Buffalo, NY—A couple of hair stylists staged an intervention this week at the Larkinville office of U.S. Congressman Brain Higgins, hoping to thwart a full blown tragedy with the representative’s chocolate colored locks, which in recent years have devolved into something akin to a bird’s nest. As skilled as the congressman has been in securing federal funds for Western New York as part of President Biden’s infrastructure bill and in the development of Buffalo’s Waterfront, he can’t seem to figure out what to do with that curious patch of moss on his head.
The stylists were prompted to action after Higgins was pictured attempting the Fieri—as in the spiked look of restaurateur, Guy Fieri (lower right in pic above). Linda Gingertosser, a stylist at the Mane Event in West Seneca said she couldn’t stand by anymore once she saw Higgins going for the Fieri. “I just had to do something to stop that disaster,” she said. “When we showed up at his office he had a bag from CVS, which he denied was peroxide but we’re pretty sure it was.”
“One-hundred percent it was peroxide,” said Kerrianne Blunette, a stylist at Locks of Love in Blasdell. “He was about to frost that lettuce into oblivion before we got there and stopped him.”
Gingertosser and Blunette characterized the congressman as initially defensive, refusing to acknowledge he had a problem. He did say in the past he maybe didn’t know when to say when with the blow dryer or the Aqua Net. But that was the past and now, he was perfectly capable of handling the product that spiked his hair. “At that point,” said Gingertosser, “I put my hand on his arm and told him it was alright, we were going to help him.”
He then broke down, admitting that he did have a problem and didn’t know what to do. He hugged both stylists and asked for their help. “It was quite a moment,” said Blunette. “I felt so bad for the guy, but I was glad to be there for him.”
The stylists said they got right to work showing him a variety of cuts including low and mid fades, a crew cut, even a French crop, but the Congressman had his own ideas, leaning toward more of a 1980’s new wave look. He told the ladies how he loved to dance to Kajagoogoo on the Elmwood strip in the 80’s when he was an undergrad at Buffalo State. After some back and forth they walked him back from the new wave do, but only as far as the whiteman fro of exercise guru of Richard Simmons.
Both stylists agreed that while “the Simmons” wasn’t ideal—it was a start. After years of abuse it was going to be a process and expectations needed to be managed.
