Dishing With The 'Idol' Hair Guru

I said it last week and now I have the confirmation that Haley Scarnato got the full on McPheever treatment from Dean, "I did McPhee Haley. Actually they were the actual extensions I used last year on Katharine, recycled. I'm saving the Earth! I definitely don't want to make her Katharine McPhee but we just want to play around with different extensions. Haley has a lot hair and its kind of fine texture and it doesn't hold a lot of curl. The extensions in it really help hold that style because you have to remember they are ready six hours before the show starts. So, we need a style that's going to be strong and that is going to hold up for that amount of time."

Expect a different look for Gina Glocksen who on Friday had her hair cut into an inverted bob, "It's kind of fresh. It's rockery. It's kind of spiked in the back. It's completely different." The red highlights are staying for now. Her good luck pickle may get a red extension for support tonight too.

Jordin Sparks will also benefit from hair extensions in the coming weeks. Dean just made up some curly ones for her. Her mom is concerned that at 17 -years-old she stay looking young and innocent, "It's kind of hard because she is really mature for her age. Just the way she carries herself. My thing is I definitely don't want her too look forty but you can still be classy. Its really hard not to make her look too sexy and so whenever I think its too sexy, I'm like ok take it down."

Dean has been asking Chris Richardson to grow his hair out but word on the street is he had a hair meltdown and shaved his head over the weekend.

Melinda Doolittle has been the most reluctant to change. So gradual steps are being taken to change her look, "She just likes to maintain who she is and continue throughout. We've got some different types of hair pieces that we are going to be trying on her and our goal for her is just to kind of lift the hair up a little bit. So, she can showcase her neck because everybody kind of gives her a hard time about having such a short neck."

Chris Sligh's curls are his signature but a big change may be in store at least one time, "I have been throwing around ideas of flat ironing it. You would freak out. His hair is probably past his shoulders and we might do it for a results show. We also are kind of playing around with color. I think it will be very slimming to him because the big roundness of all the hair kind of is distracting. It kind of makes everything look bigger.”

When Blake Lewis came in, he wanted to wear his hair flat but Dean talked him out of it, "I'm like, lets not do that yet because the audience still knows you as the spiky blonde. Let us grow it out and let us do some different things but don’t get too crazy changing right away because there is so many contestants right now that you really have to stand out."

The first time Dean ever met Lakisha Jones he says, "It was a little tragic because some of her weave was falling out. So we are doing a couple of whip stitches trying to get it back in so we can style her hair." Now she has a full weave that leaves tons of room for playing. Lakisha is apparently a big fan of hair accessories.

Dean is hoping Stephanie Edwards would be willing to grow her hair out so she can get away from the Fantasia Barrino, Latoya London look.

So, just how much time does it take to create all this beauty. Well you would be surprised. Dean tells me he and his team typically only get about thirty minutes with each contestant, "And they are not consecutive minutes. So, we might get ten minutes here and then they will pull them for rehearsal and they will come back and we will have to start all over. Then we will get them for another five minutes and they will go to lunch and have another meeting. It gets to the point where its a little patch work quilt going on."

Watch for one of the contestants tonight to be wearing over a million dollars in jewelry including some bling bling in their hair. Here is a hint: It's not Phil Stacey!