Profile

Salon Ziba has weathered this corner of 57th Street since 1990 by appealing to a wide cross section of neighborhood characters, from nine-to-fivers to NBC anchors to the unclassifiable Deepak Chopra. The handsome, dark-wood-and-white salon is owned and managed by Colombia-born Alonso Salguero, who maintains an international eye in hiring. The creative director is French; the stylists and colorists are European, Asian, and Latin American; and the muscular Russian masseur doubles as a deft shampooer. Cutters and colorists often come to Ziba with years of experience from city salons like Jean Louis David; here they’re given free reign, though most clients opt for sleek, subtly glamorous, day-to-date cuts and rich, but not radical, color. Services cost considerably less than at many other Manhattan salons—a cut and style starts at $35—and one-third of the clients are men, many of whom head straight for the private massage and waxing rooms. — Karen Tina Harrison