May 4, 2006
Editor's Note: This little piece appeared in one of our emails last summer, but in honor of Frederic Fekkai's move to Henri
Bendel's this week, we decided to recycle. (Okay, okay. We had a crazy busy week and were a tad too stressed to write something new this
week.)
Cheating on your hair stylist and other hair tales
Okay, admit it. Like The Three Tomatoes, you too
have cheated on your hair stylist. Yes, he's been doing your hair forever, but you were getting a little bored with the same old, same
old. Looking for a little more excitement, you venture out to find someone younger, and hipper. Ah, the joy and passion of that first
clip. You're ready to light a cigarette except you don't smoke anymore. You leave on cloud nine, feeling great and looking like a million
bucks. The glow lasts until you have to wash your hair and blow it out yourself, and you now realize it's a really horrible haircut! So
now you have to figure out how to go back to your old hairdresser with some concocted story about being coerced, practically at gun point, at your
fourth cousin's home in Omaha and being dragged to her hair stylist for a girl's afternoon and being butchered! Ah, the price of cheating.
Or, you're so loyal to your hair stylist that you've followed him
or her to every high-end salon in Manhattan. We once started with Penelope at Frederic Fekkai, moved further uptown with her to John
Frieda, then back to Frederic Fekkai then on to the Avon Salon, then a little further south on Fifth to the now defunct Oribe Salon, and
then to a trendy little Japanese "boutique" salon which we really hated where Penelope's hair cuts were now up to $160. But we remained
loyal. And then what did Penelope do? She upped and moved to Canada!
Then there's the scenario where you find a great colorist who's been
recommended by your new stylist. But then you fall out of love with your stylist and start cheating with someone new, and are now too
embarrassed to continue going to your great colorist because you're afraid of running into your old stylist. You see how complicated
cheating gets?
So, here's our latest salon strategy and our new favorites.
First, we've decided that we are NOT going to follow our favorite stylist from salon to salon no matter how much celebrity gossip they share with
us. So, even though we have somewhat of a love/hate relationship, we have returned to Frederic Fekkai. The main reason is that Frederic
himself has extensively trained all of the stylists and colorists and even if your favorite stylist happens to leave, you will find a top rated
replacement. We've even occasionally spotted Frederic himself. They also offer full spa services and a decent (but pricey) café
menu.
Our three favorite people at FF's are Cedric, Lilia, and
Francis. Cedric is a wonderful stylist and we've actually had strangers stop and ask who cuts our hair. He also has the
dreamiest eyes and a great smile. Francis is our favorite Frenchman and became our colorist hero when he corrected a color nightmare in a
single visit for one tomato. He does wonderful, natural highlights and knows just how to cover the grey. Tomatoes with curly hair swear
by Lilia who gives great "wash and wear" cuts. Another plus is that they've all been with Frederic for years, so hopefully they'll
stay a while.
So that's the love side of Frederic's but the flip side is that
everyone has an assistant and the assistant's have assistants. So once you add the tipping to the $150 haircuts and $225 dollar
highlights it's enough to break the Federal Reserve. And they once charged a tomato $3.00 when she ordered an "herbal" tea.
Another tomato inadvertently got assigned a specialty "blow out stylist" who charged $65 on top of the $150 hair cut! But those annoyances
aside, when you walk out the door and stroll down Madison or Fifth feeling like a million bucks, well as the commercial says, that's
"priceless."
Copyright© 2006. The Three Tomatoes. All rights
reserved.
