By Pam George
It was 1975, the year Saigon fell, and the Vietnam War ended. Saturday Night Live premiered, Jaws hit theaters, and Bruce Springsteen released Born to Run. Culture was shifting, trends were changing, and even the beauty industry was affected. In Wilmington, a 22-year-old Michael Hemphill opened a salon above a bar on Delaware Avenue to “exceed expectations.”
Half a century later, Michael Christopher Salon and Day Spa is one of the region’s most well-known and respected salons. “Not only has Michael survived 50 years, but we’ve continued to thrive,” says salon manager Rebecca Barry, who started in 1986. “I am very proud to be a part of this.”
Credit in large part the man behind the brand.“What I love about Michael is that he’s just real,” says longtime client Anne Eidschun. “There’s no act, no attitude — just pure talent and authenticity. He’s a great leader, as evidenced by the longevity of his staff. And he is, without question, a brilliant businessman.”
Hemphill has never shied away from reinvention; in fact, he’s embraced it.
“Growth never has to stop,” he says. “Even after 50 years.”
Born Into Beauty
Michael Coleman Hemphill grew up with the hum of hairdryers and the haze of hairspray. His parents, Pauline “Dolly” DiGiuseppe and Clifford Hemphill, owned Clifford Hair Fashions in Kennett Square. Michael, his brothers Clifford P. and Mark, and his sister, Dorian, spent much of their childhood in and around the business.
For instance, Hemphill did his homework in the salon and styled the mannequin’s hair while colorful hairdressers chatted around him. “They had cigarettes hanging out of their mouth, ashes falling off, and there was all this hairspray — it was crazy,” he once said. “If you’ve ever put a match to a can of hairspray, it’s like a blow torch.”
As a tween, the budding hairstylist rode his bike to neighbors’ homes with a briefcase full of curlers and a spray bottle of stale beer — a makeshift styling aid that produced stiff, shiny results. He charged a quarter. At 14, he convinced his parents to let him study at Bruno’s School of Hair Design in Toronto, an 18-month program that accepted young teens. When he returned home, he apprenticed at his father’s salon until he earned his license.
Then life changed. In 1968, Clifford died of a heart attack at age 45. By law, Dolly needed a hairdressing license to keep the business, so she went back to school while Michael helped run the salon. He was 17.
The young hairstylist — he would later prefer hair designer — already knew to succeed, he had do more than reproduce the five basic cuts he learned in school. His approach is to study the whole person, not just their hair. He considers the neck, nose, lifestyle, posture, and commitment to a morning routine.
“You want to enhance what is good and camouflage what is not,” he says.
Clients appreciate that intentionality. “I trust him completely,” says Eidschun.
Stacey Millan agrees. “He always shows me how to replicate my style at home. I don’t think I’ve ever had a stylist so invested in how I look and feel.”
Raising the Bar
Hemphill’s first salon was at 706 Delaware Avenue, above The Sting, a Wilmington bar (which was later O’Friel’s Irish Pub). “It was nerve-wracking,” Hemphill says of the opening. “I’d put all my money into it. I hoped my dream would come to fruition.”
He named the salon Michael Christopher after his confirmation name. When the nun asked to choose a name, he’d quipped, “Christ.” She slapped his hand with a ruler and replied, “It’s already taken.” Christopher was next on the list.
The salon expanded to two floors, but it wasn’t long before Hemphill needed more space. In 1980, the business moved to 2000 Pennsylvania Ave., a building he’d admired since childhood. “I thought, ‘Oh, what a cool place,’ never imagining I would land there.”
Hemphill embraced the maximalist, glitter-ball spirit of the 1980s. “I thought, ‘I’m going to lose my ass here, because I turned it into Studio 54,’” he says. “There was stainless steel, mirrors.” He filled the street-facing windows with eye-catching displays. “It wasn’t done until it was overdone.”
Clients adored the pampering, complete with complimentary food and drinks, curated merchandise, and a glamorous environment. When celebrities came to Wilmington to perform at The Playhouse, they would often visit Hemphill, who also made house calls to the Andrew Wyeth household.
Michael Christopher became the salon in the Wilmington and Philadelphia region.
“When I moved to Delaware, I asked about salons,” Eidschun recalls. “Everyone mentioned Michael Christopher — even if they weren’t going there. His salon and his name were everywhere.”
Competitions, awards, and a knack for providing pithy quotes to reporters kept Hemphill in the limelight. When he pitched Bloomingdale’s on a salon inside its King of Prussia store, they listened. The Michael Christopher location opened in 1986, drawing clients like Millan, who remembers treating herself as a young college graduate. A Pike Creek location soon followed.
Losses, Lessons, and Letting Go
Success didn’t insulate Hemphill from hardship. His gourmet to-go restaurant, The Charcuterie, lasted from 1983 to 1985. In 1991, he lost his stepfather and a close cousin to cancer.
Then came the departure of key talent. Dominic Rappucci, who managed Pike Creek, left in 1992. Two years later, stylists Nicholas Scarfo and Anthony DiFrancesco opened their own salon. Hemphill understood ambition — many of his protégés opened salons — but he bristled if they tried to recruit his people.
“Don’t pick from my garden,” he told them.
His most devastating loss came with the death of his partner, Mark Stifter, in 1992. Stifter had unknowingly contracted HIV from a previous partner. When they learned the diagnosis, Hemphill assumed he was also positive. He purchased cemetery plots and quietly put his affairs in order while awaiting his test results. The doctor eventually called while he was with clients. Hemphill, however, kept cutting. Later, he learned he was negative.
Still, rumors swirled in an era when AIDS-related stigma was lethal to a business. Hemphill posted his test results in the salon. “A whiff of suspicion could ruin you,” he says.
Caring for Stifter while running multiple locations stretched him to the limit. Stifter grew so weak that Hemphill had to feed him and carry him. To explain his partner’s weight loss, Hemphill said he had cancer. He’d never lied to his staff before. Three years after Stifter’s death, he revealed the truth to his team.
In 1993, Hemphill left the Bloomingdale’s partnership and sold the Pike Creek location to Scarfo. He focused on his flagship, giving the Pennsylvania Avenue space a $200,000 renovation. Out went the chrome; in came European warmth and elegance.
Reinventing Again — and Again
Hemphill’s career evolved in tandem with the industry. He became a familiar face on QVC, where he sold solution-driven products. Long before YouTube, he produced blow-drying VHS tutorials. Today, his Michael Christopher Beauty brand is available online.
When he learned that 2000 Pennsylvania Avenue would be demolished for redevelopment, he was excited, not disappointed. “It was time to reinvent,” he says.
Michael Hemphill with his long-time receptionist Robin Rusnak. Photo by Jim Coarse.
He found his next home at the Montchanin Corporate Center, once occupied by Columbia Gas and MBNA. The salon now sits inside what used to be a four-bay garage. Even the landlord doubted the concept.
“Michael saw potential where others didn’t,” Eidschun says. “He turned it into a stunning, comfortable salon with thoughtful touches everywhere, including a lovely outdoor garden.”
Instead of in-your-face glam, the new salon would embrace the sanctuary sentiment so needed in the digital age.
The salon moved in 2017, and Millan rediscovered it during the pandemic, when her Pennsylvania salon remained closed.
“I was immediately taken with the décor, the accessories, and the whole vibe,” she says. She eventually made the switch to Hemphill permanently and drives an hour each way for services.
Meanwhile, Hemphill married Matthew Tseronis, and the couple purchased and renovated a historic home in Old New Castle. Though Hemphill has reduced his hours, retirement isn’t in the plan.
He maintains that he’s “nobody’s boss.” But he is a teacher and mentor with no shortage of sage sayings. Corporate administrator Lindsay Grace says he taught her to “take an idea and throw it at the wall to see what sticks.”
Eidschun remembers reading an interview in which Hemphill quoted Mark Twain: “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”
“That really stayed with me,” she says. “He clearly found his ‘why’ in sharing his gift and making people feel their best.”
After 50 years, countless reinventions, and a family of successful stylists who trace their careers to him, Hemphill often reflects on the one thing none of us can control.
“Time is the most precious thing we have,” he says. “You can only spend it. You can’t buy it. You can’t get any more of it.”
In other words, he says, “Don’t waste it.”
Pam George has been writing about Delaware’s dining scene for two decades, and in 2023 received a Community Impact Award from the Delaware Restaurant Association. She is also the author of Shipwrecks of the Delaware Coast: Tales of Pirates, Squalls and Treasure, Landmarks & Legacies: Exploring Historic Delaware, and First State Plates: Iconic Delaware Restaurants and Recipes. She lives in Wilmington and Lewes.