Email/Share
Digg

Single Page
Larger Font
Smaller Font

Yet there’s plenty to Henriksen’s story below the surface, not all of it pretty, and he refuses to mask these blotches. Openness and truth are his philosophical tenets: indeed, several of his most popular products’ names incorporate the word “Truth,” including a lightly citrus-scented, liquid collagen booster called Truth Serum and African Red Tea-infused Express The Truth Wrinkle Resistant Cream. During a 2007 interview with Sweden’s Salonk magazine, he casually discussed, and in the process de facto outed, Ricky Martin, “He is a bit more open about it these days than he used to be. It’s difficult for artists—women as well as men—who need to sell lots of records, to be open about their sexuality. I don’t know if he has a [boyfriend]. At least I haven’t seen him.”

That aside, probing Henriksen for any dish and dirt on his roster of celebrity clients is largely met with straightforward praise, how un-diva like they are when in his presence. He can count on one finger how many celebs have proven to be difficult (keep reading to find out who). Regardless, all clients of Henriksen should expect the same treatment and personal touch as habitual red carpet walkers.

“I have made myself available as an expert to anyone who has knocked on my door,” he nodded. “I love what I do. People like the fact the business has maintained that personalized touch and you can do that on a global level. I respond to every inquiry on an individual basis, and I am never too tired. I am grateful.”

Well, then, how about a few skin do’s and don’ts? He obliges. “Don’t eat excessive amounts of sugar, any kind. It will elevate your blood sugar level, it will give you rashy skin, it will break you out. It will take the soluble collagen and make it insoluble and cause premature wrinkling. It is toxic on all levels and should be enjoyed in moderation. Massive amounts of sugar on a daily basis is really bad.”

Warm and outgoing, Henriksen (his first name is pronounced oo-lah) first discussed his life and career with Passport at the Sundance Film Festival, where he introduced and promoted goodies like the insanely popular Three Little Wonders kit (Truth Serum, Sheer Transformation Renewing Crème, and Invigorating Night Gel Firming Treatment), and later by telephone from his Beverly Hills area home.

Henriksen’s story begins in 1951 in the small village of Nibe, Denmark (“the sticks,” he quips), where he was raised as the eldest of three siblings. His father worked at a local factory and money was tight, so imagination and dreams of becoming an aerialist served as entertainment. “It was a matter of you creating your own fabulous world,” he recalls. “But the best thing about growing up in a village from the 1400s out in no man’s land was the fact I was able to connect with nature. To this day I climb ropes and trees.”

The teenage Henriksen came to grips with his attraction to other boys early but kept it hush-hush until he could, at age eighteen, move to Copenhagen. There he had his first sexual and romantic experiences and dabbled in numerous fields and vocations as varied as government health care, modeling, ballroom dancing, and creating collages of fashion images. Then life, and a man named Harvey, took Henriksen to New York, and soon thereafter, Jakarta, Indonesia.

While Henriksen very much agreed with Indonesia, his skin didn’t—he developed painful cystic acne. Luckily, his friend Lagita, an experienced aesthetician, successfully treated his condition. Impressed, Henriksen pursued his own skincare education in London. “I really felt I had found my vocation,” he says. “And I loved the fact that I got to work intimately with people and give of myself. It’s about providing the next treatments, giving people a comfort zone and self-esteem.”

Eventually, Henriksen took what he learned to San Francisco, where he worked at a Chinatown-area beauty salon. After racking up experience, expertise in treating cystic acne, as well as literally cooking up his own formulations in his kitchen, he moved to Los Angeles and opened a small salon, Ole Henriksen of Denmark, on Beverly Hills’ North Camden Drive. The year was 1975: he was just 24-years-old.

Continued
1 | 2 NEXT>>