Your Haircut Is (Probably) Too Cheap

Certain CEOs won’t spend over $20 and contend that paying more is pointless. But, as barbershops evolve, spending a little extra can make a big difference. Inside the debate over the value of a man’s coiffure

 ON A NARROW, cobblestoned street in Milan, I got the best haircut of my life. At the halfway point of a two-week work trip, my normally close-cropped hair was creeping over my ears and sprouting into a cowlick. With Google’s help, I found Barberino’s, a throwback shop with a tidy tiled floor, marble counter tops and two bearded, 20-something barbers. The price exceeded what I typically pay—$35 compared with my usual $25 at a Brooklyn barbershop. But, boy, was that haircut good. The young stylist disciplined each errant follicle, cleaved my hair into a precise part and groomed my nape to perfection. Compliments came instantly and continued a week later when I returned to the office in New York. I wondered: Was $10 extra all it took to look that much better? And more generally, what are other men spending on their haircuts these days, and what kind of value do they expect for their outlay?

Today, I discovered, men are having vastly different haircutting experiences and paying vastly different amounts of cash. At one extreme is the $14-plus-$4-tip cut that James Santelli, a 26-year-old TV news producer in Pittsburgh, has relied on for nine years. For that $18, he can enjoy a ritual to which many men—along with their fathers and grandfathers—remain loyal: a serviceable haircut in a bare-bones shop care of a barber who can yak about last night’s hockey game.

On the other end of the spectrum is a salon-style treatment (shampooing, snipping, styling, prolonged fine-tuning) like the one offered by stylist Mackenzey Forrey for $125 at Bumble and Bumble salon in New York. “If you are looking for a more edgy style that’s not just shaved sides and short on the top, something that actually has texture and blends well from the sides to the top, then that’s coming to a salon,” said Ms. Forrey. She’s trained in traditional barbershop techniques, but also prides herself on analyzing face and head shape to find the best style.

Though they may look the same, not all men’s haircuts are created equal. Expert barber Jeremy Pelser shows what sets the quality cuts apart.

• Photo/Video: Adam Falk/The Wall Street Journal

It seems most guys fall squarely on the lower-to-middle end of this scale, if an unscientific Twitter survey I posted earlier this month is any indication. Of the 314 of my followers who responded, nearly 75% paid $40 or less. And of the 23 men I buttonholed in Midtown Manhattan a week later, 15 routinely paid in the $20 range.

The middle ground between the basic barber and the fastidious salon has grown more populated over the last decade thanks to a wave of neo-retro barber shops that offer relatively brisk pampering and beard finessing. Beginning with the openings of Freemans Sporting Club (F.S.C.) Barber and Blind Barber in New York City in 2006 and 2010, respectively, a new standard has emerged with cuts running around $40.

When it comes to prevailing attitudes, explained Blind Barber coiffeur Jeremy Pelser, “there’s still a separation...the salon is for women and the barbershop is for men.” Shops like his help put men at ease with a masculine atmosphere—subway-tiled walls and winkily antique mirrors that allude to more dapper times (and an optional beer to sweeten the deal). They often hire bearded, tattooed barbers trained in nuanced techniques who’ll use a straight razor to shape your hairline or feather your hair so it grows in evenly.

Barber Ruben Aronov first went to F.S.C. in its early days, fleeing a 71-year-old, 70-seat, walk-in barbershop which he described as a “chop shop” with “no finesse because you had no time, you had to do more haircuts quickly to make more money.” He found that F.S.C., with its longer appointment windows and correspondingly higher prices, encouraged a better cutter-client interaction.

Today, these barbershops (as well as variations catering to LGBTQ clients, and others that specialize in curly or long hair) have mushroomed in popularity in many American cities. “It’s kind of a throwback to the real barbershop era but with a modern, hip edge to it,” said Stan Perry, a 53-year-old lawyer in Houston. Mr. Perry pays $35 plus tip to get his hair cut by one of the “inked-up” barbers at Cutthroat Barbershop, where they do a better job than the no-frills $20 chain he used to go to, he claimed, taking time to focus on finer points like shaving the back of his neck.

Yet, among the dozens of men that I spoke with about their hair, many expressed an apathy or uncertainty about how they looked. As Chris Polychronides, 35, a system engineer in New York, replied when I asked if he liked his haircut, “Enough. Is it bad?”

Though men’s hair styles tend to be less complicated than women’s hairdos, there are ways to tell if your barber is up to snuff. Price matters, but the relationship matters more: A $20 haircut can trump a $40 cut if your barber really knows you and gets your hair. “I’m half-black, half-white, so I have difficult hair to cut and style,” said Austin Mallot, a 26-year-old personal stylist in San Diego. Mr. Mallot found that neither mainstream salons nor barbers who worked with black hair met his needs, but he ended up finding a good fit at an old-school barbershop. “He just knows what he’s doing, and I trust him,” he said.

Trust can take time, but a good barber should be able to “get a feel for what you will and won’t do” style-wise right away, explained F.S.C. veteran Mr. Aronov, who recently opened his own shop, MOI, in downtown New York. They should ask questions and guide you properly; if you’re wearing a suit, a bohemian man bun should probably be discouraged.

It helps if the barber is flat-out nice. Josh Archer, 40, an English teacher in Knoxville, Tenn., has been paying the same barber about $27 for 10 years and in that time the two have become friends. When Mr. Archer’s two children were born, his barber even visited at the hospital. The shop itself should be a place you’re comfortable patronizing for years to come. If there’s a mangy cat prowling around or the barbicide looks putrid, get out of there. And if that hip barber spends more time gazing at himself in the mirror than at your part, that should be a red flag as well.
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Jason Stewart, a 37-year-old DJ in Los Angeles, recently tired of the twee spot he’d been going to, with its period Edison lights and chalkboard sign-in sheet, because the self-consciously retro vibe got to be “too much.” Now, Mr. Stewart pays $30 at Vinny’s, a lower-key outfit. He said that a barbershop should be an “oasis for the modern man.” A place where he can get pampered, have a chat and escape the world for 40 minutes. And so, after my experience in Milan (and, candidly, the compliments that ensued) I’m searching for my own oasis and a better haircut. For that, I might even pay $10 more.

This article appeared in The Wall Street Journal
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