Entrance to the Alex Anthony Salon, 10 Downing Street, NYC

After a year of extreme blondness, I’d developed a severe case of what my friend, hair and makeup stylist, Julie Matos, refers to as “blondorexia”. The moment I saw a dark brown root peeking through, I was at it, mixing 40 volume peroxide with bleach and annihilating that ugly root. While I did achieve platinum blonde status, my scalp screamed, “stop!” After one too many attacks with bleach paste, I found several nickel sized blisters on my scalp and four inches of my hair broke off from the front, leaving me with an ugly mullet do. A local Ridgefield Salon, Chez Delila, got me back to my dark level 4  brown. My hair looked  healthier and the blisters healed but my scalp continued to itch despite repeated at-home Moroccan Oil deep conditioning treatments.

I came across an article in Elle about Philip Kingsley’s  scalp haircare approach, and was intrigued at his “the scalp is the key to beautiful hair” approach. It would have likely ended there had friend and publicist Melanie Seymour not invited me to check out the Alex Anthony Salon located downtown on Sixth Avenue. “Alex Mnayarji, Mel told me, is who you go to when you’ve abused your hair and/or are in a painful in-between growing it out hair phase.”

Those words led me to the door of Alex Anthony’s loftlike space. The Salon is bright white with a striking dropped aluminum ceilings and purple accents that give it a hip downtown feel.

Alex Mnayarji, Stylist/Owner of Alex Anthony Salon

Alex herself is a hairspiration. She’d just had her hair cut into an asymmetric bob that I couldn’t take my eyes off of. Her glossy blue-black hair motivated me to do whatever she told me to do to achieve a healthy head of hair.

Prior to opening the Salon with her longtime friend, Allison Lacorazza, Alex Mnayarji worked as an educator and stylist at curly-hair haven Ouidad for 10 years. Working with fragile curly hair gave her the background she needed to work with damaged hair of all types.

Alex immediately recommended her signature “Peppermint Patty Scrub”. As I sat at the sink, she explained that as Philip Kingsley maintains, hair health starts with the scalp. “Why, she asked, would you treat the skin on your scalp any differently than you would the skin on your face?”  Women unhesitatingly spend hundreds of dollars on skincare products but I couldn’t think of anyone who spent a serious amount to pamper their scalp.  The treatment products on salon and drugstore shelves address the hair shaft’s dryness and split ends, but do little to nothing to nourish the root bulbs on the scalp that actually nourish the hair.

After Alex applied  phase 2 – a virgin coconut oil based conditioner on my head, I had 20 minutes to consider what she’s said. According to Alex, my hair actually WAS growing, but because my scalp was in poor shape, it wasn’t able to properly nourish my hair. The result was that my hair was breaking mid-shaft, hence the reason it never seemed to grow any longer.

Once the treatment was rinsed out, Alex demonstrated another of her specialties – the ability to modify a growing out cut into a haircut that is an actual style. “The strategy she said, [as she removed the heaviness from my shapeless bowl cut],  is to get a cut like the one I’m giving you and to wear it until it grows out. Wait three months.” If I made it, she promised  to create the next cut I could wear to get me through the next three month. The end goal we agreed on was a short swingy bob, a bit shorter than hers.

My 1st of several growing-out haircuts, by Alex Mnayarji, December 5th

I walked out with a modified  pixie that looked chic and that had a number of easy styling options: slicked back like Gordon Gekko or punked up a la Eighties’ rock chick.

It’s three weeks later and I love my hair. It’s shiny for the first time in over a year and has acquired enough length to begin to tuck it behind my ears with a  shot of Sebastian Spray wax.

My Alex Mnayarji Haircut Three Weeks Later, December 28th

Alex is developing her own line of natural products. So far, she’s got a shampoo-conditioner and a gel on the shelves at the Salon. The at-home scalp scrubs fly off the shelves – the ultimate product testimonial.

 Special Services

Deep-conditioning treatments ($75)

*Revitalizing scalp treatments ($115)

Women’s haircuts  ($95–$135)

Men’s cuts ($75–$105),

Highlights ($100–$275

Charitable Bonus

5% of the salon’s quarterly net profits benefit the Brooklyn Animal Resource Coalition (barcshelter.org) and Gilda’s Club (gildasclubnyc.org), a Manhattan home for people living with cancer.

 Fast Facts

Alex Mnayarji – Ceo/ Stylist/Owner

Allison Lacorazza - Business Partner

Muse –  A.J. aka Anthony John – Alex’s 17 month old nephew and the “Anthony” of the  Alex Anthony Salon

Location

10 Downing Building on 6th Avenue between  Bleecker & W. Houston

Telephone – 646- 499-1111

- Vivian Kelly -