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Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey may be over – but there’s one man the former will never say goodbye to: hair stylist Ken Paves.

People recently ran a feature on this match made in beautiful hair heaven. They’ve been a team since 1998, when Paves created a look for Simpson’s first CD cover. Eight years later, he has provider the singer with the most envied locks in Hollywood, while she has proved to be more than a muse:

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This fall Paves, 34, and Simpson will unveil Hair Do, a line of home-use extensions on which they collaborated.

Inside the world of this hair extraordinnaire

As the duo relies on each other more and more in the wake of Jessica’s divorce, it’s a good thing Paves needs only four hours’ sleep a night. He also runs two salons (Pavé in Clinton Township, Mich., near his hometown of New Baltimore, and, as of June, Ken Paves in Beverly Hills), has a self-named hair-care line, and multiple those appearances on Oprah.
 

In fact, Paves is so in demand that even stars like Eva Longoria teasingly complain that Simpson tries to keep him all to herself. Longoria did manage to book Paves for May’s ALMA Awards, while Avril Lavigne and Brittany Murphy are among the others who have snagged coveted appointments.

For Murphy, “he is today what Vidal Sassoon was in the ’70s.” Further explaining Paves’s appeal, Mary Atherton, editor of Modern Salon, sayid: “He doesn’t overdress the hair. Sometimes it’s a fresh updo that looks as if he just twisted it and stuck a single pin in. He’s very simple – that’s the unique thing about him.”


But not the only thing. In an industry dedicated to vanity, Paves tries “to balance out the work that I do.” Inspired by his nephew Ryan, who died at 15 months from a congenital disease, Paves donates time to many charities, including Operation Smile. (Simpson is now an ambassador for the group, which arranges operations for children with facial deformities.)

There’s more charitable work: Although the wait-list for Paves’s services, which can run as high as $500 a cut, is 600 names long, cancer patients needing wigs during chemotherapy get to jump the queue and never have to pay.

Meanwhile,, Paves’ fan base may soon overshadow Simpson’s! Well, not exactly. Not long ago, Paves was stopped in an airport. Did the woman want the latest on Simpson’s love life? No, he explains sheepishly.

“She said, ‘I’ve been waiting months to get an appointment to see you!'”

You aren’t alone, lady.