The Stylist Behind John Roberts and Wolf Blitzer
For nearly 3 decades, David’s Hair Studio and it's owner, David Tab, were a staple of the Foggy Bottom Community. When COVID struck, their longevity was put to the test.
Tab is delightfully sociable and more than happy to talk about his life. With a thick French accent, he’ll often reminisce about visits to Paris or make small talk about his client’s business or studies as he cuts and styles hair.
Born in French Morocco, David Tab moved to France when he was 9 years old and immigrated to the US in 1975. He worked in Georgetown as a stylist until he had saved enough to open his own salon, which opened in 1983. Since then, Tab has clipped and styled the heads of thousands of Washingtonians, from students to White House staff.
Given his locality, Tab says most of his clients tend to be Washington bureaucrats on their way home from work in the dozens of office buildings surrounding his Salon. Workers from the nearby World Bank and International Monetary Fund were among his most frequent clients, filling enough reservations that at one point, Tab had 10 other part-time stylists working in his Salon.
Then, the COVID-19 Pandemic sent all of those people home. They no longer had to stay clean-cut for work. They no longer stopped by on their commute home. They didn’t want to risk going out during the pandemic.
The result, Tab said, was a drastic shrink in his clientele.
“50 percent,” he said. “They got to work from home, so why would they fix their hair?”
Over the pandemic, he was forced to cut staff and move shop, from his original location in The Seven Buildings to where he is now above a liquor store and below a nail salon, just a few doors down the road. He cut most of his staff during the pandemic, and now only employs 3 other part-time workers.
Some clients, he said, eventually returned– but his clientele is still a fraction of the size it was pre-pandemic. He now works only part time, and only comes into the salon two or three days a week and whenever he has an appointment.
Among his steadfast clientele are some well-known Washington businessmen, lobbyists, bureaucrats, and personalities. Two of his longest-time clients are none other than CNN host Wolf Blitzer and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Roberts. Anthony Stephen Harrington, the former US Ambassador to Brazil under President Bill Clinton, is also a frequent client.
When asked about his high-profile clientele by Harrington, Tab laughed at the idea that he would chat with Roberts about court matters.
“Everything he would tell me is in the news. I am not the type to try and tell him things, either. I am just here to cut his hair.”
And cut hair he does. He still takes walk-ins to his little salon, and plans to for a little while to come. Currently 65, he said he plans to keep working for two or three years before selling the salon. Tab, noting on several occasions his hatred for stagnancy, said he’d like to travel when he retires.
“I want to go back to France,” he said. “Even see some of the US, you know. Huge. It’s a beautiful country. I would really like to see more.”
But for now, Tab can still be found sitting in one of his Salon’s chairs or standing on the sidewalk outside his Salon, with a smile on his face and a landline in hand— just in case someone needs a haircut.
Special thanks to David Tab of David's Hair Salon.