By Jocelyn Novek

AP National Writer, New York

"Hair is really funny stuff," John Frieda is saying as he tosses my locks around in his hands, contemplating their state. "Most people don't like their hair."

I hadn't thought of it that way, but right now, sitting with one of the more influential figures in hair care history and wearing the same boring center part I've had since Jimmy Carter was president, I couldn't agree more.

But at least I don't have frizzy hair, I'm thinking, as Frieda examines my tresses. I'm thinking about frizz because this trim, fiftyish man with chiseled good looks and a full head of salt-and-pepper hair—think Ralph Lauren, only British and a decade younger—is famous for being the man who tamed that pesky plague.