Platinum Value

Posted by Kathleen

on March 4, 2009

Regardless of whether you are affected by the recession, mark down Platinum Salon on your list to visit for a place that matches equal parts expertise and value. The secret to Platinum Salon’s bang for its buck is that each service offered by Platinum has three levels of pricing (Silver/ Gold/ Platinum), depending upon the stylist’s experience level.

Lest you think that choosing the least expensive (i.e. Silver) level of pricing means that you have an untrained newbie straight out of hair school touching your locks, rest assured that the Silver level stylists have over four years of experience in the industry. This means that you pay a very reasonable $39 dollars for a shampoo/ cut/ styling from someone who is ranked Silver. Gold is denoted by having over six years of experience, and Platinum, over ten years of expertise. These levels apply to cut and styling, as well as color and texture treatments (perming and relaxing/straightening included)!

Nestled in Chelsea, the salon also doesn’t sacrifice value for ambiance and personality. The salon is hip and stylish with modern distressed white walls, but no pretension. All of the staff that I met were friendly and open including my Platinum stylist for the day ‘Ele (pronounced like Ellie), who had an incredible portfolio, having had years of experience working in fashion shows, photo shoots, and at an established New York hair legend.

As I had just gotten my hair cut a few months prior, I didn’t want to do anything dramatic during my visit, but wanted to refresh my layers and my side swept bangs. With panache, ‘Ele trimmed off a few inches of my split ends, and added new life and volume to my layers. He also trimmed my bangs, so that they were back to being side swept – instead of hanging straight down my face as they are likely to do when they haven’t been properly trimmed in a while. In essence, he updated and revitalized my previous cut, adding months to its sustainability.

Check it out for yourself! Platinum Salon is located at 134 West 23rd Street, between 6th and 7th Avenue and can be reached at 212-243-1010.