Photos: Chris Emeott
“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.” —Rumi, a Persian poet
Paul Felipe is ruled by the passion of his craft. The local celebrity is a naturally talented hair stylist who has a client list that reads like a who’s who of Edina. This past April marked 40 years in the business. Felipe’s keen eye for detail has served him well over the decades, transforming the looks and boosting the confidence of countless clients as well as educating the next generation of stylists. His dedication and skill have made him a cherished figure in the community, reflecting his enduring commitment to the art of hairstyling.
“You realize you are put on the Earth to be a good listener and a creator and to be creative,” Felipe says. On his Instagram account, followers will notice Felipe frequently uses the hashtags “creating beauty” or “creator of beauty.” These phrases hold significant meaning for him, so much so that “creator of beauty” is tattooed on his arm. The words originated from his good friend Delphine who lives in France, where he attended her wedding, styling her hair and makeup. Delphine told him, “You are a creator of beauty,” a compliment that deeply moved him. The tattoo was done by Delphine’s husband who has since passed away.
This look channels vintage glamour with a modern edge.
Natural Born Talent
Felipe was born in East St. Paul in 1965, the youngest of 15. His parents had emigrated from Mexico in 1950 and, upon settling in Minnesota, his father worked for the Milwaukee Road.
Felipe knew from a young age that hair styling is what he wanted to do. “It was a draw to me,” he says. “I had the ability to start looking at our head, knowing it’s a round sphere, but if you put these different shapes on it, how’s the hair going to fall off it?”
He was particularly enthralled with the iconic hair of the trio of actresses from the 1970s hit TV series Charlie’s Angels. “I was always fascinated by the three angels,” he says. “I always wondered how their hair got the way it did.”
Then at the age of 15, Felipe was flipping through the pages of a magazine called Parade.
“In the back of that magazine there was an ad for a book called How to Cut Hair Like a Pro,” he says. The image of the Charlie’s Angels popped into his mind. The mail-order book cost $12, and he asked a sibling if he could borrow the money. As he waited for the book to arrive, he combed through magazines. He noticed stars of the time were using hot rollers; he then thought of his older sister, Patty, who had extremely curly hair and always found it difficult to get a good haircut.
“I said, ‘I think if I set your hair in each section, roller and cut that section, it should be a kind of an OK haircut,’” he says. “She trusted me.”
So Felipe sat his sister down, took her massive curls and divided them into sections. “Here I am taking a section of hair and getting it ready in the hot roller, cutting the ends and then rolling it down and doing her whole haircut like that,” he says. “Something told me to just hold it straight out from her head each time I did it and then cut.”
That gut instinct paid off. The next day, Patty returned home from work exclaiming how her coworkers adored her new look. Felipe took it as a sign.
“I started going to beauty school when I was a senior [at Tartan High School],” he says. “They offered a program where you could go to beauty school.” That beauty school was 916, now known as Century College. He knew it was the perfect fit. However, his guidance counselor wasn’t sold on the idea.
“He looked at me and said, ‘So what are your plans with college?’ I said, ‘Well, I’m not going to college. I’m going to continue on to beauty school because that’s what I’m doing now.’ The next words out of his mouth were, ‘OK, that’s great, but what are you going to do to make a living?’ To this day, that constantly rings in my head,” he says. “That’s part of the constant striving to push myself to continue to always grow and do better. It’s that adage of, ‘I’ll show them and prove them wrong.’”
A Cut Above
And prove them wrong he did. Felipe’s resume reads like a stylist’s dream. He trained with John Doll in the 1980s, co-owned and was also the sole owner of salons, traveled around the world as an educator for Aveda, collaborated on photoshoots for high profile magazines and much more.
Felipe’s career brought him to Bella Salon and Spa in Edina in 2014. “Moving out to Edina was the best thing I’ve ever done because it was a sense of renewal,” he says. “I have gotten this burst of new energy and creativity, and it was just such a great feeling. I took a little more focus on my work and photographing my work and really trying to get stuff out there.”
Felipe’s biggest breakthrough came in 2016 when a client declared she was done coloring her hair and wanted to embrace gray. He posted about it on Instagram, and it caught the attention of Behind the Chair, an Instagram account that is popular in the industry. It listed Felipe’s work as the Top 12 of 2016.
“In our industry, if Behind the Chair posts anything of your work, it’s a big deal,” he says. “I’m like, ‘Is this really happening?’ It was a great honor.”
After Bella Salon closed in 2018, Felipe decided to go to New York and attend a one-day training course with hairstylist Johnny Ramirez. Later that year, he shadowed him for two days in his Beverly Hills salon. On the same trip, he met industry icons Garren and Howard McLaren.
“I was 35 years into the industry, and I’m not burned out,” he says. “What’s fueling me is the posts of these hairdressers who are creating these trends. I’m attending these sessions and being able to do these things. And it was an amazing training.”
Felipe then met Erin Zosel, owner of Sloane’s Beauty Bar. “That was my next step into the next chapter of taking my work to the next level,” he says. ”Everything was very exciting and she felt my passion for education.”
That appetite for learning keeps him invested in the salon world. “For me, everything old is new again. And so the best way to be able to feed that hunger is to always continue with education. Constantly strive to look at what you’ve done, and do it better,” he says.
That dedication is a testament to Felipe’s love of his work. “I’m just doing what I love to do. Am I the greatest hairdresser out there? Absolutely not. I know that there’s just as many other great hairdressers out there,” he says. “It’s up to us to take the mood that the guest has walked into and enhance that with our talent and our abilities.”
At the end of the day, Felipe says he is blessed to be trusted by his clients. “What we always have to remember is, when it’s all said and done, sometimes we forget to realize that people coming into the salon and sitting in that chair is their escape from the real world and whatever their reality is,” he says. “The amount of hugs, tears that have flown in my chair, the amount of laughter, the amount of sadness that’s happened. The amount of joy. I am blessed.”
Paul Felipe’s Career
At a glance
1984: Started working at John Doll Studios in Roseville
1987: Eclipse Hair Studio
1990: Co-owner of Salon Cheveux
1993: Started working for Aveda as an educator in its Purefessional track
1994: Showcased his work in Aveda Congress Festival, traveled internationally to showcase Aveda hair trends and studied under Horst Rechelbacher at Aveda
1995: Opened Felipe, an Aveda Lifestyle Salon
2002: New Reflections as a stylist and director of education
2014: Bella Salon in Edina
2016: Work helping women embrace their gray hair was featured on Behind the Chair
2018: Trained with Johnny Ramirez, joined Sloane’s Beauty Bar, studied under Garren and Howard McClaren and attended Sassoon Academy for advanced color and cutting
Special Thanks
We embrace Paul Felipe’s use of creativity during Edina Magazine’s photo shoot and are appreciative of the talented team he brought together to make his vision come to life.
Talent: Joy Ford
Instagram: @joyford_official
Makeup: Sal Rodriquez
Instagram: @winniehouston
Makeup assistant: Makeup by May
Instagram: @___makeupbymay___
Wardrobe: Serge + Jane
Instagram: @sergeandjaneshop
Paul Felipe at Sloane’s Beauty Bar
4388 France Ave. S.; 612.920.3341
Instagram: @paulffelipebeauty
