Nicolas Waldorf, the galley before glory: “I didn’t have a penny, nobody helped me” (EXCLUDED)

You were originally destined for a career as a lawyer. How did you come to be a hairdresser?

In my family, we study. And I, as a child, was obsessed with a career as a lawyer. I had a lawyer uncle, I wanted to become one too. My parents’ divorce was long and perilous. It confirmed me in my choice. Except that at one point, I had a breakup and I was in bad spirits. My parents forced me to go to the hairdresser and I fell in love with the hairdresser! Within a few months I asked him to hire me for an internship. I liked it, then I left my father to settle down with him. We stayed two years together. It was a big life change for me: I left everything, I no longer wanted to study. And today, I thank him.

What happened during the separation with this hairdresser?

I started to learn with him then after the breakup I went to school. I wanted at all costs to have my diploma in order to be able to earn a living. Because when I made this decision, my parents were not very happy. But this situation is good: it allowed me to forge myself. When I saw my devastated mother, in tears, telling me that I was going to ruin my life, I told myself that I was going to succeed so that she wouldn’t die thinking that. I think it gave me ambition. Just like my breakup, revenge. I told the guy: “You’ll see I’m going to become the best hairdresser in Ile-de-France and you’ll regret leaving me!” I can tell you that he regrets!

You created your own salon after being confronted with the “lack of humanity”. What happened ?

I worked for many bosses who had successful salons. I realized that we had to work a lot. We were exploited, we had to go ever faster. It was nonsense, the hairstyles were not all perfect. I needed to take the time. So I called all my hairdresser buddies and decided to open my own salon to feel good, comfortable. It doesn’t have to be so profitable. And that’s why today I don’t have 20 salons. I could have developed very quickly with all that I managed to do in hairdressing. But I preferred to evolve slowly, because I want my employees to be well paid, I want to do activities, the club has a lifestyle with the events… I want to continue like that, no question of changing.

You now have a hair salon, a decoration shop and a restaurant. Why this choice to diversify so much?

I like the idea that there is a customer journey. I also liked the idea of ​​going to eat in my restaurant when I feel like it, of going to choose a decorative object. I developed my box by capturing the dreams of people around me. There was someone who worked for me who dreamed of decorating, we did it. There was a friend who loved catering, we started a restaurant. Today, I have employees who want to train, so I’m considering setting up an academy. I think that’s how I’m going to keep my core, this caring environment around me. I go slower than the others, but surely.

Why did you agree to participate in “Incredible Transformations”?

I was offered several shows, including being a love coach on a reality show. I’m not made for that, I can’t be constantly filmed. And then, I didn’t want to be an impostor: I wanted to do my job on TV, otherwise it would be useless. I need to help people make sense. Then “Incredible Transformations” was developed, I thought it would never work. I shot a pilot and it was crazy. I help people, I do my job and I am given the opportunity to be funny and bubbly as I am in life. I can never thank M6 enough for accepting that I really take responsibility for myself.

Has the channel allowed you certain freedoms that are still not very visible elsewhere?

When I started, there wasn’t really any diversity on TV. A guy who wears heels, wigs, who can’t stop laughing and running around like crazy, there aren’t many of them! At first it was a bit tricky. I remember trying on a wedding dress in one episode because I felt like it. I fell to my knees, I had tears in my eyes. The producer did not understand, I replied: “I am in a wedding dress on M6. I am openly gay, I assume myself and for me it is something.” I tell myself that I am showing a success to some lost parents, perhaps. I know I brought something new. Bringing diversity without it being a slap in the face was important to me.

What was the hardest part of filming?

The hardest part is myself. I’m my worst enemy, it’s terrible. I have a level of requirement which is terrible. The production is not as much as me. It can drive me crazy. With the fatigue, the habit, the passing seasons, you have to keep this interest, this magic. I’m a very dispersed person, I always have new projects. So I have to be reminded why I’m doing it. There, I had to shoot a show with people who have evolved, who have married and had children. It remotivated me, because I was starting to ask myself questions about the future. We had just passed the Covid, I thought it was useless to tell people that their haircut was wrong. In fact, from the moment I changed their lives, it’s important. It’s not superficial, it allows you to get out of a bad period, to write a new chapter.

You revealed that you were at odds with your mom after you came out. What happened ?

I was 16 when I announced that I was gay, that I wanted to live with Kevin and that I wanted to be a hairdresser, it was a lot. I was a bit dumb on that one. My mother is Christian, Vietnamese, traditional and my father is Sicilian. It was a disaster. My father never looked me in the eye again. And for my mother, it was not possible. I was her pet, her prince. And overnight she thought that I would never have children, that I was going to waste my life and die of AIDS. It was very complicated. I had to build my life like that. Maybe that influenced my trajectory. I couldn’t get enough of little, it guided my ambition. I took it badly that they thought I chose a siding. Today it’s an artist’s job, not back then. They were disgusted.

What relationship do you have with your father?

I reconnected with him two or three months ago. He was coming out of the hospital and he called me several times. I hadn’t really answered. I was very happy but it was very special. I knew I had to expect nothing. He was proud because I became famous, he wanted to take pictures. It’s as if he had skipped all the years of trouble where he didn’t necessarily pick up his phone to help me. I don’t blame him or my mother: they had quadruplets, I put a lot of obstacles in their way. They were already in culture shock with each other. We had already seen each other at my sister’s wedding, we exchanged an unpleasant sentence and I was very uncomfortable.

You talk about the struggle experienced when you were younger, what are you referring to?

At one time, I was in an apartment that overlooked a skylight. I had a small bed with a small mattress, a fairly thin cupboard where I piled my clothes. I was warming myself with the red plate in the kitchen. I didn’t have a penny. Nobody helped me. I ate Breton palets at 1 euro and I said to myself: “But it’s not possible.” Then I left this apartment to go live in a 9m2, there were three of us in it. I struggled, but today I consider my luck precisely because I lived through those years. I savor every moment because I have come a long way. And tomorrow if everything stops, I will know how to manage. It’s part of my story.

More and more men, especially from the world of reality TV, are going to Turkey for hair implants. What do you think of it as a hairdresser?

I have people around me who have done it. The only thing that is a little confusing is that there is no tracking. If there is a complication or a graft defect, you have to go back. It’s more profitable to go to Turkey. And I believe that in France there is a maximum quota of implants, a less framed limit there. Today things are becoming more democratic here… I would go to Paris because I was too afraid that there was a problem.

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