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We figured out that Griff Garrison uses Kirkland brand, Brian Pillman uses expensive product, but what about some of the other hairlords in pro wrestling? We asked Chuck Palumbo, who had some of the most naturally curly hair in wrestling history....what did he use?
"That’s a good question. I’ll tell you right now, I remember because I still use it today. Pantene Pro V. It was good stuff and you could get it on the road. They sold it at CVS. You didn’t have to go to the salon to get it, you know? We’re talking about here—this is funny, but—I never did anything to my hair. I washed it. That’s it. I never combed it. I never did anything. Comb wouldn’t go through it. So, that was just it," Palumbo said.
Those luscious locks were gone by 2002, when Palumbo had teamed up with Billy Gunn. The hair he once had was now short and bleached blonde, which caused him long term trouble.
"The hair fell out is what happened. What happened was when we started the Billy & Chuck thing, Vince told us, the night we were going on TV—American Airlines Arena, Dallas, I remember that—like four o’clock in the afternoon, he’s like, ‘Yeah, you guys are gonna have platinum blonde hair.’ I’m thinking, ‘Alright, cool.’ So, they have those girls who travel with us and they do hair and make-up, right? So, these girls processed my hair for like two hours, three hours to make it platinum blonde in one day. So, it went from brown to orange to yellow all in one day. Scalp bleeds. So, every fifteen, twenty minutes I’m jumping in the shower and washing the blood out and washing the chemical out. Then I go back in the chair and they do it again. So, the hair didn’t last too long after that. My hair was not supposed to be blonde. So, eventually it was just falling out. Not like from the scalp. It was breaking off and stuff like that," Palumbo said. Yeah. So, I just said, ‘Let me cut it off. I’ll grow it back later.’
With most physical, visual changes, talent needs to get approval from WWE. Palumbo didn't and didn't get any heat for it.
"I didn’t ask ‘em. I just did it. One day I came in and my hair was short. No one said anything. The thing was when you travel down the road doing this, you gotta bleach it all the time. It’s a lot easier to do it when it’s short. It just made it easier. Then, think about it, the hair looked so fake when it was blonde and long. Think about it, I gotta walk around my town when I go home. I gotta go to the store. I gotta travel through the airports. I probably looked like a freak. Here’s this guy, 6’5, 270 pounds and I’m walking around like I’ve been in the tanning bed too many times ‘cause back then it was all about tanning. So, here’s a guy who’s been in the tanning bed too much and he has bleach blonde hair. It was like, ‘Oh, man. What am I doing?’"
Palumbo would eventually regrow the wonderful hair we all knew and loved.
You can see our full interview with Chuck Palumbo at the top of the page.
