'Shear Genius' hits Wilmington

Well-known hairstylist and television star Ben Mollin took his newfound fame in stride when he visited Rockin' Roller Salon in Wilmington last weekend.

After a few of his fans from the salon drove 1,200 miles to get a haircut from Mollin six weeks ago in Ohio and convinced him to come to Wilmington, he was booked solid at Rockin' Roller from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday.

"People come to me and they want the best haircut they've ever had in their life," Mollin said.

"I started doing it when I was 15," Mollin said about cutting hair. "You know how there's something that you're just kind of drawn to when you're a kid? That was it. I always knew I was going to do it."

"A friend of mine in high school named Katie, who worked at a beauty supply store, asked me to give her a perm and she came over, drew me a diagram, read me the instructions and thus began my career of figuring out how to do hair," Mollin said.

Always strongly interested in the arts, Mollin graduated from Cameo, a beauty school in Illinois, and began working at Super Cuts.

"After Super Cuts, I worked at a spa for a couple years just cutting, and by the time I was 21 I had enough clients to open up my own shop in Homewood, Ill.," Mollin said about the small, pre-existing business he bought.

He currently owns a small, unadvertised hairdressing shop with his fiancé.

"I like doing customized work," Mollin said. "I attack hair how people would attack designing a room or building a house. I'm into making people, no matter what age, feel confident as opposed to making a statement."

Participating in the reality television show on Bravo, "Shear Genius," Mollin conquered a variety of unique hairstyling elimination challenges while still maintaining his down-to-earth nature.

"I never said to myself when I was a kid: I'm going to be on TV to see if I'm the best hairdresser in the world," Mollin said. "I never thought in a million years [it would happen to me]."

He added that while he felt at home cutting hair on television, other aspects were challenging for him.

"The hardest challenge I probably had was not killing anybody," Mollin joked. "It was funny because here's this guy that's all self-taught, styling what Vanessa Williams' hair might look like for a red carpet event."

"I also had to give blow-dries to African-American women in a certain amount of time, and I've never done that [type of] hair before," Mollin said.

Winning second place on "Shear Genius," and working with stars such as John Frances Daily, John Malkovich and Dana Delany, Mollin is unfazed by the stardom he has gained.

"I'm taking the notoriety and just trying to be cool about it," Mollin said. "I've had people find me online and write me long emails about how it was really nice to see someone on TV who was relatable."

Outside of being a contestant on a reality television show, judging a hair show in Vegas, and free-lancing as a hair carnie, Mollin has been playing music since he was 18. He played saxophone in The Carlos Ramos Band, a Mo-Town tribute band, for seven years and sang in the rock band, River Oaks.

"I play with people I've known forever," he said. "I'm really big with working with people I know."

Mollin has also played a couple of shows with the band Smash Mouth and was able to perform at various venues in Chicago including the House of Blues.

"I cut hair during the day and have gigs at night," Mollin said. "In my opinion I'm one of the luckiest people on earth. I've got the best of both worlds."

In his spare time, Mollin enjoys giving motivational speeches at beauty schools in the Midwest.

"I talk about what a lot of really keen starting points are for starting your career and your life as an adult," Mollin said. "I tell students to not let things get in the way [of their dream] and if they want to be a true professional, then people aren't going to care what they look like."

Mollin also warns about putting one's own success before others.

"Find people you respect and appreciate, and hold them dear," he said.