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E-mail This StoryEver since he was nine years old, Daniel Lewis knew he loved styling hair. His father wanted him to follow in the family’s custom home business, but his decision to attend cosmetology school is paying off for the world to see as a contestant on BRAVO-TV’s “Shear Genius” season two.
Lewis of Dallas is one of twelve stylists on the reality show vying for $100,000 in seed money from Nexxus and an opportunity to style hair for an Allure magazine feature. His co-stylists in New York and friends and clients in Frisco and Destin, Fla., tuned in Wednesday night to watch him win the season premiere, meaning he can’t be kicked off the show next week.
“I’d seen a lot of video footage of myself before, but [watching the show on television] really makes you look at yourself and lets you know whether you’re doing things right or wrong, and I feel like I’m doing them right so far,” Lewis said.
The 28-year-old owns Green Peridot, located in the Shops at Starwood, and the original location near his hometown in Destin. He has been recognized as the youngest salon owner to exceed $1 million in revenue, and has styled hair for several celebrities, although he will not reveal which ones.
Lewis spent about six weeks in Los Angeles filming the show, living in tight quarters with the other stylists and banned from contacting clients, family, or friends. He said the hardest aspect was giving up total control of his salons for that time, even though he knew they were in good hands n his mother’s.
He also gained a new respect for the process of creating a television show, as he struggled more with the filming aspects than the weekly Short Cut and Elimination challenges to test hairstyling and creativity skills.
“It wasn’t just the challenges that were challenging, but it was the actual process of filming,” Lewis said. “I’ll never see TV the same way again. It’s a very grueling process.”
Hundreds of people showed up at the Frisco Bar Wednesday night to watch the season premier, which also served as a fund-raiser for the Boys and Girls Club of Collin County, an organization Lewis supports.
Although he lives in Dallas, he said he loves Frisco, and could not think of a better place for his salon. Lewis and a friend he knew from Florida who moved to Frisco opened Green Peridot in October 2006. He was living across the country at the time.
“It was a business venture for me at first, but the more time I spent in Dallas the more I fell in love with it,” Lewis said. “I decided to make it my full-time home, and we couldn’t have picked a better location than the Shops at Starwood. It’s exactly what I dreamed of having.”
“Shear Genius” airs on BRAVO-TV on Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. Season two will consist of 10 episodes plus one reunion episode, which is yet to be filmed.
