New York Cuts

The camera records conversations between hairdressers and their customers in six New York City hair salons. The overwhelmingly well-to-do clients of a chic hairstylist in Manhattan get a hand massage along with their trim – and enjoy a complimentary drink while their shoes are polished. The conversations are about children and money matters. It all contrasts starkly with the Brooklyn salon where the regular customers savor their haircut sessions in soporific silence. By contrast, the conversation among a group of West African women at a Harlem hairdresser ascends into a cacophony. This wide range of situations shines a light on the city's multicultural character and the striking contrast between rich and poor and black and white. The mundane conversations reveal a great deal about the lives of the customers and their coiffeurs. For some, a haircut is sheer luxury, while for others it’s purely functional. While the affluent customers want a unique, all-encompassing experience, visitors to a Spanish-language establishment are quite satisfied with burritos from the takeout next door. There’s a range of interiors, too. The richer businesses may look like luxurious nightclubs, while the Brooklyn hairdresser has to toil away in an un-air-conditioned basement. But the salons do have at least one thing in common: they are all places where the community comes together.