Barba Salon for Celeb-Grade Men’s Haircuts (+ More)

The men’s salon Barba Men’s Grooming Boutique in Chelsea is a must-go destination for gentlemen and celebrities such as Neil Patrick Harris, Billy Porter, and Marc Jacobs, who appreciate the salon’s fresh, friendly approach and its full suite of grooming services. With New York City currently segueing into Phase 4, Barba is officially open for business. Clients can relax in Barba’s clean, modern, open-air space and enjoy complimentary drinks and beach-vibe house music. Barba’s staff wears masks, the salon is spotless and regularly cleaned before and after each client’s visit, it’s uncrowded, and there is sanitizer aplenty.

“We saw the need for a different kind of space for men’s grooming,” says owner Xavier Cruz. From inventing Anderson Cooper’s “Coop” haircut to styling hit shows including Hairspray, The Boy from Oz, The Vagina Monologues, Metamorphoses, and the styled army of Eminem lookalikes for the MTV Music Video Awards, Xavier and his pro staff deliver best-in-show results and innovative techniques.

Unlike traditional barbershops that solely offer haircuts and shaves, Barba offers an extensive portfolio of grooming services that encompass scissor cuts, skin fades, single process to double process highlights (yes! A lot of Barba clients like to go blond), grey blending, beard grooming, and waxing. They also have facials for your derriere: the “Man-Bum” facial, which includes a 24K-gold mask for your beautiful bum.

When it comes to receding hairlines, Barba has you covered with its Sombra Scalp Micropigmentation – which is a highly advanced method of cosmetic pigmentation and similar to the process of getting a tattoo, in which tiny needles are used to add colored pigment to areas absent from hair.

“We want to transform the men’s grooming industry,” says Barba partner JP Gomez, noting that once a month they bring in Los Angeles eyebrow experts Perfect Frame, who create Janet Jackson’s brows. “We bring 30 years of industry expertise to our clients while always staying up-to-date with the latest and greatest treatments – many of which can be found at no other men’s salon in New York.”

To ensure the comfort and safety of their customers during COVID-19, Barba has reduced the number of chairs by 50% and installed dividers to maintain social distancing. Meanwhile, all of Barba’s stylists thoroughly sanitize their stations before and after each client and are Barbicide certified – “which is a big deal for those who want to feel safe while sitting in a shop.” says Cruz.