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Illustration by Rami Niemi
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Bang Experts:
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- Butterfly Bang Bar
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149 Fifth Ave., nr. 21st St., second fl.; 212-253-2100
For women who view bangs as an agonizing trust fall, consider the noncommittal solution proffered here. Thirty dollars buys a faux fringe that clips onto your existing hair. There are twenty hues to choose from and two shapes (a FLOTUS-style blunt and a Bardot taper), each customizable with a trim. Tack on a blowout ($68), and stylists will blend the bangs right into your natural hair.
Ponytail Pros:
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- Barrett’s Ponytail Bar
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John Barrett Salon, 754 Fifth Ave., nr. 58th St., ninth fl.; 212-872-2700
To the list of things—gel manicures, cake frosting—that look better done by professionals, add one more: putting your hair in a ponytail. At Barrett’s, on the top floor of Bergdorf Goodman, a stylist will pull your locks into any of six styles, ranging from a high sleek pony to a low, sculpted one to an option with a braid woven through it—and you’ll leave happily swishing your hair for $50 to $125.
Green Choice:
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- Hale Organic Salon
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91 Franklin St., nr. Church St.; 646-265-5886
Pregnant women and everyday chemical-phobes get a nontoxic salon experience at the first solo venture from John Masters Organics alumnus Joe Murray. The color here is ammonia-free, shampoos and products are all organic (some are even vegan), and, in the rare event that hair spray is used, it’s relegated to a separately vented-and-filtered “fume room.”
Miracle Colorist:
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- Pickthorn
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61 Wyckoff Ave., nr. Willoughby St., Bushwick; 718-928-7336
There’s no such thing as being rushed at this intimate three-seater salon. Chelsey Pickthorn, who made her name at Orlando Pita’s Orlo and Laurie Foley’s L’Atelier de Laurie, counts Karolina Kurkova, Abbey Lee Kershaw, and other fashion doyennes among her clients. Why do they trust her? Because she forgoes slapdash foils for a more artful approach, hand-painting each strand of hair individually. Highlights start at $350, single-process at $120.
Mobile Salon:
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- Prieto Select
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212-255-4009; prietoselect.com
Antonio Prieto has been styling New Yorkers’ hair—plus the occasional celebrity (Kate Moss, Cate Blanchett, Juliette Binoche)—for more than two decades. Now, in addition to his Chelsea, Hotel Gansevoort, and Trump Soho salons, he taps experienced runway and editorial stylists to man Prieto Select, a mobile hair-and-makeup service that serves clients in their apartments and hotel rooms. The red-carpet-worthy, on-the-spot styling isn’t cheap (blowouts start at $150, makeup at $200, and extensions at $300), but it’s a fixed rate whether the call goes out at 1 p.m. or 1 a.m.
Secret Service:
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- Pierre Michel
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135 E. 57th St., at Lexington Ave., third fl.; 212-755-9500
For no extra charge, the reflexology-trained assistants at this sprawling salon will incorporate a ten-minute head massage (or “shampage,” in beauty-world parlance) into their standard shampoo session. The lathery kneading targets cranial and facial pressure points and feels so good it sends chills straight to your toes. The service isn’t advertised, so ask to tack it on to a conditioning treatment (from $50), blowout ($65 and up), or haircut (from $125).