It is with a heavy heart and deep sadness we share that we’ve learned of the passing of famed hairdresser and artisan Oribe Canales, age 62, on December 16, 2018.

For four decades, Canales, known in the industry simply as Oribe, took the beauty and fashion industry by storm. Just six years after graduating Continental School of Beauty in Buffalo, New York, Canales scored his first magazine cover—GQ—featuring football quarterback Joe Theismann. Since then, his work has been featured on countless magazine covers and editorials as the era of supermodels emerged, he opened multiple salons, and his namesake product line, Oribe Hair Care, just celebrated its 10-year anniversary.  

Thanks to the products’ performance, beautiful packaging and, what President Daniel Kaner calls, “craftsman style” education, Oribe Hair Care was received with open arms by not just the salon industry, but beauty editors, session stylists, and clients around the globe, who quickly became #oribeobsessed.

“Throughout my career, I’ve tried to be sponge-like,” he once told MODERN SALON in an exclusive interview. “I’ve always been willing to do everything and ready to work with other talented and inspiring people. It’s an amazing industry. I’ve loved every day of it.”

He will be greatly missed. We will continue to update this story.

BELOW: Oribe Canales on his best day as a hairdresser, filmed by MODERN SALON July 2009.