Michelle Obama’s former hair stylist, Johnny Wright, is teaming up with Tamar Braxton “To Catch a Beautician” on VH1. In the series, premiering Monday (9 p.m.), clients confront the stylist who botched their hair. Wright then steps in and runs the beautician through a “hair boot camp,” giving them pointers from his years of experience …
Michelle Obama’s former hair stylist, Johnny Wright, is teaming up with Tamar Braxton “To Catch a Beautician” on VH1.
In the series, premiering Monday (9 p.m.), clients confront the stylist who botched their hair. Wright then steps in and runs the beautician through a “hair boot camp,” giving them pointers from his years of experience — and a chance to redeem themselves by re-styling their disgruntled client’s locks.
“I gave up 300 clients back in Chicago in 2017 to pursue a career in television,” Wright tells The Post. “I dreamed of doing this since 2007 … but was interrupted by First Lady Michelle Obama when I first moved to DC to be with her for eight years.”
Wright, a Chicago native, first met Obama shortly after Barack Obama announced his presidential run in 2007. “My agent booked me for an Essence magazine cover photo shoot. I did [Michelle’s] hair and we hit it off,” he says. Wright continued as her personal stylist from 2009-2017, traveling with the Obamas to over 40 countries while maintaining a celebrity roster including Kerry Washington, Reese Witherspoon, Lisa Ray McCoy, Janelle Monae, Candace Bushnell and Queen Latifah — charging them from $500-$550 to $5,000 (for a full day of treatment).
“What I want you to take away from this show is how important communication is in every aspect of your life — particularly in the hair salon,” say Wright, who first learned how to do hair from his grandmother at the age of 3. He graduated from Dudley Beauty College of Chicago (after working at the Ebony Fashion Fair) and earned his beauty license in 2000. He worked for L’Oreal for 16 years.
“I think there is a language to hair [and] if it’s not moving it has no voice,” he says. “Hair always tells who a woman is. It’s the first thing you see before she speaks … So I look at my career as being a storyteller.”
Singer/actress Braxton (“The Real,” “Braxton Family Values”), who hosts the series alongside Wright, says she can relate to the customers on “To Catch a Beautician.”
“The first episode really stands out to me because how many of us have had a weave issue where you feel like somebody was tugging at your hair?,” she says. “On this show you’ll get a glimpse of the real me and the compassion I have for people.
“I really want to help them.”
