'American Idol' hairstylist cut his teeth in Iowa

ERIN CRAWFORD
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
04/12/2004

The first time hairstylist Dean Banowetz met Ryan Seacrest, he frightened the "American Idol" host right out of the barber's chair.

Seacrest, then a substitute host on the tabloid news show "Extra," had just told Banowetz to do anything he wanted with Seacrest's hair.

"I said, 'Seriously. Do anything?' " Banowetz said.

So Banowetz (pronounced BAN-oh-wets) started spraying his hair with a styling product. Then, in a moment that legions of teenage girls will forever thank him for, he took out a flat iron to create the famous spiky explosion of a 'do that Seacrest has become known for.

"He heard the sizzle and bolted out of his chair, like, 'Dude, what are you doing to me?' " Banowetz said. "I said, 'Sit your bony butt down. . . . We're on a time frame.' And he loved it, and from that moment on I've done his hair."

Stars running away from him wouldn't be the final challenge for Banowetz.
In fact, without experiencing childhood on a farm in DeWitt, raising steer and row crops, Banowetz might never have been able to handle the high-pressure world of celebrity hairdressing.

But his childhood, and seven years in the Army, prepared Banowetz for anything. During the first season of "American Idol," when he was asked to style the hair of all the "Idol" contestants and two of the judges, Banowetz wasn't overwhelmed.

Well, maybe a little. At the time, Banowetz thought he'd only be doing the host's hair.

"I signed on with Ryan (Seacrest)," he said. (Seacrest even wrote the stylist into his "Idol" contract.) "Then, I found out I was responsible for everyone on the show and I thought, 'Oh my God. This show is going to kill me.' "

Banowetz turned down the job five times before signing on with the show. He calls the first season of "Idol" a "horror story."

But he simply did what his mom always did back on the farm. Banowetz made lists of what needed to be done and then he did it. He was as strict with his time as one would expect a former "Soldier of the Year" to be.

Contestants got 20 minutes with the hairdresser. No more.

"If you're assigned a task, do it and get it done," he said of his philosophy.
By the end of the second season of "Idol," Banowetz's hard work and the show's blockbuster ratings had made him one of the most influential stylists in the nation.

"It's a trend vehicle," he said. "Thousands of people are saying, 'I want Clay Aiken or Kimberly Locke's look.' I like to make bolder statements and creative moves with hair."

He also got some help - two assistants and an intern.

This season, Seacrest's hair has moved from last season's California highlights to some darker shades. Banowetz said he's let Seacrest's hair grow longer and given it a mohawk shape.

Banowetz delighted in straightening out Jennifer Hudson's voluminous curly hair, something he said narrows her round face.

"Sleek straight hair is more slimming," he said.

This season, expect more texture in women's styles, Banowetz said, and lots of soft curls, a la Julia Roberts at the Academy Awards this year.

Prior to making a name on "American Idol," Banowetz was an art major at the University of Iowa. A semester shy of graduating, he realized he was unhappy with every career option available to an art major, which weren't many.

"My brother in Dallas said, 'You're a guy. You're artistic. Do hair,' " Banowetz said.

After just one day at Bill Hills College of Cosmetology in Davenport, he knew he'd found his calling. Banowetz started his own salon in Bettendorf following graduation from cosmetology school, and soon began touring as the North American Educator for Matrix, a hair care company.

A weeklong class in January 2000 changed everything. "On Set Motion Picture Hair Academy" schooled him in how to be a stylist in the entertainment industry. The teacher was impressed with Banowetz's talent, and sent his name to production studios all over Los Angeles.

By the time Banowetz returned to Bettendorf from the class, he had 30 voicemails about jobs in Los Angeles.

The whole thing nearly had the same effect on Banowetz as a flat iron did on Seacrest. But his teacher hounded him, and he agreed to take just one audition.

It was for "Extra," and he got it on Valentine's Day in 2000. And then it was just a matter of time until "Idol" began in 2002.

Next up for Banowetz is a line of products under the brand Hollywood Hair Guy. And, world hair domination.

"I'm working on a collection to take the mini flat iron to the masses," he said.

Don't worry about the sizzling sound, masses. That's the sound of beauty, "Idol"-style.

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