Legendary hairdresser Oribe Canales, better known as Oribe, has passed away at the age of 62. He became famous for his fashion week looks, A-list clients like J.Lo and Cher, and his eponymous line of styling products founded in 2008, and will be remembered as one of the most influential stylists of our time.
His longtime friend and makeup artist Mary Greenwell was one of the first people to share the news of Oribe’s passing, on Instagram, according to allure.com. "ORIBE is one of the great ‘original’ hairdressers whose iconic status grew along side the supermodels of the 80’ and 90’," she wrote. "He was a brilliant hairdresser and simply adored by all.”
In 2011, American Salon and colorist David Stanko sat down with Canales and asked what people would be most surprised to know about him. To that, he responded, "I’m a regular guy—I’m not intimidating and I don’t have much of an ego. I stick to the beauty school rule that the client is always right, I do what the client wants and do my best to make her feel beautiful, even if I don’t agree with her. That’s what makes a successful cutter or colorist."
Members of the beauty industry took to Instagram early Monday morning to share their thoughts and memories:
"Legends never die. Thank you for your inspiration throughout my entire career. You are undeniably an ICON of our time."—@markbustos
I’m sitting here in stunned silence at hearing the horrific news of the passing of my dear friend @oribecanales — I can’t even begin to process as a million thoughts, memories and laughs all flood forward. I’ll leave the detailed accomplishments of his remarkable life to others — I worked with @oribe extensively throughout my career and no one has ever been a better addition to a team than Oribe. He was funny. Really funny. And he listened. When he got excited about his creations, he’d exclaim in triumph, “Genius!” because it was. What a spirit. What a talent. What a loss. As a fellow Cuban, I’ll drink a mojito in his honor tonight."—@rperezferia
"We are devasted by the passing of legendary hair stylist Oribe Canales. He is responsible for so many iconic looks that we have all been inspired by and creating a hair care brand that we all love. He raised the bar for our craft and will be sorely missed. ❤️"—@rummcolor
"There aren’t enough words to describe how this hairdresser inspired me. There are hairdressers and then there was Oribe. Every stylist has tried to emulate his signature style that transformed the ordinary into the extraordinary. Housewives looked like supermodels, actresses looked like every day people and Oribe was still Oribe. Even after his haircare line launched and skyrocketed into the company it is now, he was still Oribe. There will never be another stylist that has had the guts to lose everything, come back stronger than ever and become a living legend like he did."—@zlee84
"So very sad. RIP Oribe. An icon, legend, master, and inspiration."—@tabathacoffey