Breaking News: Tabatha Coffey from Bravo’s 'Tabatha’s Salon Takeover' Is Nice!

Tabatha Coffey, the Aussie hairdresser extraordinaire from Bravo’s hit show Tabatha’s Salon Takeover sat down with PIX's Debra Alfarone this week to wait out Alt Side parking. And people, she’s nice! “When I’m in work mode, I’m no different in my own salon than when I’m in someone else’s salon, that’s Tabatha at work. But - Tabatha - when she hangs out, she’s different.”

Tabatha shared her least favorite hairstyle (the mullet), what you should tip your hairdresser (for good service, 20%) and whether people are brave enough to ask her on the street for hair advice (yes).

Coffey has been a hairdresser for 30 years, She started when she was 14 in her native Australia, then moved to London to study with Vidal Sassoon. She got her big TV break on the reality hairdressing competition show, Shear Genius. She didn’t win, but she was voted fan favorite. Then Bravo came calling to see if she wanted to do a show. Tabatha’s Salon Takeover was born. Now, it’s in its thirrd season.

Coffey didn’t have the usual upbringing, “I grew up in strip clubs, my parents owned strip clubs in Australia and there were drag queens. My favorite place to hang out was in the dressing room with all the girls. And I would sit there and watch them get ready, and watch them sew their costumes, and set their wigs and they put me to work really early. And I also had this great lesson that set me up in life about being honest and being authentic and being true to who you are, and some of their stories were really stories of adversity and hate because of the lifestyle that they were living.”

Coffey goes into detail about growing up in her book, “It’s Not Really About The Hair: The Honest Truth About Life, Love, and the Business of Beauty.”

When she’s not filming, Coffey is very busy because she owns Industrie Hair Gurus in Ridgewood, New Jersey, where you can see her cutting hair for a large clientele.

This weekend, she is a guest star in Off-Broadway’s “My Big Gay Italian Wedding” and she’ll also be a judge in the show’s new contest this Sunday called “The Higher The Hair, The Closer To God.”

Hair Stylists will compete for $5000 and a walk-in role on the show. It’s at Rab’s Country lanes in Staten Island, on Sunday, March 6th at 9pm. For more info, go to http://www.biggayitalianwedding.com/hair.

Written by Debra Alfarone