Location: Atlanta
Instagram: @hairassasin
Clients Include: SZA, Ari Lennox, Summer Walker
Wig Speciality: Long, sleek units fit for an IG baddie
Tevin Washington‘s interest in hairstyling began in high school when he used to binge hair videos from YouTubers like Adrianna Thomas. Eventually, he decided it was time to try the hairstyling techniques he learned from “YouTube University,” as he jokingly refers to it on our Zoom call, on his friends. In college, when he started doing his classmates’ hair as a side hustle, he decided hairstyling was worth pursuing full time. In 2015, he dropped out and entered cosmetology school.
There, he discovered that a hairstylist can work in a number of capacities: freelancing, working in a salon, working on set — all he had to do was choose his approach. He decided that was set styling. “I could do crazy, out-there things without damaging someone’s hair, [which] drew me to doing wigs and wanting to be a set stylist,” he shares.
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Washington styled SZA’s pink ombre hair for the “Kiss Me More” music video
Like many hairstylists who work with extensions, Washington’s entry into the field began with sew-ins. But as wigs became more popular, he started to experiment with them more often. He dipped into the category working with lace closures, hairpieces that are placed at the hairline, typically 4×4 or 5×5 inches in size for ample parting space or affixed across and towards the crown. Then frontals, which cover the entire perimeter of the hairline, started to become the rage. He did his first lace frontal install in 2012, which he admits was “horrible.” He didn’t touch another one until 2015, after persistent requests from his friends.