"What I do is nothing more than a shampoo away from being nothing."

Said Kenneth Battelle, "the first celebrity stylist" (known for doing the hair of, among many others, First Lady Jackie Kennedy).

The quote appears in the obituary of another celebrity hairdresser: "Brad Johns, Celebrity Colorist Known for His 'Buttery Chunks,' Dies at 70/He made blonde highlights a fashion sensation. But when he shared details about his relationship with Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, he ran into trouble" (NYT gift link).

"Buttery chunks" is good. Have a name for your something more than nothing. And why be modest like Kenneth? Why not be prideful?

"I’m really proud that I made hair buttery instead of ashy. I brought these words to hair color: butter, caramel, cinnamon. These words made people smile, and so they would come to me, asking for chunks, chunks, chunks. I made highlights that weren’t these teeny-weeny capellinis, but big golden chunks, like a child at the beach would have." 

When you think of hair, why not think of eating? Even though people hate hair in their food and food in their hair.

A word about his parents (he grew up poor):

"He bought his parents a house and gave each one a credit card that he paid. His father used his once, after first inquiring if he might buy a new tire. Mr. Johns told him to please get four. His mother was more adventurous: She spent thousands on evening gowns, which Mr. Johns discovered years later, hanging unworn in her closet."

I wondered if Kenneth grew up rich. Perhaps the rich/poor distinction explained the (seeming) difference between the 2 men, one modest and one exuberantly proud. But Wikipedia tells us that Kenneth Batelle's father was a shoe salesman who abandoned the mother and son "when Kenneth was 12, leaving their son to support his family through cooking and washing dishes, selling beer and working as an elevator operator."