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For many guys, professional grooming presents a quandary: Barbershops seem passé, while beauty salons are poufy. John Allan’s solves this dilemma by supplying its services in a modern men’s club setting, without a whiff of fusty barbershop or dusty gentlemen's’s club. Four Manhattan locations invite today’s image-conscious gent to get barbered and buffed, then kick back with a beer, billiards, and ESPN or MSNBC. Services are available to nonmembers, but the best bet is the annual membership, which permits unlimited use and services, and pays for itself after eleven visits. John Allan’s basic treatment is the “Full Service,” a forty-minute spruce-up that includes a scalp massage, shampoo, conditioner, a relaxing hot-towel face wrap (no shaves here), haircut, manicure, shoe shine, and drink. Cosmetologists are mainly comely females, and tips are extra, as are hair color, facials, and massages. Each outpost provides little extras that suit its location: John Allan’s midtown offers a private room for phone calls and meetings; the original Wall Street venue supplies stock quotes; the sleek Tribeca outpost furnishes a screening room and café; and the club inside Saks extends personal-shopping services. No matter the location, the soundtrack is bound to feature Muddy Waters, Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, and the Rolling Stones. — Karen Tina Harrison

The more you use a John Allan’s membership, the less each visit costs. Referral bonuses are offered to members who bring in new recruits intrigued by office exchanges like this: “What did you do for lunch?” “I got a haircut and shot some pool at my club.”

Note
There are no billiards tables at the Saks Fifth Avenue location.

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