From Park Avenue to the U.S. Open, Julien Farel Creates Hair to Perform (2024)

Julien Farel, the legendary hairstylist with salons from Park Avenue in New York City to Palm Beach, Fla., first began cutting hair decades ago.

As for what keeps him going? The love of the game.

“It takes a long time to get to where you want to go,” Farel says. “Even after doing it for some time, people ask why I still do it. And for me, I work for beauty, I work for passion and I love my industry.”

He has combined that vigor with myriad skills to define his both sculptural and made-for-real-life approach to cutting hair.

“The way I was trained is very architectural. You understand volume in a space and how to build it. I was passionate about modern architecture and that works out really well with this skill,” he says. Even prior to that, “at the age of 14, I was asked to train for national selections [in France] to become a professional soccer player.”

“For me, the players are young and beautiful, and they represent aspiration. They are the dream,” Farel says. “You account for the weather —it’s super humid —and we’re not doing an editorial photo shoot. You need to give them a real haircut, a great haircut and know that that’s how they’re going to keep it.”

When not prepping clients for the court, Farel works out of his salon in the Loews Regency hotel on Park Avenue, which initially opened in 2014. “Our business is very sustainable because our price is pretty expensive. We’re probably the number-one salon in New York, making eight figures. But the fact is, with COVID-19, we had to reinvent ourselves,” he says. Haircuts at his salon start at $210, while glossing and color services start at $150.

Part of that has been making sure clients are getting more personalized service. “I was doing 37 cuts a day, and now I do between five and 10. I love it,” he says. “I give clients an hour of my time because, in today’s work, if you charge a lot of money you have to deliver for quality. I do the welcome, I do the finishing, and I only have an assistant for shampooing or for helping me with clips.”

He still thinks in terms of proportion, volume, architecture and of a haircut’s longevity. “You need to make sure the haircut’s going to grow accordingly and the clients aren’t going to come back every week,” he says.

Farel first came to New York from a village southeast of Lyon, France, in 1992 when he was working for Jacques Dessange. “I spoke no English, I knew no one, and I was sleeping on the floor in Brooklyn. After work, I would go to people’s homes and do 10 haircuts for $30 each, and I was working every night. I arrived in New York in March and by August, I was taking my own apartment.”

Since then his customer base has grown to be roughly 40 percent male, 60 percent female. While women are more adventurous, “the men are consistent,” he says. “If you give them your time, they will use you forever. Men who used to pay $55 when I started are still with me, and some come every two weeks.” He now operates his New York salon, as well as one in Palm Beach, Fla.

He’s also taking a more educative approach — both with his staff and his clientele. “I try to teach people how to understand volume and care,” he says. “Every Tuesday, we have a mandatory training so the staff can grow and learn and bring more. Our goal is to exceed client expectation.”

After decades of career highs —and an especially good year — he’s thinking about the decades to come. ”To grow, we need someone who has a larger vision,” he says. “If you don’t grow and go up, you go down. This is our baby and our legacy.”