As you all know, my hair has been a work-in-progress since I badly damaged it back in February. Part of my “work” was trying not to heat-style it, and also not highlighting it, something that pained me, since I love my hair lighter. The last few times I went to get my hair done, I only got it colored, so that the roots were less obvious and cut, to try to cut out the crazy damage I’ve done.

Mid-last month, I found out that all of my stylists who knew my hair’s history had moved on to new salons, and even though one of them was still local in MA, I was going to be working on Saturdays and wouldn’t be able to get home to see her….which left me stranded, with my less-than-stellar salon selections here in the city.

So far, with the exception of my blogger visits to Maria Bonita (which I’ve loved), I’ve left every other hair salon in the city in tears, but Maria Bonita is hard for me to get to all the way downtown and I’ve never had a haircut there. After consulting with people I’ve been working with when I’m repping for Colette Malouf at Bendel’s, they all advised me that $120 haircut and blowout at Frederic Fekkai on the 4th floor of the store was the way to go. I was beginning to worry that my choices in the city for a haircut and blowout under $80 were bleak.

Last week, Lifebooker was offering a deal at a salon just minutes from my apartment (literally, I had to walk down the street) with a 5-star Lifebooker rating. I scooped up the deal at Davida Salon–which included partial highlights, a deep-conditioning treatment, a haircut and blowout–for get this: $69. I know…I thought it was a joke too; it’s less than what I pay in Massachusetts, forget NYC.

I was a bit skeptical when I walked into the salon this morning…I won’t lie to you. I had visions of my newly highlighted hair breaking off and my hair becoming a gigantic poof that I would have to cut into a Michelle Williams-esque pixie, that would look terrible with my bone structure..and going home to visit my family and friends to see the shock and awe on their faces next week. I could almost imagine my tears…or my hair being chopped horribly like the first time I got my haircut in the city last year by a stylist in Chelsea who incessantly bragged about himself the entire time.

Anyways, my stylist, Irina, who I was nervous wasn’t listening to me when I told her I liked my highlights really light and really ashy, but that she also had to be careful because my hair was damaged, apparently was listening. She also advised me to tact on a few extra highlights, rather than just the partial, so it would blend into my hair better since I had about 5 inches of roots/color going. I was upset at first because it was going to cost me more money, but when she told me it’d only be $30 more, I obliged. She applied the highlights and I sizzled underneath a dryer and waited. As I flipped through June’s Cosmo I could hardly focus on the articles, since I was so concerned that my hair was slowly disintegrating in between the foils.

After rinsing and shampooing, her assistant worked a toner through my hair, which she described as “not very ashy, but I think you’ll like it…if not, I’ll put on a new toner for you”. Okay…so now we’re not listening to me…hmmm. At this point, my hair could’ve fallen out and I wouldn’t have even known it…there was no mirror near the sinks, which made me nervous. The assistant set me up with Morrocan Oil Deep Conditioner, put me in a cap and set me under a dryer for nearly twenty minutes…at least if my hair was fried, this would help a little. I was rinsed again and brought the chair for my haircut…

When I finally saw myself in the mirror……

I still had hair. All of it…and it looked nice, the color was pretty and the highlights were even and I definitely needed the extra ones, or else I might’ve looked like a skunk when I pulled my hair back. Good thinking, Irina! Most of my tension dropped, but now for the haircut…the part that always scares me and can’t really be fixed the same day if it gets messed up…the part that always forces me to cry…

Let's try to ignore the fact that the only makeup I have on is mascara and focus on the fabulousness of my new hair!

Irina blew out the front before cutting my hair to make sure I liked the color–she was right; the highlights were less ashy, and looked like the sun had lightened it: perfect for summer! (Highlights like this always make me look tanner too…bonus!) Now I explained my cut….”1/4″ trim, bring up the layers and texturize it to make it lighter and thinner.” She nodded and went to work. The first cut she showed me was a 1/4 of an inch, but in the end, she cut about an inch. It hurt me to see my hair slightly shorter, but it was definitely necessary, since my ends are still super dry. Not as painful as I thought, though.

My test is always the blowout: if a stylist can’t blow dry my hair better than I can do it myself, then there’s no point in going back, I was a little skeptical about my puffy-looking, dry ends, but Irina smoothed them all out and told me “you look great, you should go out tonight!” (I am…to the Glee finale party, I told her, after my mini-concert with the ensemble I sing with at school.) She was excited. We exchanged some beauty tips about deep conditioning my hair and how I can DIY the heating portion at home without a dryer and about how she loved my mascara and needed to know what kind it was.

I paid and left happy! Davida did a great job and I think I may have finally found an NYC salon with reasonable prices that actually does an excellent job. I’ll be going back again soon!

Check out their website to learn more.

Davida Hair Design is located at 1711 2nd Avenue (between 88th and 89th). They’re open M-F 10am-8pm, Saturday 10-7pm and Sunday 11-6pm.

Disclaimer: I was not compensated or offered any free treatments to write this post. Even after disclosing that I was a beauty blogger, the salon staff did not ask me to write about my experience and I chose to write it solely on the basis that I’m a pleased customer!