By Naima Karp
There always seems to be new salons popping up all over and it’s hard to discern which ones won’t butcher your locks or give you the same drab cut you wanted to veer away from. However, there is still hope to be found in the nearly impossible hunt for a great salon. Check out these innovative treatments and unusual salons that will definitely pique your interest and give you the confidence to try something new this season.
FRINGE NY
Situated in the charming Lower East Side, the treatments here are modern takes on older, less chic trends that become chic-ified in expert hands. The perm is the basis of inspiration for these treatments and the stylists offer something called “cowlick control and shape redirection” for as low as 45 bucks a pop, a well needed treatment when bedhead is the morning standard after a long weekend night. A treatment called the “baroness wave” provides you with luscious curls that last for weeks, almost up to two months! Their products are all house made, adding to the unique factor.
TWODO SALON
This boutique offers feathering. Ok, so this isn’t totally new but while feathering used to be solely for specialists or offered in a store where they sell the feathers, this salon is unique enough to include it in its repertoire of services. The owner, Masha Lnara, is a tribal-art designer who creates her own signature feathers, and they’re anything but tacky, often available in various shades of neutral to blend well with your natural shade. They last for up to a year with good maintenance, so give this place a visit and try it out!
GERARD BOLLEI
We’ve covered feathering, which is a middle ground between those who choose to dye their entire head of hair, and those who want to take a less brazen approach towards their tresses. ‘Lacing’ is a method that weaves in highlights that are extremely thin, of varying hues, adding a new level of complexity to hair coloring that hasn’t been seen before. The team at Gerard Bollei work not just with the texture of your hair, but the shape of your face and your eyes, which are important factors often not taken into consideration with an average cut. Besides the cool factor (they use a non-metal knife to make sure the cuts are exactly precise), these highlights look much more natural and are a great way to dive into the hair coloring pool without going too extreme.
GEORGIA PRODUCT AND SALON
Call it lipo for your hair – This technique is referred to as ‘hair slimming’. This salon is a safe haven for biracial girls, who have a puff factor due to the large amount of hair on their heads. With hair like that, you don’t want someone butchering it and dense hair is a foggy thing to cut in general. However, Elizabeth Owusa uses a pomegranate infused conditioner and cuts while the conditioner soaks. Getting rid of bulk without losing hard-earned length? For both curly and straight-headed folk? Yes please.
COCORO SALON
Maybe give this one a shot for your next daring New Years ensemble. ‘Tinselling’ is now available at Cocoro salon downtown. The treatment itself has been modeled by Beyonce and Whitney Port and can be a more fun alternative to add some shine to your hair. We know this is a little harder for the East Coast crowd but with the range of shades that the filaments are available in, we still have faith that the trend will have staying power, not just on the coast of sun and blonde waves. They’re easily removable, so why not try it here?
BARBIERE
We couldn’t leave out the boys in this one. A dude with a bad haircut can be cringe-worthy. Texturing is often not a primary service at a barbershop but it is at this one. Anthony Tapia, the winning stylist at this salon, textures hair with shark-toothed scissors and takes just 30 minutes for a visible difference. They offer a Moroccan skin treatment with their straight razor shave, proving that pampering isn’t just for your moms and girlfriends anymore.
DRYBAR
The name is pretty self explanatory – they specialize in all things blowout. With multiple locations, this blowout bar offers something called Dry-on-the-Fly, where they’ll actually come to your apartment to do your hair if you can’t get to the salon. They also provide styling for photo shoots or films. You can make group reservations, so it’s a fun, new salon to try out with the girls for your next night out or bachelorette party.
CROPS FOR GIRLS
This place looks unassuming, and their website even more so. But the precision of owner and sole stylist Michael Damico’s cuts is stunning. He comments that his affinity towards short hair is due to the creativity it allows the stylist, where many girls with longer hair often go for simpler, more conventional cuts. The cuts run between $35 to $50, an incredibly reasonable price for it’s East Village location. Michael will even do it for free if you’ve made the brave decision to cut off long tresses, or give the stylist total license on how he wants the cut to be!
DEVACHAN
While this spot doesn’t necessarily discourage straight-haired folks from coming in, it dominantly caters to the curly-headed. The unique part about this salon is that they use their own brand of products, which are paraben and sulfate-free (meaning they don’t contain a lot of the gross detergents and silicon ingredients that many hair products do). They’ll cut your hair while it’s dry and often wash it afterwards to check for any missed sections and make touch-ups. The concept of dry cutting is much more helpful in terms of shaping the cut, since wet hair is totally flattened and looks nothing like the way your locks fall when they’re dry. The products smell like a botanical garden and if you’ve never been here, they’ll totally revamp your shape into something pretty impressive.
