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Drybar Blows Into Town
September 15, 2011 12:30 pm
With plenty of Manhattan area codes already in her appointment book, Alli Webb knew that New York would be an ideal location for Drybar, her popular L.A.-based salon specializing in $40 blow-outs. “A lot of my clients are bicoastal and they’ve been begging me to open a Drybar here,” she told us at a preview of her Flatiron hot spot, which officially opens tomorrow. Its arrival is a welcomed one, not simply for the fantastic blow-outs, styling services, and mini-treatments at affordable prices—but for the experience of it all. As with all Drybar locations (there are nine out west and more coming), the interior feels like a fancy friend’s apartment, with tufted canvas on the walls, white leather seating, baroque mirrors, Italian marble counters, and sunny pops of yellow—the salon’s signature color. While stylists perform blow-outs, working off a menu of five styles that range from straight and sleek to wavy and high-volume, clients can text and check their e-mail (stations conveniently have outlets for iPhone charging), sip on strawberry lemon water, or snack on $4 bags of Swedish fish or Oriental Rice Crackers. Movies play on flat-screen TVs and the speakers pump out indie pop from the Bravery and the Ting Tings. Webb’s vision is to make blow-outs a whole lot more fun and to provide them in an atmosphere that doesn’t feel like a run-of-the-mill salon; no screaming kids or hair on the floor here, Webb says. Instead, everything has been well edited, including the mix of products—L’Oréal, MoroccanOil, Living Proof—and tools like Bio Ionic Power Light blow-dryers, Wet Brushes, and Hot Tool irons. As for how the blow-outs rate, we stopped by for a 40-minute visit and left with a bouncy style that we’d call “Betty Draper by the beach” (brushed-out waves with a subtle fifties flip), which not only gave our fine hair the perfect amount of body but also made our highlights seem brighter, too. With memberships available and another Drybar slated to open in midtown, Webb’s concept shop is about to, well, blow up.
The Drybar, 4 W. 16th St., NYC, (212) 561-5392, www.thedrybar.com.
