Butler Co. native nominated for national hairstyling awards

Daniel Holzberger, a Fairfield grad and Atlanta-based hair stylist, is nominated for two North America Hairstyling Awards - Editorial Stylist of the Year and Avant Garde - that will be given out July 19 in Las Vegas.

This is one of many styles created by Daniel Holzberger. He's nominated for two North America Hairstyling Awards - Editorial Stylist of the Year and Avant Garde - that will be given out July 19 in Las Vegas.

Contributed photo by BABAK inc. This is one of many styles created by Daniel Holzberger. He's nominated for two North America Hairstyling Awards - Editorial Stylist of the Year and Avant Garde - that will be given out July 19 in Las Vegas.

ENLARGE PHOTO

By Michael D. Pitman, Staff Writer Updated 12:14 PM Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Including his two nominations this year, Daniel Holzberger has been nominated eight times in four years for various North American Hairstyling Awards categories. But the 1998 Fairfield and 2000 Aveda Fredric’s Institute graduate hopes this year to win.

He’s nominated for the Avant Garde and Editorial Stylist of the Year categories.

“It’s kind of like the Oscars for hair,” said Holzberger, creative director and a stylist for Van Michael Salons in Atlanta.

Holzberger started his career in Los Angeles with Vidal Sassoon. Less than a year later, he took a job with Van Michael Salons, and has been there for nearly a decade.

“I really had to pay my dues,” Holzberger said. “It took me three to five years before ... really having a name out there.”

The quality of his work improved after he started to work with Babak, a Canadian photographer, in 2004.

“I ended up learning pretty quickly and the quality of my work went up,” he said of the collaboration.

Holzberger travels between Atlanta, Miami and Tokyo for Van Michael Salons. He also travels a lot for Aveda, doing shows and photo shoots.

It seemed natural Holzberger would enter the family trade. His father, Frederic Holzberger owned Fredric’s Corp., an Aveda distributor, and co-owns AFI with his wife Julie. Holzberger’s mom, Diane Capobianco, owns the Head Shed on Ohio 4.

“I grew up in her salon,” Holzberger said. “Because of my dad, I was around a lot of stuff for Aveda and I was at different hair shows.”

His sister, Nikki Holzberger, 25, is a colorist at Van Michaels.

When Holzberger’s parents would have shows, he would do the behind the scenes work. When he got his driver’s license, he would drive to pick up stylists.

“He saw no matter who they were or what they looked like, the girls went crazy over the hair dressers so he realized it was a cool way to get chicks,” Capobianco said.

His parents are proud of his success.

“He is an enormous talent in our industry,” Frederic Holzberger said.

The NAHA winners will be announced during the awards ceremony on July 19 in Las Vegas.

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