Frederic Fekkai

Easily some of the best trained professional stylists in the world. Sleek design, friendly attentive staff and total professionalism make it worth the sticker price… worth it if you can… or must!

Frederic Fekkai is the Crème de la Crème of hair salons. Frederic created this salon for the most demanding woman because he knows that she believes that her hair is ‘privileged’. It’s hard to find a good salon in New York, especially one I could trust. I filtered through local salons and couldn’t bring myself to trust any of them with my hair due to past prior experiences so I ended my torment and called FF to make an appointment.
Same day appointments don’t usually happen but I was lucky. Apparently when NYers escape during the holiday, there is more opportunity for the NYers who stayed behind to get their hair done. I noticed the SoHo location was closed Sunday and Monday so I opted for the Fifth Avenue location. The address is 721 5^th Avenue located on the 4^th floor of Henri Bendel’s. If you ever enter through the corporate office around the corner, there are doors leading to Bendel’s. Regardless of which way you enter, you can go up the wide wooden staircase or elegant elevators.
Upon entry, you’re greeted by the receptionist who checks you in. While they check to confirm your appointment, you realize the atmosphere is an understated elegance that while caters to the (usually cold) Upper East Side there’s still a certain warmth to it. The receptionist gave me a tour once she learned she hadn’t been there before. To the side there was the makeup and mani/​pedi station while opposite there was a waiting lounge with a well lit wall displaying nearly all of FF’s hair products. The receptionist instructed me to put a brown FF robe over my outfit and to hang my coat in the closet. Odd, since I was getting the red carpet everywhere else there but that’s just an observation rather than me actually having a problem with that. As soon as I came out of the changing room with my robe, Sonia, my stylist, was already there with Monica, who would wash my hair, and I was escorted to my station. Sonia sat me down, touched my hair asking, «So, tell me everything! What are we doing today?»
Sonia and I spoke briefly for a few minutes so we were aligned. The conversation was about my vision and her professional input on what she could do to meet my expectations. Earlier this year I played with my hair color at another salon and I felt lost as to where to go in the future should I want to color my hair again. Sonia rattled off the treatments they offered and offered to introduce me to a colorist at the end of my appointment. Monica asked me what products I would like to use. I had none in mind, so she asked me to describe my hair and offered a masque since my hair was dehydrated. She explained the products she would use before tasking her time washing my hair presumably to give products time to soak into my hair and roots. It was heaven the entire time — I had seriously never been more relaxed. Afterwards, she explained that the products she used would be in the front for me to look at and ultimately purchased (obvs). Walking back to the station, she stopped to ask if I would care for water, either cucumber or orange infused. I opted for cucumber, which was served to me in a perfectly chilled glass with a lemon wedge clinging to it all the while on a napkin atop a little plate.
Sonia’s hand ran through my hair and she noted the difference in my hair after my wash. She educated me on the products, my kind of hair and what it needs, how often to wash my hair and use products. At some points I stood up so she could reach me but it was well worth it. Sonia was extremely focused and precise and above all incredibly polite. As my hair fell to the ground, a member of the staff quickly cleaned it up. I also had time to notice that some of the brushes had a label wrapped around them clearly stating their were sterilized and ready for use. I’ve never seen this before but it was comforting yet not surprising FF had this on their products. While observing my chic, comfortable surroundings my phone rang. I was distracted but not enough to note how Sonia seemed to be internally critiquing her work and continued to transform my hair from dry, long and boring to hydrated, slightly shorter with side swept bangs. To keep my hair from being dull, Soniya went over my hair with a small barrel curling iron to give it some body. The end result was my hair looking sophisticated, playful, shorter with no more split ends in sight. Ultimately, Sonia met my expectations for a high quality cut but as I left, she effortlessly exceeded my expectations with her incredible customer service and personally introduced me to a colorist she felt would work best with my hair. There was a proper name introduction and Sonia was there while the colorist and I spoke. Before I left, the products used were put aside for me prior to payment and I was offered a free ‘touch-​up’ in their makeup station. From the beginning to the end of my experience, this was worth the splurge for the luxury and performance of this pleasurable salon.

Michael Ferruggio gives the best cuts and is an absolute pleasure. Been seeing him for years. He listens and is very talented. Love him! I also use Alexandra for amazing pedicures and Mannana for the best waxing and facials. Worth the price.

Another 5 star haircut and blow dry with Hana on 12÷8÷15! I’ve been going to Hana for at least 3 years – she is the BEST
The salon was very courteous to my request to have Hana blow out my hair (her assistant pulled my hair HARD during my last blowout). Hana is so gentle when blowing out my hair yet it comes out stick straight and sleek and lasts for weeks lol I don’t want to wash it
My haircuts with Hana last at least 4 months and look amazing the whole time! So it’s not like I have to spend a fortune on frequent appointments.
Ask for Hana when you go to Fekkai, you’ll be happy you did!

Amazing. Patrick cuts my and my sister’s hair and we will never go anywhere else. My sister moved to boston last year and still comes to NY to see Patrick.
I have curly hair that can look like a bush if not cut properly, but his cut is so good that I spend 5 – 10 minutes every day blowing out the front, and everyone thinks I had it professionally done. He’s amazing! Expensive but I really won’t go anywhere else.

Great atmosphere and very efficient without feeling rushed. The front desk managers are very accommodating and professional, and I had the most wonderful experience with Jennifer. She gave me amazing support right before my wedding and even insisted I use a product to diminish my acne and it worked! Big thanks to Jennifer!

I loved my updo and my stylist — also nice to be in Bendels. They accommodated me as a walk in also which Dry bar couldn’t do. However $ 160 for a 30 minute style without even a shampoo is silly. At least give me some champagne for that!

Wonderful haircut with Michael. He seems to cut every single hair. I have thin fine hair, which has never looked better. Worth the trip to the city.

Before you make an appointment I suggest you check on the pricing first. It was very expensive but very well worth the money. My haircut by Michael was amazing. It is a professional upscale salon — The staff is very warm and friendly not stuck up like youd find in other places uptown.
I got an ombré coloring treatment and it looked amazing. I’ve recommended many friends and received numerous amounts of compliments.
Thanks guys!

Perched atop Henri is Frédérick. Layout is clean & open, receptionists & assistants are polite & attentive, coatcheck is always run by a sweet lady who takes good care of my stuff.
Daniel is so good with color, and isn’t satisfied till it’s perfect.
My only regret is the blowout — my hair is very fine and always winds up a static flyaway nightmare for the rest of the day. Nobody seems to know how to take it easy with the heat & vigorous brushing, no matter how I warn them.

Jennifer is an incredible hair colorist! It’s been 4 months since she highlighted my hair and it still looks great! She is so talented and professional, great to talk to and even though she had a lot of clients I feel like she gave me 100% attention she also remembered our color plan from the first time I saw her! Great experience.
Also went to Victoria, the eyebrow specialist and she gave my eyebrows such a nice shape. Danielle the makeup artist made such a great recommendation for a foundation that is super soft and light but still gives me amazing coverage, will get a peel with her soon! Love my go to team of experts

Leading up to my wedding, I was looking for a great colorist to make my blonde highlights look the best they could [I was sick of salon hopping and having mixed experiences]. My wedding stylist recommended Fekkai and I haven’t looked back since!
I’ve been going here for a year and a half now, and only see Jennifer for color. No foils here, just paint, so they look so natural and grow out a lot better! She’s really amazing — cuts are great too here — but pricey!

I walked in for a consult and was given a junior consultant. I wanted highlights and showed the stylist a picture of a celebrity with similar coloring to me. I walked out with wet hair as I had theatre and usually do not blow dry my hair as it’s curly.
Next morning woke up with orange, damaged hair. Had to go to another salon and tone, cut and pay twice the amount.
Trust no money is enough to fix the nightmare I was left with.
Called the manager back and was told I would be refunded. I called back and asked to be reimbursed the additional money spent (which was double their fees) and was never called back. Left several messages and emails.

This is a very high quality salon — they cut, color, and style hair exceedingly well. Let’s get that out of the way.
My girlfriend got a very expensive hair coloring treatment here. In the middle of it, they asked if she wanted to get the edges trimmed, without mentioning a price. At the coloring station, a stylist trimmed the ends of her hair for five minutes while she was still standing up.
At the end, they charged her $ 165 for this five minute «haircut» on top of the several hundred dollar coloring treatment. We asked them why this was. A manager came out and said she was very sorry and understood our position but couldn’t do anything about the price. We mentioned that they did not tell her the price and they had told us the price of everything else beforehand. They said they had followed standard practice in hair salons in New York. I mentioned that I would write a Unilocal review about this. They offered to give us product but still wouldn’t reduce the price.
To add insult to injury, the cashier admitted that they typically wouldn’t charge for a bang trim (essentially what this was) for their regular customers, but it was our first time.
It’s funny how they made a point about how they only give starting prices before the coloring service and would inform us of the price after a consultation before they start it, but then they would not mention the price of a $ 165 bang trim. It reminds me of a story about a couple of Japanese tourists spending $ 720 on a manhattan pedicab ride (
) — because this felt like a scam. There is no way she would have agreed to pay this if they had actually informed her of the price. I guess the advice here is to always ask how much anything they offer you will cost.

This was my second time coming to see Jennifer and she honestly did such an amazing job. I’m really lucky to have found a colorist since moving here to NYC that actually cares and goes the extra mile to make me happy. Her personality is just as good as her skill and technique. She’s a joy to talk to, and extremely professional. I love coming to her and the salon!

I went as a hair model so I received a blow out free of charge. My stylist was Emma and she is in the academy in the training process so Pierre, one of the master stylists, was critiquing the blow out and like him I only have positive things to say. Emma was so sweet and personable. I completely underestimated her, she gave me a gorgeous blowout with everything I asked for (it actually looks better than what I envisioned) She gave my hair frizz-​free bounce and volume with natural curls in the end. I didn’t expect the students at the salon to be so talented but Emma is amazing!

I wanted to start off by saying that I was doing hair modeling for this location and another location a couple of years ago. I typed an email to the woman in charge of sending out the reservation emails immediately after going to the salon (⁶⁄₁₂). Below is what I wrote to her with no response, of course:
I just wanted to say that I had a terrible experience last night. Every time I go to the 5^th Ave location it’s always something. Molly (student) did an amazing job but the old brunette instructor should not be instructing a thing. She needs to be instructed on how to do hair. My hair is long and thick and she took over Molly’s instructional class and called herself finishing half of my hair. She yanked my hair and head because she assumed that it was the appropriate way to deal with my type of hair when it is not! The section that the instructor did is puffy and kinky because she tried to dry my hair without straightening it to make it more manageable. I’ve been dealing with my hair for 12 years and if she wanted to know what works best all she had to do was ask.
My hair drys fast so she needed to keep it damp. Instead she practically tried to rip my hair out of my head trying to dry it. Molly tried to salvage the damage but she couldn’t because she would’ve had to wet my hair again and start all over. The sections that Molly did I liked but the instructor did the middle of my hair and I was not pleased. While the instructor is supposed to be there to help she completely took over and dominated. So now the middle of my head is frizzy and kinky while everything else is straight. Then when Molly tried to go over the ruined sections the instructor said this is as good as it is going to get since my hair is thick.
You can remove me from the database, I will not be coming back. There’s always one snotty person at the 5^th Ave salon. Last August it was a feminine male instructor who thought it was appropriate to talk about my hair color and my hair texture. He stomped around like the little child that he is because my thick, long hair was making him late for his oh so important dinner reservations. That’s YOUR job and if you didn’t want to be there don’t come to work. No need to make the experience unpleasant for everyone because you were in a nasty mood. I should not have to feel bad because I have a lot of hair. I love my hair and they will NOT make me feel that way again. Thank you.

(Same Henri Bendel location/​returning after 10months)
I found out my first hair cut was Hanna, and I really liked my hair cut. I was in NYC just for the day and as I mentioned, I need a hair cut the day I crave it and it happened to be Hanna’s day off. The front desk person suggested Kenji when I called. Their shampoo service is relaxing and the atmosphere here is spacious and enjoyable.
My experience with Kenji hasn’t yet impressed me because I have wavy hair and the waves now just look like a mess. It doesn’t even look like I got a hair cut and I requested shorter layers, but Kenji had his own reasons why not. I hope as my hair starts to grow out, it will start to look better, but so far I’m just waiting…

Came here for highlights after visiting another of their salons in California.
Waste of money — Almost $ 700 after tips.
I was very specific about the highlights I wanted and gave pictures. DID not listen at all and did highlights that the next salon I went to called «Jersey Girl» highlights. It was so bad friends made comments — even MEN.
The highlights were patchy — and not just too thick highlights but patches of half the the strand was brown and the bottom half was blonde. I had to part my hair a certain way just to leave the house.
First Visit — $ 480 including tip. I only tipped because they told me I just had to get used to the dramatic color change. Used to the contrast of the polka dots in my hair? It was orange and I was very upset but they made me feel like I just had to get used to it.
It was AWFUL.
Second Visit — 2 Days later. They KILLED my hair this time. I was no longer orange but I was too blond and my hair was FRIED. My hair was perfect before I came here. I got home and my hair was falling out and breaking. The «roots» were still awful with stripes and polka dots. I called and they said to come in for a consultation with someone else. They gave me a free haircut which then cost me like $ 70 in tips. (The haircut stylist was fine but I didn’t need a haircut until I went to Fekkai, I had just had one two weeks prior to the highlights).
Third Visit — A month later. I couldn’t stand the horrible job they did. It was so cheap looking. I could have done a better job myself at home. They did not charge me but they also didn’t DO anything. He put in a few highlights telling me my hair was too damaged for much more. I went home and it looked like he did nothing. The polka dot which I specifically pointed out was still there. The roots were there. I have no idea what he did or why I tipped a $ 100 to him and his assistant (at least the assistant did a good blowout).
I was practically crying. I was so upset, not just at the money but my ruined hair. I NEVER should have gone to Fekkai. I have heard nothing but bad things since from other people.
GO somewhere ELSE for color! I was so upset and looked on FB for a friend that could help me. I looked at his work, and used his referral for a colorist at the high end salon where he works. I was so upset about the blonde I went back to a light brown. Thankfully this other salon was able to fix my hair.
I want my $ 700 back from Fekkai, but I feel too uncomfortable calling and asking. Hopefully I at least save someone else from wasting their money.
Photo posted on their page.

This is for the Upper East Side salon location, at the Mark Hotel.
I have been seeing Anthony for over a year now and I was fortunate enough to have found someone who not only understands what a good haircut is, but is also able to deliver every time. The blowouts are just as good as the haircuts.
Highly recommend, and certainly vetted by locals on Upper East.