Flores handles hair, skin, makeup for all of those photoshoots and red carpet appearances (and yes body oil when applicable).
In our latest video episode of SPIFFY (a men’s grooming podcast from Blue Print), I got to interview Hudson Williams’ groomer, Aika Flores, a well-established celebrity groomer based out of LA. Her clients include Nick and Joe Jonas, Alex Warren, Alex and Nat Wolff, Steven Yuen, and many more.
In the interview, we talked about the whirlwind world tour for Heated Rivalry, the show that has turned Hudson and co-star Connor Storrie into overnight A-Listers, a la Beatlesmania style fame.
As the tour pertains to Aika, we spoke about everything grooming related: from Hudson’s best hair moments (is it the Balenciaga show? The Oscars?) to that infamous skincare video he made for The Cut. We chat about how she and Hudson got connected in the first place, a certain photo shoot where she ran through an entire bottle of body oil, and we also discussed how to get her signature hair style (and now Hudson’s signature too): The heartthrob hairstyle.
You can read our separate article on how to get Hudson Williams’ heartthrob hairstyle, too, with tips from this interview.
Please note, this episode of SPIFFY was made possible by American Crew. We do “cast” the best American Crew products in the styling section of the interview.
Since Aika uses so many different products on tour, we streamlined it to the American Crew suite so that you can easily replicate the style from home, no matter what your hair texture may be. Also, how fitting is it that American Crew’s stylers are called “pucks”, and this is a Heated Rivalry / hockey-adjacent discussion?
A Q&A overview of the conversation is below, but you can also watch the episode above. And, you can listen to it on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Be sure to subscribe to SPIFFY in your podcast players, and subscribe to Blue Print by Adam Hurly on YouTube for more men’s grooming content. I’m the guy who has been reporting on this industry for 14 years at GQ, Esquire, Men’s Health, and more, and I put all of my expertise in this one place for you.
Q&A with Aika Flores, Celebrity Men’s Groomer + Hudson Williams’ Groomer on the Heated Rivalry Tour
Adam Hurly: First and foremost, can you explain what a celebrity groomer’s job entails?
Aika Flores: Men’s groomers do it all: essentially hair, skin, and very light makeup. It’s just an elevated version of their skin and their hair, nothing too glam and nothing too much. Sometimes now “men’s grooming” can even be used on women. They won’t say “makeup,” they’ll say they’re looking to get grooming instead.
We do everything. Hair, beard, necklines, eyebrows, mustache. Body as well. That’s us too.
And so how did you get connected with Hudson, as his go-to groomer?
I’m part of The Wall Group, which is a big agency. Usually a publicist or manager will reach out and ask for a groomer, and agents will pitch us with our portfolios.
In Hudson’s case, it was actually through a friend of mine who’s the editor in chief of Timid Magazine. He was like, “I have this guy who’s on a show in Canada, now streaming on HBO, and we want him on the cover.” He said the name and I was like, “Cool, never heard of him.”
He came straight from the airport with his publicist, and he was just a regular dude. Open, creative. We had a lot of fun that day, and it kind of started there.
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We are three months into this tour, a day after the Oscars, where Hudson was still one of the most popular guys in the room. But lets step back to those early days: What were those first legs of the tour like?
Right after that first shoot, we went straight into press. It was days of junkets, which are part of the press tour—interviews, games, talking about the show.
It was like six hours of junket, then directly to GQ into the night. The next day was another junket, then straight to the Vanity Fair shoot. It was nonstop.
That first editorial was also just very creative. Editorials are always a space where you can make something cool, something you put in your portfolio.
It is often that celebs find groomers in each city/market, and that the groomers themselves stay local. But why do you think Hudson continues to work with the same people and bring them on tour? (Stylists too.)
Once a client finds someone who does their hair and skin the way they want, especially men, they don’t want to re-explain themselves. It’s like, this person knows exactly what I want—I’m not going to try to explain it again. If you travel a lot and could bring your barber, you’d do the same thing.
In Hudson’s case, his team is very much like family. Every person he brings in has a purpose in his life, not just the job. There’s a real connection.
When you step into that kind of environment, it doesn’t feel like work. You trust each other, and I think you create better things that way.
What can you tell us about that Wonderland photoshoot, that had him all oiled up…?
Going into that shoot, I already knew the photographer’s work, so I had a sense that there would be a more undressed, body-focused concept.
We’re all professionals, and I’m comfortable oiling up anyone. At one point I ran out and they were like, “More oil, can we make it shinier?”
But I generally don’t use oils that just sit on top of the skin. I prefer products that absorb as the day goes on. You can always add more, but I never want it to feel too heavy—especially if he’s going into wardrobe after.
I’d rather build it up than have him look like a rotisserie chicken.
What was your reaction when you saw his 20-minute video about his skincare routine for The Cut?
When it came out, we were like, “20 minutes?” That’s long. I watched it and honestly, I don’t have advice for him—I’m just super proud of him for having a regimen at all, especially as a man.
I think a lot of that comes from him being Korean, where skincare is just more ingrained. He really does it.
My favorite part was when he was out of frame for a good minute and we were all just watching an empty screen. That’s when I was like, there’s something about him—how are we all still watching and nobody clicked away?
What are your top 3 favorite Hudson Williams hairstyles from this tour—the “best hair days” that will be atop your portfolio?
I’d put the Balenciaga campaign first. That was the first time I did that hair on him, and I surprised myself. He kept running his hands through it, and I was worried, but it actually worked.
Second would be the Oscars hair. It was a risk. I didn’t want to do too much because it’s the Oscars—it’s formal—but I also didn’t want it to be boring. I didn’t want to just slick it back.
Third would be the recent Balenciaga show. The sunglasses, the paparazzi shots—it all came together. There’s also a black-and-white shoot where you can really see the hair. That’s one of my favorites.
I’m curious about two Oscars moments. One is the Vanity Fair video where he has all these clips in his hair as you style. What are those for?
[Editor’s note: It’s low cost styling clips like this].
I’ll take a clip and put it right where you part your hair so the hair is lifted up, and then it cascades down and dries that way. You place the clip where you want the wave to rise and fall.
In his case, there were a lot of waves, so I put a clip at the start of each one. Sometimes I’ll even fold the hair and clip it so it dries into that shape. It’s just a way to build movement and structure while it sets.
The other moment is him on the red carpet holding a fan. I heard you gave him that fan?
We learned from the Golden Globes that it was really hot in that tent, and he runs really hot. So I knew going into the Oscars it was going to be like 85 to 90 degrees.
I gave him this pink fan—it just flips open, two settings, cute little bear stickers on it. He doesn’t care, he’ll use it.
I had no idea it was going to become a thing. I saw an article like, “Hudson brings a fan date to the Oscars—and it’s not a person.” It just kind of took off.
