Arté Salon

Profile

Through a quaint, peaked doorway—it formerly led to a Russian Orthodox church—a bold coral wall draws clients into a bright, white, modern, 1,800-square-foot space where, a glass of wine is offered and, more often than not, somebody knows your name. Artale, who opened his first salon in a graffiti-covered storefront on Lafayette in 1993, retreated three blocks east to quiet, tree-lined Elizabeth Street in 2004, and his fiercely loyal clientele—most of whom have been with him for more than a decade—followed. Customized cuts by the Brooklyn-born mane man and his talented team garner their own word-of-mouth PR, as does the non-drying color applied to the most stubborn of curls. Stressed strands of all shapes get custom-prescribed fifteen-minute Kérastase deep-conditioning treatments after color services, among which are Artale's signature minimal, selectively placed highlights. Products from Kusco-Murphy are used and sold. At the moment, there are no nail or wax services, but the powerful pulling and prodding of the salon’s Japanese scalp and neck massages, free with most appointments, is worth a trip alone. — Rose Reis