MTV'S Pauly D Gets Signature 'Do' in RI

(Published in The Providence Journal on Jan. 4, 2010)

NORTH PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A steady stream of customers is showing up at a local hair stylist to get a dab of reality-television fame. Give me a Pauly D, they ask Anthony. Only Anthony does the Pauly D right, because only Anthony shapes the “do” of the real Pauly D, the Johnston man with the supernatural tan on MTV's “Jersey Shore.” The hairstyle, with its unstoppable verticality, has hit the big time. A guy in his late 40s recently walked into Uptown Styles. He wanted a Pauly D. “I thought it was a little awkward myself,” said Anthony Gianfrancesco, 30, owner of Uptown and longtime master of Pauly D’s locks. "But I guess you've got to do what the customer wants. He walked out of here with a smile." A 5-year-old boy came in with his mother. She asked him to give her son a Pauly D. Looks pretty cute on a kid, Gianfrancesco admitted. Gianfrancesco's never cut a Pauly D on a lady, but he's slated to on Tuesday. Gianfrancesco didn't see any of this coming. He's owned Uptown Styles since 1997. Uptown hasn't changed, a small place on Charles Street. There's the barber pole undulating blue and red stripes, the framed photo of Fenway Park, four windows, three black barber's chairs, and one Anthony Gianfrancesco. Why the name Uptown? Gianfrancesco's not sure but after thinking a moment, he offers that it "is not downtown." On Saturday afternoon, he and the other guys recalled people who wanted actor George Clooney's style. And actress Jennifer Aniston's style became popular. But the Pauly D is of its time in the blink of an eye. Gianfrancesco started cutting the hair of one Paul Delvecchio, known as DJ Pauly D in "Jersey Shore," a decade or more ago. Back then, he had a prototype of today's coiffure phenomenon known as the blow-out. It became the Pauly D days after "Jersey Shore" aired. The Pauly D costs $12 -- for now -- the same as other haircuts at Uptown Styles. Gianfrancesco said he generally does a couple of Pauly D cuts a day. The cut usually takes 30 to 40 minutes and requires quite a bit of upkeep in order to achieve and maintain a true Pauly D. The first cut lays the foundation for what careful grooming delivers. "It takes a few cuts to really get it right," Gianfrancesco said. "I've been doing it for so long, it's like second nature." He cut Pauly D's hair last week before he flew out west. He's the same Pauly, Gianfrancesco said, just with a busier schedule. It can be strange seeing him on TV, "because we've known him for so long," Gianfrancesco said. "When people find out I cut his hair, they ask me a million-and-one things about him." Gianfrancesco believes in a bond between the person who cuts hair and the person in the chair, and he said he and Pauly D are close. "His hair, it kind of brings out his character," Gianfrancesco said, adding that the hairstyle requires a certain attitude, a certain confidence. MTV's cast biography says Pauly D, a popular DJ in Rhode Island, keeps a tanning bed in his house and "orders gel by the case and does his hair twice a day - once in the morning and once before hitting the town." The show follows the exploits of several men and women in their 20s during a summer in a Jersey Shore house. Pauly D is joined by, among others, Vinny, Mike “The Situation,” Nicole “Snooki” and Ronnie. The show, which ended its season Thursday, is very popular but has drawn some controversy from what some see as its stereotyping of Italian-Americans.