No one has ever accused me of spending my money recklessly. I shop the sale sections, eat generic cereal and buy one-ply TP, friends! And if you told me that some New York City women were shelling out as much as $1,000 to get their hair cut, I would have rolled my eyes and preached something about American consumerism…but that was before I met Rossano Ferretti.
My friend Melanie has sworn by his blowouts for years, and I DO admit she has the best hair of nearly all my coiffed cohorts. So when she invited me to an afternoon at Ferretti Salon (in the name of research, of course), it only took one look in the mirror at my sad, limp locks to say, “What the hell?” and tag along.
“What can I do for you?” Ferretti asked me, as I bashfully lowered in the chair where the likes of Lady Gaga and Kate Middleton had sat before me. “I definitely need a trim,” I replied, to which Ferretti declared, “You don’t need a trim. You need harmony, beauty and style.”
And so it began, the whizzing of scissors and the rainstorm of razored hair. Ferretti’s 5th Avenue salon is just one of 18 he owns around the world, including locales in London, Paris and the Maldives. He’s a third generation stylist who left home at the age of 16 to study in London. When he returned to his native Parma, Italy, he already had a three month wait list of women who craved his talent on their tresses. Safe to say: He’s a natural.
What sets him apart from the Frederic Fekkais and Oscar Blandis of the world? “A traditional beauty salon is 60 mirrors with 60 stylists who never remember your name,” Ferretti says. “It’s a factory. I’m trying to be a good example for the next generation of hair stylists. It’s my personal hair revolution.”
At the nexus of the “revolution” is a method Ferretti developed himself, which focuses on gentle, not geometric, cuts. He follows the natural fall of the hair and subtly carves around the structure and movement of each strand. Sound a bit emo? Perhaps, but I’ve never seen Melanie so giddy as she bounced out the salon doors.
And was my cut worth the cash? Judge for yourself in my selfie snap taken in the elevator on the way out. My hair feels light, clean and effortless to style — but $1,000? You can buy a lot of toilet paper with that kind of money.
