With his popularity ratings at a historic low, his country in economic stagnation, and baldness looming (or receding?) anyway, you may not think getting a haircut would be top of the agenda for French President François Hollande.
Au contraire.
It has emerged this week that the spendthrift socialist shells out €9,895 ($10,990) every month for his personal hairdresser, giving Marie Antoinette a run for her money in the tonsorial stakes:
Meanwhile, over at the French treasury, the minister in charge of trimming the public finances receives essentially the same as the man in charge of trimming the presidential tresses.
Michel Sapin’s salary, like all French ministers, is €9,940 ($11040) per month, hardly a champagne dinner clear of Hollande’s hair guru – officially anonymous, but potentially Olivier Benhamou (at least according to the New York Times).
Hollande's barber "earns €10k/month" reports @canardenchaine but he can't control the wind: https://t.co/E3dNC8NrNi pic.twitter.com/aZSvPfXAqA
— The Local France (@TheLocalFrance) July 13, 2016
The French public is aghast. Hollande may have one-upped then-President Bill Clinton’s notorious “Hairgate” when two runways at the Los Angeles airport were shut down for an hour so the Beverly Hills haircutter “Christophe” could give Clinton a haircut on Air Force One in 1993.
It’s hard to tell what the French president has gotten from his high-maintenance haircut, which has stayed pretty much identical through the years of his presidency:
Though it is a damn sight better than his early days as a lower-ranking politician:
Ironically, the most memorable photograph of Hollande did not involve his hair at all.
When he was busted in 2014 rolling up to his mistress’s home on a moped by Closer magazine, he was cunningly disguised by his helmet:
Miraculously, the indiscretion did not seem to damage the lothario leader at all. Perhaps this time he will find it tougher to escape the shears of public censure.
