With 20 years of snips and styles under the salon's belt, we sat down with owner and founder of Valery Joseph Salon Valery Joseph to hear more about his Bridgehampton beauty parlor and hair tips and tricks.
What inspired you to enter the hair salon industry? Growing up in Israel, I had a neighbor who owned a salon-barbershop. At age 15, I asked him to help me learn how to cut my friend’s hair—he agreed only if I would help him in the shop. After I went into the Israeli army in the tank division, I unfortunately became injured and could not rejoin my unit. The base sergeant asked what other skills I had—I told him I had studied architecture, worked in a firm and could cut men’s hair. I was placed into the base salon and began cutting men’s hair. From there, I attended a prestigious hair academy in Tel Aviv on weeknights and learned how to cut women’s hair. I realized the impact I had in altering how someone felt about themselves through great hair, and I knew from that point on that hair is what I was meant to do.
What tips do you have for hair maintenance during the summer? The biggest enemy during the summer is dehydration. Daily interactions with the summer elements such as hot temperatures, chlorine and salt water can severely dehydrate your hair. You can protect your hair by our special keratin treatment—providing an extra layer of protection against all of the harsh pollutants—and doing simple things such as putting a conditioning mask in your hair when sitting by the pool, wearing a hat to protect your color and radiance, and putting oil and smoothing cream in your hair, then into a braid.
What are your favorite hair products at the moment? I really love the Valery Joseph Long product line as it contains no alcohol, sulfates or sodium, which dehydrates the hair. Our dry shampoo, hairspray, cure serum and oil are my top favorites. The cure serum holds a high level of smart keratin protein, which mends split ends and is essential to your daily haircare. Olaplex is also a standard for repairing and restoring broken bonds.
What makes your Bridgehampton salon so special? Everything about the Bridgehampton salon is just magical. We began working outdoors during COVID and both the team and clients really enjoy the flexibility. Being outdoors enables us to be part of the natural elements such as wind, which creates a magical, romantic movement in the hair during the performance of the service.
Long by Valery Joseph Cure hair-strengthening split end serum; Long by Valery Joseph Smooth Heat Defense style cream
What do you see for the future of Valery Joseph Salon? There are so many exciting things happening for the brand! What I can share is that I will be relaunching my product line with updated formulas and packaging. I know our current clients and our future clients will fall in love with the new products. I would love to open another outpost of the Valery Joseph Salons, location TBD for now. It’s really all about the continued evolution of the brand, which means investing in my team and ensuring we are building and growing the brand from within.
Valery Joseph’s Bridgehampton salon styles clients both inside and outside.
How does Valery Joseph Salon differentiate itself among other hair salons? The difference between Valery Joseph Salons and others in the industry is our sense of family and loyalty. Most of my team have been with me for over a decade, helping me to build the brand to its current success. Our clients are extremely loyal to the Valery Joseph family and understand that what we provide is beyond hair; we are part of their lives and have watched them, their children, sometimes grandchildren grow up. We have a very personalized approach, which creates a certain level of intimacy between the team and the clients. 2454 Main St., Bridgehampton, valeryjoseph.com
Photography by: PORTRAIT AND PRODUCT PHOTO COURTESY OF THE BRAND
