They are one of the most popular teams at the Olympics. Their hand-eye coordination is off the charts. Their uniforms? Head-to-toe black and tres chic.
They are the hairstylists of the Summer Games, at the service of any Olympian in the athletes’ village in need of grooming and on a mission to substantiate that old sports mantra: look good, feel good, play good. “I’m not going out there looking scrappy,” Aphiwe Dimba, 23, a goalkeeper for South Africa’s field hockey team, said as she settled into a stylist’s chair last week. “It gives me more confidence after I get a cut.
You never know who is taking your picture.” If the Olympic Village cafeteria is a space for spontaneous social interaction, its serene salon in the main plaza is a refuge of self-care: kicking back, primping and optimising one’s aura before it’s time to compete. The hair salon, a fixture at every Olympics, has been open this summer from 9am to 9pm each day.
On one recent morning, a race walker from Britain was having his hair trimmed, a boxer from Uzbekistan was getting her long blond hair braided and a BMX racer from Colombia was having her nails painted in the colours of her national flag. Read more: Female Olympians hit the fashion runway in Paris to celebrate gender parity Some days, there are up to 10 hairdressers arrayed in the space, all of them from top salons around France and equipped to help replicate an authentic beauty parlour and barbershop. The only difference is the price:.