The Max Pope Hair Edit is Full of Secrets

The West Lovers Lane bungalow may look unassuming from the curb, but one step inside the House on Lovers salon is enough to know its owners have an ambitious vision. The ceilings are high-gloss, the wallpaper is hand-painted, and even the drying stations have an almost Brutalist aesthetic. Every room is a moment. 

The chic theatrics make sense when you discover the duo behind the increasingly popular hair salon — sought-after local colorist Max Gillies (he has a knack for Dallas blondes) and luxury custom furniture designer Cory Pope, whose storied Desing District showroom was a beloved trade source for years. (Before that, he was creating interiors for projects with Chanel, Prada, and Rockefeller Center.) 

The couple opened House on Lovers in 2020 and were quickly booked up. “The market in Dallas can be hard to infiltrate,” shares Gillies, who did a tenure at Osgood O’neil after moving from Los Angeles. “But once you’re in you’re in.” 

That level of trust inspired Gillies and Pope to create their own product. “We found a great laboratory and built this hair mask… we were obsessed with it,” Gillies says. But during the research phase for packaging and branding, they became just as enamored with the products they studied, like a luxe hair oil from Paris or a mousse from Stockholm, Sweden. 

“I was like, wait — I didn’t know about these things. People don’t know about these things. And there certainly isn’t a place to grab all of these,” Gillies recalls. “So we nixed our hair mask and we built Max Pope The Edit.” 

Launching online today, February 14, Max Pope The Edit is a streamlined source for some of the most interesting hair products on the market, from a celebrity hairstylist’s minimalist line to “the Rolls-Royce of curling irons.” 

“The big brands have so much pressure to create new products so they’re just throwing something new out every quarter,” says Gillies. “The smaller boutique lines… that’s where the best products come from.” 

There are currently 13 edits, each tailored for a category like “Blonde,” “Travel,” “Repair,” “Volume,” and “Clean.” New products will filter in slowly as Gillies and Pope see fit, including — perhaps one day — that mythical hair mask. 

With Max Pope The Edit now fully up and running (featuring stunning imagery shot at Sunset Tower by Thomas Welch, former Image Director at Highsnobiety), we spoke with the duo to discover which under-the-radar brands they’re most excited to share on their platform.

The Best Kept Secrets of Max Pope The Edit

David Mallett. A Vogue go-to and master of French-Girl Hair’s low-key styling line is beloved by those in the know. “He’s done more covers of Vogue than anyone else,” Gillies says. “No one carries him in Dallas.” 

Harry Josh. He of the aforementioned “Rolls-Royce of curling irons.” “His tools are to die for,” adds Gillies.

Iles. “Wendy [Iles] is Heidi Klum’s hairdresser,” Gillies notes. “It’s different, it’s innovative, and I think people are really going to like it.” 

Machete’s French Pins. “I really think French pins are about to have a big moment,” Gillies says. “Hair tyes are dying… French pins are in.”