and style of her hair so important to the royals
Oh, I see what you mean. I really don’t know. Maybe they are just so worried about public perception and the idea that her dress and grooming might point less to a charitable servant/benefactress/patron of the people (is that an appropriate view over in the UK?) and more like a self-absorbed party girl. It’s unfair, but we tend to judge people by their appearance all the time. This is just a guess though. I’m not really familiar with their culture.
I will always go back to that picture before they got engaged I think? With the “scar” that materialised on her right (left?) temple after years of not being there.
LOL. The Royal Family is hilarious.
http://www.celebitchy.com/188661/duchess_kate_does_not_wear_a_busted_weave_she_just_has_a_scalp_scar/
Is that scar real? If it is it would explain her reluctance to pull her hair back.
She’s pulled it back since and the scar is gone.
And she pulls her hair back constantly. After most engagements she goes shopping and her hair is pinned back into a bun or ponytail. She just wears it down most often for events.
@FLORC Do you know where any of the photos are that show no scar? (And ha Arrested Development!)
the scar is real, but she now uses extensions or a weave to cover it up IMO. Since the “scargate” pictures the scar is invisible. I bet her hair stylist uses an extra layer hair extensions to hide it. There is no other explanation. Her hands are always in her hair, then the wind, but suddenly her scar is gone?
before:
http://oi46.tinypic.com/2qmjgb7.jpg
after:
http://images.starpulse.com/pictures/2014/02/14/previews/Kate%20Middleton3-20140214-2.jpg
http://magazine.foxnews.com/sites/magazine.foxnews.com/files/styles/700_image/public/HAND.JPG?itok=3bOPxwNp
http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/dc/6f/1f/dc6f1f9d3120e0afe4e460b51a7ceddb.jpg
KBTX
I love Arrested Development! But I don’t get the reference:(
Alina
This scar thing is something i’m still not sure either way about.
This was the era of her PR being a nightmare. That they commented so quickly on it and said it was basically a scar from a serious childhood surgery, but refused to comment further… Childhood surgery?! Why even comment if you’re only bringing on more questions?
And haven’t you heard? That’s all her natural hair. *snickers*
But seriously, her weaves only improved as time went on. Maybe it’s a clip. Maybe a scar. Either way I don’t think anyone can confirm or deny what is actually going on there. We just don’t know and her photos are so heavily photoshopped i’ve stopped trusting them. Even her hair gets improved from the edits.
With some of those public/boarding school girls of that decade, it was considered the “done” thing to let your hair hang around, especially when those girls wanted to look appealing. Maybe her penchant for hardly ever putting her hair up for engagements is that she’s got that 90s hangover about it.
At that length, and what with all the gales we’ve been getting lately, she should reconsider and pin her hair back. Always touching her hair makes her look vain and vapid.
No idea about the scar… (if it is real, it hasn’t been THAT noticeable in other pics I’ve seen), but I love the dress she had on in those pics! Her posture is lousy, but that dress is beautiful! Loved her hair pulled back as well (scar/weave and all… lol). Whether the scar is real or not, she really needs to pull her hair back more. I have a feeling that even if she gets it cut… to say, shoulder length, she will probably still have it styled so it is hanging around/in her face… *sigh*
edit to add note to FLORC… saw your post after I submitted mine. I don’t see many pics of Kate shopping so I rarely see her hair pulled back/pinned up. I personally don’t care how she wears it when she is out shopping or whatever. I’m just sick of seeing it hanging in her face when she attends engagements.
If she really wears a weave it is the best match in hair I’ve ever seen. Usually they are a dead give away because you can match the color but not the shine/sheen. I have access to pro hair selections and wear clip ins for special occasions and getting the shine to match is almost impossible and you can really tell in pictures when a flash is used. That being said…Kate cut that hair!!!!
I can’t get over her TERRIBLE POSTURE in those pictures.
ARGH!!!!!
G*ds damn woman, pull your shoulders back and stand up straight!!! #princesslessonfail
Maybe it’s all those years of playing field-hockey–you know, running around hunched over with both hands on a hockey stick?
In that pic, Madonna reminds me of the Poltergeist 2 bad guy, that creepy preacher…ufff scary.
Yeah, Princess Anne is scary.
But in the words of Tina Fey…BITCHES GET STUFF DONE.
Amen!!!
I love Princess Anne and she does get stuff done, for real!!!
+1 So true!
I like her too. The Telegraph had different photos and one has Anne’s hair looking even more like a helmet than the one up top does. I posted on another blog that my first thought was it looks like Kim Jong Il’s did.
Things like this make me feel a little sorry for royals. Someone you trusted for 35 years stops working for you and starts exploiting your relationship by comments about personal things and “oh, the stories I could tell…” It must get old.
I agree, but she didn’t! I don’t think she can; I’d be amazed if she didn’t sign some sort of agreement.
yes we all know what she tries to say with “overdone”. Too much of all… sometimes Kate looks as if she has a big curly fake hairball on her head. Just too much.
Princess Anne… i´m surprised. Always thought she does her own hair. I mean she has this one hairstyle for decades… no big effort just like Anne is.
Kaiser you r lucky that you got the beautiful straight Indian hair…I got the frizzy Indian auntie hair.
It style easily but any moisture or humidity is like kryptonite and it instantly turns into a big frizz ball
I work with an Indian girl who has long hair. She changes the style about every half hour, I’ll look at her and she’ll have it down and flowing and look incredible, then I’ll glance at her and she’ll have a loose bun that looks incredible. Then I’ll look and she’ll have a long braid hanging over her shoulder that looks incredible. Then she takes the braid out and her hair is now wavy… its non stop. And I never actually see her do anything with it.
Madonna reminds me of Mae West or Mamie van Doren with her hair like this. Not a good look. I’ve always wondered why she doesn’t change up the style…?
Sausage Curls of Secrets
Ha! Love it.
Kate’s hair was over the top for a few years, but it actually looks nice in these photos. I think she has cut back on the extensions and toned down the teasing and curls. Nonetheless, I think she is still a bit overdone. She looked so much better and more “human” before the wedding. I’m sorry, but nowadays she looks like a manic eagle/princessbot most of the time.
Oh, I wish she’d write a book about all the juicy secrets she knows!!
Calling Duchess Dude’s hair “overdone” is kind. She looks like one of those small, long-haired dogs teased and primped in preparation of a doggie beauty contest. All she’s missing are some tiny satin bows.
Kaiser, i’ll buy your hair. I use indian hair for weaves. It’s the only type that matches mine in texture
Princess Anne is a hoot.
LOL I came on here to say “who would trust a hairdresser with such bad hair?!?” then I googled and realized that’s Princess Anne. I wonder how many Euros are wasted on the Royals. They all seem so patently useless, even the most charitable and hardest “working” ones.
LAK
If your hair texture is Indian I am officially jealous 🙂 My college boyfriend was Rajastani and the hair in that family! They were genteel (land poor) aristocrats who lost several fortunes after the end of British colonialism. But when they dragged out the few, old pieces of good jewels left and mother and daughter adorned their hair…well, it was a breath taking thing to see, indeed.our Kate could do worlds better, no?
Long story, but one of the side effects of relaxing my hair is that the texture is silky indian hair and the colour changes to chocolate brown. i know you can have relaxers that also have dye in them, but i don’t need to use those.
when i add weaves, only the length gives away the fact that it’s not my natural hair and only if you know that i have a weave in.
LAK
Again, lovely. But as it happens, relaxing alone would not bring about this particular texture. I don’t know your ethnicity but you have what many African Americans refer to as “good hair”. That sounds like a value-laden term but it simply means hair with a coil series that is perceptably looser than what is considered to be the norm. This will explain the color, texture and behavior of the hair – with or without heat or chemicals. This probably explains the silken, Indian quality of your hair when it is relaxed. Jmho 🙂
I find the history of hair so interesting. And perception of it is changes so much depending on where one is from and of course their history.
As an example, i’m originally from East Africa. We don’t have any concept of good vs bad hair. People grow up doing whatever they like to their hair. Women shave it off or afros, wear extensions, wigs, natural styles, permed [jerry curls], relaxed, flat ironed etc. As long as it is presentable ie neat and tidy.
Oddly, what we don’t do is colour it. i don’t know why that is. Considering we do everything else to our hair, it’s a wierd omission.
Going back to my hair specifically, it never occurred to me that my ethnic mix might contribute to how it might react to chemicals. Of course i know that mixed race people have a different reaction, but i didn’t think my droplet of Arab blood was that strong a factor. i do know that my natural hair has a slightly looser curl, but that only gave me Afro envy because i couldn’t and i can’t grow a proper, thick and bushy Afro.
Of all the things Princess Anne could do to her hair, teasing is the LAST thing she’d ever choose. Her hair is frizzy by nature and if not kept in line will just billow out into an amazing, uncontrollable cloud. You’d think there would be things she could do with it, but since she was in her twenties she’s just jammed it in a bun and ignored it, which is too bad. She could look a lot better, but she just does not care.
Kate def wears extensions, if you read the original quote it came directly from her hairdresser who did her hair for the wedding and did her hair for years. Right after he gave that quote to the papers, Kate went apeshiiite behind Palace walls and had some source deny it, then she axed him the hairdresser. Her hair is not as thick without the extensions. The weird thing is if she trimmed her hair about 6 inches, the extensions wouldn’t be an issue, I don’t mind the use of extensions, what bothers me is how messy she continues to look , yet the press throws accolades at her for looking stylish, when IMO she looks like a WAG, some girl PW brought home from the party night club circuit who is not understanding how she should look and behave. From her awful Jeggings with this five inch shoes and her skirt fly ups, nude sunbathing and messy hair, she’s a disaster. The UK press can laud her all they want, IMO she’s a mess. She took a prestigious piece of jewelry the Queen let her borrow for the night and made it look cheap with her messy hair hiding it. She just lacks class, period!