Hot Spot: Roman K Hair Salon in NYC
The Roman K Salon, located in Manhattan. (Photo: Instagram)
The Treatment: Low-maintenance hair that only looks high-maintenance at the Roman K salon in the Flatiron district of Manhattan.
The Lowdown: Writing about beauty has its perks, and when I did a roundup of the top hairstylists in NYC a few years back, I got to have my hair trimmed by some of the best in the business. While I assumed that being in the hands of a big name hair guru would mean that I would suddenly have perfect hair, I actually didn’t find that to be true at all. I found that a lot of hairstylists, especially the big name ones, want to create a major transformation with new clients, which often left me with too many layers, too short length, or high-maintenance cuts that as a mom of two I had no time to maintain. I can’t tell you how many times I got a longer version of the Rachel, even years after that cut was in style.
So it was a welcome relief when I landed in stylist Roman Kusayev’s chair a couple of years ago after a friend raved about him. Kusayev, who started his career at the prestigious John Barrett salon for five years, considers the hair guru a mentor. He then spent a decade (alongside other former Barrett stylists) at Butterfly Studio where I met him. I was so happy to find a stylist who didn’t take a look at my long hair and want to chop it off. Instead, he understood long hair and encouraged me to grow it longer. I lost track of Kusayev when he left Butterfly, and I accidentally deleted his forwarding info. So I couldn’t have been happier when I saw that he just opened the doors to his own space.
The Backdrop: The salon is located in an airy fifth floor space, with oversized windows capturing downtown Fifth Avenue. It’s open until 9pm three nights a week. A bar by the window offers clients complimentary wine, champagne mimosas, and a variety of teas.
The Scoop: Kusayev oversees a team of 13 stylists. In addition to cuts, the salon offers color, Keratin treatments, Liscio-Japanese hair straightening, and hair extensions. To make it a one-stop beauty destination, you can also get facials, mani-pedis, waxing, makeup application, and spray tanning. The salon carries a range of luxe hair products including Kerastase and Shu Uemura. Like Kusayev, the space has an unpretentious and welcoming vibe, a perfect launching pad for a burgeoning talent.
The Results: Kusayev knows how to make my hair look high maintenance, but actually be totally low maintenance — in my view, the perfect combo. My hair has volume, shape, and when blow-dried magically falls into place with very little effort on my part. And no dated Rachel-layers in sight.
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