Jean Paul Hair Salon

Profile

Shouldered between a pizza joint and a cell-phone store, this midtown cut-and-go counts snappy blowouts (starting at $26) as its signature. Jacob—the first-name-only Russian owner—spent years shearing hurried customers at a nearby Supercuts before claiming this space in 1994. At a mirrored stretch of eleven chairs, time-pressed clients pop in for professional trims, affordable perms, quick color, and simple highlights (Jacob believes in building up, not burning out). Up front, shelves are packed with more than twenty product lines like American Crew and ARTec, and a full-time brow technician performs threading sessions in a shared back-room space with hair washers. Many of the stylists on staff are friends from working together at previous salons (forming a tight-knit Russian-Israeli styling circuit of sorts), and they offer personalized suggestions before snipping. — Genevieve Leon