Profile

Kevin Woon's downtown hair salon could be mistaken for a sleek lounge: Behind inconspicuous frosted windows and a barely-marked facade lies a petite room furnished with built-in fish tanks, cool oranges and greens, and architectural lamps. (Music from the owner's personal iPod helps complete the chill vibe.) The hairstyles the salon creates are as sharp as the workspace. A native of Malaysia, Woon has been cutting hair since he was a teenager inspired by the crazy eighties styles sported on Top of the Pops. After coming to America and working with some of the best in the business—including top celeb stylist Oribe—the soft-spoken wiz branched out on his own. Known as a master of texture, Woon prefers to improvise rather than go through a standard set of technical steps, and always cuts based on how he sees a style working in the client's everyday life. Because the owner spends most of his time working as a stylist on fashion shows and editorial shoots, he and his staff of two (a colorist who runs the hair department at Saturday Night Live and another freelance stylist) book their time at the salon by appointment only, working beyond normal business hours to accommodate clients' (and their own) varied schedules. — Kate Jacobs