Beloved Lexington hairstylist Mickey Binion, who styled local celebs, has died
Mickey Binion, 61, a beloved Lexington hairstylist who styled celebrities in California and New York and who made his local clients feel like celebs, died Friday at University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital, his sister said.
Sherry Binion said her brother had been diagnosed with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, or HLH, a condition in which the white blood cells attack the body.
Mickey Binion had been styling hair in Lexington since the 1980s and ran Você Salon, currently located on Esplanade, for more than 20 years.
Former Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes said Binion was part of her life for more than 30 years.
“He was much more than my hairdresser — he was one of my fiercest friends and defenders, always in my corner and always wanting the very best for the people he loved,” she said in a statement.
“A memory that always makes me smile is when Mickey saw me on television for the State of the Commonwealth address, his first response wasn’t about the speech — it was simply, ‘Come see me.’ True to form, Mickey was never shy about letting me know when it was time to get back in his chair,” Grimes said. “Mickey’s talent took him from Kentucky to California, styling people from all walks of life. But no matter where life took him, he never forgot where he came from. He was proud of his Eastern Kentucky roots and cheered on his beloved Kentucky Wildcats every chance he got.”
Binion grew up in Olive Hill and graduated from West Carter High School.
From the time he was a child, Sherry Binion said it was clear he had a gift for hairstyling, whether he was practicing on her or her Barbie dolls.
“He was so talented,” she said. “He’s always been able to do hair. When I was in the fourth grade, he cut my hair like Rod Stewart.”
She laughed, saying she was probably the only kid in Eastern Kentucky who had a Rod Stewart haircut.
Former WLEX anchor Nancy Cox, another one of Binion’s longtime clients, said he had been doing her hair since 1991, and when she first moved away, “I planned my visits to Kentucky to coincide with when I could get an appointment with Mickey.”
“If you went once, you couldn’t go anywhere else,” Cox said. “He was exuberant about life and about friends. He loved his people. He was loyal to the end.”
Cox said she could talk with Binion about anything, and he helped her through some difficult times in her life.
Cox said Binion told her about growing up around his grandmother’s beauty shop, and in some ways his cutting-edge salon in Lexington had that same comfortable feel where clients and their hairdresser could chat and share just about anything.
“It was a throwback, I think, to the old days,” she said. “This felt like that but was so modern and edgy.”
She said Sue Wylie and Anita Madden were among Binion’s clients.
After graduating from cosmetology school in Morehead, Binion went on to work in salons in Ashland and then Lexington, and he traveled to work in Privé salons in Los Angeles and New York, where he was a stylist to celebrities including Britney Spears, Sherry Binion said.
His dog Houston, who Cox said he had rescued from a hurricane that hit Galveston, Texas, went to the shop with him and was a close companion.
“He made mistakes like we all did and do, but he had the biggest heart,” Cox said.
She said he was “one of the dearest friends I’ve ever had.”
Grimes said she’ll best remember Binion for “the kind of son and friend he was.”
“The love and devotion he showed in caring for his late mother spoke volumes about his heart,” Grimes said. “His generosity, loyalty, humor, and compassion touched everyone who knew him.”
Sherry Binion said her brother's wish was to be buried in Carter County beside their mother, who died last August.
In addition to Sherry Binion, he is survived by two brothers, Jeff Minor and Chad Binion.
