Billy Bunzari
Peter Mark, Rathfarnham
“I made my name up when I was 16,” says Billy, “because you need a good name if you’re going to be making a name for yourself ! So I took Bulsara, which is Freddie Mercury’s real name, and the comedian Aziz Ansari, and put them together. I changed it on Facebook, and everyone came to know me as Billy Bunzari; even my mam calls me Bunz.”
So what is his real name? “I’m not going to disclose that,” Billy says. “This is mine because I proclaim it and I made it, and I feel proud of it. My features are dark, my aesthetic is always to be tanned, and I like the fact that people might be thinking, ‘Where’s he from? He’s not Irish . . . ’ I think it gives me a bit of substance I don’t actually have.”
How did he get into hairdressing? “When I was leaving school,” Billy explains, “I wanted to do everything: fashion designer, stylist, journalist, TV presenter, hair stylist, blogger. First I did an apprenticeship in a salon, then I left that and went to study fashion-industry practice. I left that, too, and did a lot of odd jobs. I worked in Topshop, McDonald’s, and then I thought, ‘What am I doing?’ I realised that I regretted leaving the salon apprenticeship, so I started back hairdressing, qualified, and I love it. In hindsight, I’m glad. I feel that everything that led to this point has brought me here.”
What exactly does he love about it? “Hairdressing is the career where I get to incorporate all the things I love,” Billy says. “It ticks all those boxes. It’s creative, I make people feel beautiful and confident, and that’s a really powerful thing for me.”
“A client comes in and she mightn’t feel great about herself,” he says. “There could be anything going on that I don’t know about. She doesn’t have to tell me, I know she’s here because she wants to change. She wants to look good and therefore feel good, and I am the person who brings her to that point, and for me, that is sacred.”
“Hairdressers often get a bad rap,” Billy says. “People think we stand around all day, and don’t do very much. The reality is that I bring out people’s beauty. You give people back the spring in their step, and for me that’s a gift.”
As for Salon Confidential, Billy spotted an ad online: ‘Calling all hairdressers, do you want to be on TV?’ “I was, like, ‘That’s me’. I spent hours perfecting the email I sent. I knew I wanted this; this is who I am. I knew I was meant to be on the show, and I was right. It’s been an amazing experience.”