the Code: Grooming54 October 2019_EsquireWhen I decided to
grow my hair out, I
had to break up with my
barber and switch to
a stylist. After years of
$40 crops, I didn’t real-
ize it meant my haircut
could climb into the tri-
ple digits. Finding a salon
that charged more than
a car payment wasn’t
difficult; getting over
the sticker shock was.
Men are not taught to
invest in their appear-
ance. When Bill Clinton
got a $200 haircut aboard
Air Force One or French
president François Hol-
lande spent $10,000 a
month on his grooming,
the outcry was intense.
Could these men be that
vain? But the price of a
curly, thinning, or
longer hair, even if
the end result doesn’t
look elaborate. Says
Barrett, “Sometimes
the differences are
subtle, but they’re
important.”
Chris, a publicist in
New York City, switched
to $200 stylist cuts be-
cause to him they’re no-
ticeably better. “Hair is
a big part of how I show
up in the world,” he
says. “I’m happier. It’s
worth it to me.”
So choose your hair
guy based on his work
and the light he puts in
your step. Price is im-
portant, sure, but a little
vanity isn’t a bad thing.
—Garrett Munceis a cut specific to you.
“Cookie-cutter does
not exist,” says Barrett.
It’s like a bespoke
suit versus the off-the-
rack version.
Short hairstyles need
to be cut about once
a month, and invest-
ing that much time and
money isn’t really a via-
ble option for most. Jay,
a father of two from New
Jersey, pays $20 for his
simple crop cut, because
it works. “I try to spend
less on me and more on
the kids,” he says.
But what if you have
difficult hair? Take it
from me: A stylist or a
hybrid barber could be
life-changing. Scissors
can work magic withtrim actually has little to
do with the haircut itself.
So how much should you
be spending?
It used to be that the
difference between bar-
ber and salon cuts was all
about technique. Bar-
bers use a lot of clippers.
Hairstylists rely on scis-
sors, which are suited
to longer, textured styles.
Now the difference
isn’t so cut-and-dried.
“Hybrid barbering in-
corporates both tech-
niques,” says Andres
Morales, lead barber
at Johnny’s Chop Shop
in Brooklyn (haircuts:
$36). According to Mo-
rales, the combination
of the two tools allows
for more versatility.The price also de-
pends on the environ-
ment. Salons have more
overhead; they’ll wash
your hair and offer
other services, like color
(which drives up costs
even if you’re not get-
ting it). “If you go to a
diner or a fancy restau-
rant, you’ll be well
fed at both, but the pre-
sentation is very dif-
ferent,” says hairstylist
John Barrett. (A haircut
by him at his New York
City salon costs $600.)
The biggest price in-
dicator is time. Tradi-
tional barbershops are
assembly lines with hair-
cuts every 15 minutes.
Stylist cuts take around
an hour, but the resultTHE PRICE OF BEING A GOOD HAIR GUY
A great haircut can be transformative.
Bu t is i t re all y wor th SPENDING HUNDREDS on a trim? It depends.