Hair Glossary

New York society hair colorist Ron Levin was famous for creating the beautiful blonde shade of Marilyn Monroe. When Levin first did Marilyn's hair color, he was fresh out of cosmetology school and working in Philadelphia in a small middle-class hair salon by the name of Louis and Simone. The owner of the salon asked the then 18 year old hairdresser if he would go into the back of the salon and do Marilyn Monroe's hair. The owner of the salon was the sister of Kenneth, the famous New York hairdresser who had a salon by the name of Kenneth. The back room was a makeshift laundry room. Levin thought it was a joke at the time but in reality, it wasn't. When Ron Levin realized he really was going to do the hair of the famous Marilyn, he admitted he was terrified. He said "here was a women who was more famous in American than Jesus Christ and I had to do her colour." Levin said "here was a girl - not that attractive actually - with broken blood vessels on her face and dry ashy hair which was already so overbleached. But she knew what she wanted. She told me very sweetly "Just do my roots, bring them up very light and don't use any tones. Then I can set my own hair and I'll go under the dryer. Which is exactly what Ron Levin did. He noted that about three weeks later she called him and wanted him to go to her apartment at 400 East 57th Street where she was living with Arthur Miller and I could do her hair in private.