Price Chopping: The Blackmarket Hairdressers

Recessionary cut backs are relative for fashion-obsessed New Yorkers. How much is too much far a hair cut? $950? Try and (fail) to bargain that down to $650. Back room deals and garage cuts are all the rage.

According to the Times, the scene varies wildly—from $60-a-cut bargains in garages amid mountain bikes and garden hoses to extravagant private parties. Hair parties and private cuts are nothing new (except for maybe the aforementioned return to the garage days), but now salons are worried about losing business to price-conscious bargain hunters who wouldn't dream of showing up to the holiday party without at least a blow out. So stylists are now more prone to lurk in the shadows, operating on their clients like mob doctors fixing a late-night bullet wound.