Kiran's Corner: Best Cut and Colour in NYC!

So I'm still trying to play catch up with all my New York posts that I want to do, so I'll continue on the theme of beauty after my last post on NYC's best facialist which hopefully you guys found helpful. I'll move on to the best stylist for cut and colour in NY. You may remember my post from last year where I'd talked about my visit to Frederic Fekkai for my regular cut/colour routine. I'd been visiting Mia for.. well, forever, and Jeffrey for a few years as well. They're both amazing and I absolutely love them! Since I was to be in the city for 2 months this year, I decided to get my hair done right when I came and right before I left. I went in for a cut (unfortunately Mia wasn't in town so they suggested someone who had trained under her.. I believe the girl's name was Nicole) and a few days later, went back in for my colour. While I was in NY though, I was reading through one of my favourite beauty blogs that I've mentioned before, Into The Gloss and somebody there mentioned that they get their colour and cut done by a guy called Harry Josh, who apparently is also the only person Gisele Bundchen ever trusts with her hair. So I'm thinking, yes I absolutely LOVE the guys at Fekkai and have sworn my allegiance to them for years now, but after all, this is GISELLE we're talking about! Who doesn't want to replicate those perfect, flowy, gorgeous waves she has?! I did some research on him and he genuinely seemed to be very, very good with both cut and colour, and hadn't just gotten lucky with one celeb client. Ok so before you think, we know who she went to, let's stop reading here, the story isn't over yet. I emailed his assistant a few weeks before I left to book with him, and just as I thought he might be, he was completely booked out till after I left for Dubai. Luckily for me, his assistant Blake was not only super prompt at responding but was super nice and asked if I wanted him to give me the names of people Harry recommends to clients he isn't able to see himself. Since I'd decided to stray from my usual course anyway, I requested him for the names and booked myself in for colour with Amy Huson and for a cut with Ryan Cotton at the Marie Robinson Salon in NYC.
Let me pause here and tell you guys that before booking yourself in with ANY celebrity hair or skin person, I can't stress how important it is for you to do research on them and see that YOU gel well with their style. John Sahag is a very celebrity hair stylist in NYC who is known for his dry, choppy razor cut look that's very "in" but not very "me". Rita Hazan is also a colourist who is touted as being the best in NY and does Jennifer Lopez and Jessica Simpson amongst other celebrities. I've seen her work and I think if I wanted super light chunky highlights in my hair that start from the root of my head, I'd get it done from any Lebanese hairstylist in Dubai for one tenth the price.
Also if the stylist is based in the US, you probably will have places where you can check on reviews on the temperament of the stylist which is just as important as their styling abilities, if not more. If the person is known for having a bad attitude and not bothering with their non-celeb clients, trust me, they'll do a botch up job and you won't be happy. So anyhow, I did the necessary googling on Amy and Ryan before booking with them and was happy with what I read.

Amy Huson

I was more worried with the colour than the cut as I knew I wanted to keep my hair long, and wanted a few natural looking highlights towards the ends of my hair rather than the root. Amy understand what I wanted and was really very good at giving me the colour I wanted. Technique-wise she was just as good as Jeffrey from Fekkai, whom I still think is AMAZING, but what made me like her that slight bit more was her ability to not only incorporate what I wanted now, but understand that I would have issues keeping up a high maintenance colour later and work around it and the colour she gave me was exactly what I wanted. Before I left the salon, she handed me a piece of paper with the colour that I should request back in Dubai to get my roots done, as well as the type of toner I should request the colourist here to use so as to not make my chocolate highlights go reddish. Again, I really appreciated the attention to detail and about her caring how the colour didn't only look as I walked out of the salon, but how it wore in the future.

Ryan Cotton

Since I'd had a cut only a month and a half prior and a really good one that too, I wasn't really going in expecting Ryan to transform my look.. I was more curious and figured since I was there, I might as well get a trim. Surprisingly enough, it was the cut I received that absolutely blew me away! I went in requesting not too many layers as I hated scraggly ends, not too much taken off as I was trying to grow my hair, not too much happening in the front as a short fringe would completely frizz out.. I'm amazed he wanted to cut my hair after that at all. But cut, he did. Not only do I now have one of the best cuts I've ever received in my life, it's easy to maintain and looks great either straight or with a few waves in it. He gave me a few slight layers just around my face to frame it, which thanks to the colour I got from Amy, lights up when my hair touches light. Again, I don't like obvious streaks in the hair neither can most people really tell I've done too much to it, although I've gotten quite a few compliments on my cut and/or my hair since I've been back. My middle sister even went to the extent of saying I should send send over a present to Ryan for my cut since it was was so fabulous! Since she herself frequents the chair of uberstylist Rossano Ferretti, she'd know a thing or two about recognizing a good cut if she saw it, so that in itself was a great compliment to receive.
I really couldn't be happier with my hair right now and I cannot recommend them both enough! Which obviously leaves me with a dilemma of seeing Harry Josh the next time I'm in New York. Till then, the duo of Amy Huson and Ryan Cotton remain my picks for the go-to people for the best colour and cut in NYC!