Oscar Blandi owns a pristine, palatial hair salon in New York City. Originally from Italy, he started helping out in his father's salon at age 14 -- in order to meet girls. Now, he works mostly with Upper East Side ladies and celebrities like Kelly Ripa. And he gave Nicole Richie her image-altering bob.
Blandi is a notoriously chatty haircutter, dripping with Italian charm. His cuts generally aren't dramatic; his goal is to make you look (and feel) beautiful. "Each cut requires a unique technique," he says. "But I think most women can pull off a medium length cut -- which sits at or below the shoulders -- and I love to frame the face with long bangs."
If you can't make it to the salon but want the Blandi experience, check out his eponymous product line, which is packed with Italian botanical ingredients.
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Sally Hershberger
Cost of a haircut: $800
Sally Hershberger famously gave Meg Ryan the "Sally Shag" in 1996, and she soon became the first celebrity stylist to offer a $600 haircut to the general public. (Her fee has since gone up.) Hershberger generally cuts hair when it's dry, using a razor to shape layers. While her signature cut has evolved over the years, she's still the woman to see if you want a shag. "The reason that I love the shag so much is that it really emphasizes layers," says Hershberger. "Anything that has movement is considered shag."
Hershberger has a product line available at drugstores -- one of the bestsellers is Sally Hershberger Supreme Head Shagg Spray, $12.99 -- as well as a high-end line called Salon by Sally Hershberger.
There's something about a great haircut that makes you look -- and feel -- like a newer, better version of yourself. What woman hasn't walked into a salon feeling less than cute and walked out thinking she could be in one of those Pantene shampoo commercials?
And while any great hairstylist can give you this kind of transformation, in our beauty fantasies, these life-changing cuts would happen at the hands of top hairstylists -- the same ones who make celebrities look fantastic on the red carpet and the rich look beautiful at their Park Avenue and Beverly Hills cocktail parties.
We've spent a fair amount of time researching (OK, daydreaming) to come up with our bucket list of the top hairstylists every woman should try to snag an appointment with before they die. The criteria? These stylists are iconic -- many of them are as famous as their clients -- and a visit to one of their salons is an experience. Each of them also have big personalities and intriguing stories, which probably have a lot to do with their success.
Now, we know that a $500 haircut isn't feasible for most people. And to make you feel (a little) better, many of these stylists are booked solid with clients like Jennifer Lopez and Jessica Biel, anyway. But we wanted to indulge our superstar stylist fantasy nonetheless. Plus, even if you can't snag an appointment with one of these icons, you can still check out their product lines, make an appointment with a junior stylist at one of their salons, or ask your own stylist to give you a haircut like one that these hair icons are known for.
Of course this list is by no means exhaustive -- there are dozens of other top hairstylists out there whose chairs we'd love to hop into. There's also a new generation of rising stars in the hair industry -- and odds are they'll soon become the next posse of superstar stylists. But for now, we want to introduce you to these eight. Which hairstylist would you want to cut your hair?
