Jay Sebring

Jay Sebring (October 10, 1933 – August 9, 1969) was an American hair stylist for celebrities, and the founder of the hairstyling corporation Sebring International. He is also known as one of the murder victims of the Manson Family.

Early life

Born Thomas John Kummer in Birmingham, Alabama, Sebring was the son of an accountant, Bernard Kummer, and his wife Margarette. He grew up with one brother and two sisters in a middle class home in Southfield, Michigan.

After graduating from Southfield High School in 1951, Sebring joined the Navy for four years, and during this time served in the Korean War. He then moved to Los Angeles, where he changed his name to Jay Sebring: Jay, after the first initial of his middle name, and Sebring after the famous Florida car race.

In October 1960, Sebring married a model named Cami – a union which ended unofficially in August 1963.

Career

In Los Angeles he graduated from beauty school and promptly "invented a whole new way of cutting men's hair". His innovations including shampooing men's hair before styling it, cutting their hair with scissors instead of clippers, and using blow dryers, which were popular in Europe but not well known in the United States. He even used hair spray, in an era when Brylcreem was the accepted hair product for men. In Los Angeles, Sebring's modish salon and his style of cutting hair proved popular. He taught his methods to others who then opened Jay Sebring Salon franchises; his styling techniques were still being taught 40 years after his death. In 1967 he opened the company Sebring International to franchise his salons and sell hair care products.