Louis Licari

It was insanely easy to get an appointment with Louis Licari, anointed by numerous fashion magazines as one of the top hair colorists in the world. I expected a long sigh from the receptionist who would say the media darling was booked solid, but maybe they could squeeze me in at the end of August . . . if I happened to be a movie star. Instead, the chipper voice on the other end said, "OK, when do you want to come in? Next Friday? For single process color? Sure."

It was insanely easy to get an appointment with Louis Licari, anointed by numerous fashion magazines as one of the top hair colorists in the world. I expected a long sigh from the receptionist who would say the media darling was booked solid, but maybe they could squeeze me in at the end of August . . . if I happened to be a movie star. Instead, the chipper voice on the other end said, "OK, when do you want to come in? Next Friday? For single process color? Sure."

Don't it make your black hair pink? Only Janet Leigh's hairdresser knows for sure, after the actress filed a $4-million suit in Los Angeles Superior Court alleging that her coiffiste , Louis Licari, told Leigh he could bleach her hair blond for a film role without damaging her hair. But according to the suit, Licari's first attempt at coloring Leigh's hair resulted in its taking on a slightly rosy hue. Attempt No. 2?

Read the Instructions: Most mistakes are made because people don't, says a Clairol hot-line representative. The single most common error in home hair color is removing the color prematurely. "The chemicals stop working after a certain length of time, so there is little harm in leaving the color on too long. But you will get unsatisfactory results from too short a time."

As baby boomers gray, they're looking for ways to disguise the fact without ammonia- or peroxide-based hair coloring that may be toxic to skin, scalp and environment. So there's been a resurgence of one of the most ancient dyes of all: henna. A vegetable product that coats hair, henna adds red highlights to brunettes and creates a fiery red on blondes. Many women apply it at home since it's inexpensive and accessible.

Dear Fashion Police: Is it true that highlighted hair is out of fashion? I have done it to my hair and have always liked the softer look it adds, but now I think it might have a dated look to it. --HAIR APPARENT Dear Apparent: Your hair will have a dated look to it if you have it highlighted the wrong way. Lucky you asked us, because we'll tell you how to do it the right way. First, out are those chunks--wide, obvious bands of color.

THAT'S IT. I'm doing it," a woman was overheard saying as she left a Marina del Rey theater showing "White Palace." "What? You're trading me in for a younger man?" her companion asked. "Not that," the woman said dismissively. "I'm coloring my hair like Susan Sarandon's." This season, Hollywood is turning redder with each new film release. And hair that's been showing up on the screen is showing up on the street in living color.

AT A TIME when hair colorists around the world are declaring warm-toned brown tresses the latest and greatest, along comes Kim Basinger, a golden-haired goddess seemingly thumbing her nose at the trend. As Batman's heartthrob, Vicki Vale, Basinger is Hollywood's quintessential blonde, her hair the brightest spot in sinister Gotham City. Even for a born blonde like Basinger, highlighting is key to a lustrous mane.

In Neil Simon's "California Suite," Jane Fonda plays a high-strung East Coast intellectual doing battle with her ex-husband (Alan Alda), who has, in her opinion, committed the unmitigated heresy of leaving New York and becoming an unapologetic Angeleno. After she has criticized his haircut, sweater, girlfriend, use of the word "girlfriend" and general laid-back attitude, he loses his temper. "You're such a snob," he says. "Thank God there's a few of us left," she says right back.

If she looks like a matador, she could be the French figure skater Surya Bonaly, hoping to win Olympic gold at the games in Albertville, France. For her Feb. 21 choreographed number, inspired by a bullfight she saw last summer, she'll wear a Christian Lacroix original. The Paris couturier has designed costumes for the American Ballet Theatre in New York City, but this is his first time on ice.

The fact that President Clinton, who has just celebrated his 50th birthday, is proudly, and naturally, gray might give the hair-coloring industry pause. Americans born between 1946 and 1964 represent such a large bulge in the population curve that whatever they do, or don't do, is, was and always will be economically significant.