I'm never happy with my haircuts. My hair sucks.
Several years ago my ex-wife took me to an austere and beautiful apartment high up in an Upper West Side apartment building overlooking central park to meet her hair stylist Giles.
Giles was a very fabulous and tall lanky gentleman dressed in all black with a grace and polish only possessed by those several generations into old money.
What would be the living room only contained 2 barbers chairs in front of their respective mirrors.
Giles would tell us stories such as once doing Hillary Clinton's hair and his various other movements in NYC high society with its associated gossip. Were the stories true? It didn't matter. He gave us free espressos and biscotti, and with graceful economic movements he cut my hair like a pro. I'd never got such a high quality cut before.
Charge: $300 (without tip) USD. I was unaware this was the deal and crapped myself.
Since then I've been mostly unimpressed until I was auspiciously placed with Satoshi @ Concept due to a scheduling conflict.
Now, keep in mind, Satoshi is a total trip. If you're a person who is easily offended, he is probably not your guy. But I will tell you this.:
Satoshi is not just a hair stylist. He is a Master Craftsman at the top of his craft. He understands exactly what I want while I give him terrible, ambiguous descriptions. This is because he understands how to perfectly balance out someone's face with their hair and overall style. His aesthetic is also modern, yet not pretentious. I go in looking like I normally do, which is a train-wreck, and I come out as a meticulously well styled man. The difference in the framing of my face is at times transformative. Although I obviously understand nothing about hair styling, it's obvious that he is not someone who sees his work as churn-and-burn. He clearly pays careful attention to the utter minutiae. Something only someone with genuine passion for their job knows. I get that. I respect that. I like that.
While he's cutting your hair he'll talk sh*t, and it's funny as hell.
Charge: $60 CAD. *AND* Even better than my pretentious NYC haircut.
Get this haircut. For cereal.