(Photo: Hannah Whitaker/New York Magazine)

An eleven-year patron of Yves Durif at the Carlyle, equities salesman Kendrick Bales, left, has grown accustomed to meticulous scissoring. And the $104 tab? Totally worth it. “Yves knows exactly what I want,” he says. Which is why Bales was “terrified” by the prospect of a $14 chop at the East Village’s Neighborhood Barbers (439 E. 9th St., nr. Ave. A; 212-777-0798). He sat down (no shampoo or neck rub, just a loosening of his tie and a spritz of water), and told owner Eric Uvaydov to keep the top long and the sides clean. Uvaydov went to work. In the end, the shape wasn’t as stylized as Bales is used to, but the overall effect was clean and polished—“a perfect bear-market haircut,” he says.

Annual Savings: $540
(Based on six cuts a year.)

Related:

• Archive: “Cover Story”
• Table of Contents: Nov 10, 2008 issue of New York | Subscribe!