Family Tradition, The Science Of Beauty & The Power Of Looking Good At Anton’s Hair & Makeup

Rosemarie Antonelli’s family has been in the hair business since the early half of the 20th century. The niece of a professional hairdresser and daughter of a glamorous stay-at-home mom, Rosemarie took an interest in crafting different looks for herself and others from an early age.

“I grew up right around the corner,” says Rosemarie. “I was a model as a teen, and I would do my makeup, and then the girls would ask me to do theirs.

“I was at Erasmus in the 1950s, but there were some gangs and I wanted to go a more creative path, so I was put into Clara Barton and I worked at my aunt’s salon in Downtown Brooklyn on weekends.”

After working a while on Avenue J, Rosemarie ended up at the intersection of Church and Flatbush Avenues.

“In the ’50s and ’60s, that area was all hair salons,” she says. “That was where you went to work. Those were the good salons like Steve’s and House of Blondes.”

Before opening Anton’s Hair & Makeup, her salon since 1980, Rosemarie also did her time at Jose’s on Kings Highway (now Studio 19), opened a salon called Hair at the height of the show’s popularity (“Everyone was into hair pieces and wigs then”)–and even spent a while on Madison Avenue in Manhattan.

Then 33 years ago, Rosemarie fought her husband to bring the business back t0 Ocean Parkway. “I just had a sink and a chair and my Brooklyn regulars because I’d been out here for years,” she says. “And I started working here, and I never left.”

In fact, the Antonellis bought not only the current building in which Anton’s is housed–they scooped up the one next door, too. Rosemarie takes pride in having gut renovated both, and credits her husband, who had real estate experience, with teaching her how to find great tenants, about whom she gushes for a few minutes.

Stunning and youthful as she is, Rosemarie possesses a matriarchal quality that makes everyone around her seemingly feel like family–evident in the way she communicates with her staff and talks about her tenants and clients. She’s had certain customers for decades, and has done some women’s hair from childhood to wedding day and beyond.

“In 1960 when I was on Church Avenue, I had this lady Barbara Gershuny,” she says. “We’re the same age, and she follows me wherever I go. Unless it snows, she comes in every week–she’s coming in tomorrow–and we’ve become friends.

“We just went out for our anniversary. That’s what happens–you build these relationships.”

Rosemarie sets out buffets in the morning to make customers feel at home, and the walls of the salon are covered with portraits of loved ones she created digitally or with marker. In keeping with the family feel of the place, it’s not surprising that at least part of her inspiration was passed down from her mother.

“I remember my mom, who was a housewife. She had natural wavy hair, and every morning she would wet it and put it in place, and put on her lipstick, and wear a housedress. She always made the effort to look nice, even when no one else was around.”

Like she describes her mother’s, Rosemarie’s hair is now perfectly-coiffed–but it wasn’t always that way.

“I used to have really curly hair,” she says. “I think that was why I got into this business. When I was little, my mother used to do my hair like Shirley Temple. I remember there was a boy I liked, Eugene, and I saw him outside, and I brushed my hair all out–I don’t know how old I was, maybe eight–and my mother made fun of me! It was awful. I tried every product, everything after that, and of course now they have amazing hair straighteners.”

Of course, one of Anton’s staff is family. Rosemarie’s daughter Colette, the salon’s expert colorist, decided to follow in her mom’s footsteps early on as well.

“I was at Bishop Ford,” Colette says. “One day my father said, ‘If you’re not going to college, then your choices are get into the business, or you’re gonna go into the East River.’ So that’s how I got started.”

Colette began working with Rosemarie doing hair and nails, eventually graduating high school and working magic with color (both initial and corrective) as she does today.

Colette shows me “before” photos of a customer whose long hair was burned off by a harsh Japanese straightening method at another salon. Her hair is drastically asymmetrical, and not on purpose–in the “after” pictures, Colette has put in extensions to conceal the damage while her client’s natural hair grows back. Rosemarie and Colette are both passionate about using straighteners without chemicals, and, accordingly, extensions that don’t cause damage to hair either.

Rosemarie talks about keeping hair healthy through various processes, and how important it is to discuss with a new client what products or treatments they’re currently using to get a full picture of what those products might be doing to their hair. It’s a science, like telling a doctor or pharmacist what medications you’re taking before adding a new one to the equation.

In addition to cutting and coloring both men’s and women’s hair, straightening hair, and adding extensions, the staff at Anton’s does makeup for special occasions, facials, anti-aging therapies, permanent makeup, offers wigs, performs services for brides and bridal parties, carries their own line of makeup and skin care products as well as popular hair products, stocks accessories for the bride or prom-goer in need, and even performs full makeovers.

The way they go about collaborating with clients on new looks is fascinating–each client starts with an exhaustive two-page worksheet detailing their favorite and least favorite things about their current look, their lifestyle and desired look maintenance level, the products they’re using (of course!), and what they’d like their new look to convey about them. On top of that, the staff uses their decades of expertise to make decisions based on clients’ face shape and coloring, and their incredible care and attention to detail pays off–you can see some of Anton’s unbelievable before and after work here.

For her part, Rosemarie believes too many people sell themselves short when it comes to the doors a fresh look can open. She and Colette even make sure, on a busy afternoon, to get me (who barely remembers to brush her hair) in the chair for a pretty transformative blowout.

Photo by hairart6

“People should take the time to come in, get pampered, and update their look,” says Rosemarie. “They deserve it, and a lot of people think they don’t.”

Harkening back to her mom’s everyday beauty regimen, she says, “You should always put your best foot forward.”

Want to see what Anton’s can do for you? Check out their website and Facebook, then give them a call to schedule an appointment at 718-871-2512.