You have to read it to believe it… via MSN.com – the $800 Haircut
Blurb: “The $800 haircut – Madonna, Naomi Campbell and Gwyneth Paltrow are among the boldface names paying Orlando Pita $800 to cut their hair. Shear lunacy, or worth the buzz?
By Rachel Lehmann-Haupt
Orlando Pita may charge $800 for a haircut, but if you ask him if he’s an “artiste,” he laughs and rolls his eyes. “I’m not,” says the 44-year-old Cuban-American as he studies my unruly brown mane. “I get creative with what I do, but I’m just a hairdresser.”
It’s midmorning, and we’re sitting in his quiet, minimally decorated four-seat salon, three stories above the bustle of Manhattan’s trendy meatpacking district. A sleek black-and-white photograph of Kate Moss in a fierce blond hairdo decorates the wall behind his chair.
Orlando Pita may just be a hairdresser, but he has a list of celebrity clients that includes Madonna, Naomi Campbell and Gwyneth Paltrow. Video: $800 for a haircut?
He is just a hairdresser whose signature razor cut has appeared in international fashion magazines, including the February 2006 cover of Vogue (on the head of Natalie Portman). He is just a hairdresser whose clients fly in from Ohio, Paris and Russia, some maxing out their credit cards in hot pursuit of a celebrity glow.
He is just a hairdresser who says the last thing you should look like when you walk out of his salon is . . . like you just walked out of his salon.
For the $800, you get all this, a blow-out and a cup of herbal tea.
“For me a good haircut is a cut that doesn’t look like you’ve had your hair cut,” he says, slowly and carefully separating small pieces of my hair, blowing them dry and then cutting them with the gentle swipe of his razor.
Average American haircut: $21
The average cost of a haircut in America is $21, according to American Salon magazine. Even here in New York, where beauty and fashion are expensive and chic salons commonly charge $400, Orlando’s price is stratospheric — a week’s salary for many of us. Video: How much would you pay?
Isn’t that kind of ridiculous? $800? Per cut? That’s a good designer bag, or a pair of designer shoes……. But if you have money to burn, go for it…. I guess. *skeptical* I get mine cut at First choice for $20, max and I always get compliments about how great it looks (the key? ask for a bit of razoring)….
