Made Man Barbershop NYC Chelsea Barbers — Local services in New York

Made Man Barbershop is honestly a surprising diamond. I passed it many times (I am a relatively young person, my college is in the area) and from the outside it looked slightly chaotic, and I am an old soul who always preferred my haircuts to come from the elderly Italian gentlemen in white coats. However, after finding so many barbershops in the city to be overpriced and lackluster in both service and quality, I decided to give Made Man a shot a few months ago. Ever since, I have decided to make this barbershop my last one, as I have yet to find anything better in the city.

My critiques first. I find the waiting area to be a bit small, and with a small coat rack, it an become quite cramped in the back. As this place is always busy, fully expect to have to find a creative space for any bags or coats, as it will be difficult to find a designated space for them. That's all of the criticism I can find for this shop. And I can FIND criticism, if I so choose to. I place high expectations on any place that provides a service to me.

I have gone there three times as a walk in. I usually get it cut to a very traditional (think Wall Street Banker/Hedge Fund Douche look) style. Yes, I am in my Twenties. Yes, many kids like Fades. I do not. Not once have I felt misunderstood or like the barbers did not comprehend what I was looking for. And I did not show pictures. In my mind, any barber worth his or her salt should know what a traditional cut is.

I have used three different barbers there (I might have messed up the names, I have terrible memory for names). Raoul, Alex, and most recently, Vitaly. All three of them have provided me an amazing cut on the first sit down with them. I tend to look for barbers that share similar hair styles to me, as I feel that means they will know what I am looking for. As an Irish/Spanish American, my hair is coarse, wiry, and curly, making it sometimes difficult to get the traditional cut for my hair as that usually requires straight hair. Only Vitaly has hair SOMEWHAT similar to mine, yet all three provided me an amazing cut. All three of the barbers I have sat with were experts, each taking the time to precisely give me the best haircut possible.

Most men prefer to talk during haircuts, but I usually tend to sit back in silence until after multiple appointments. All three of the barbers I used gave me respect and decency, never once being overly friendly or familiar, yet also not being distant jerks that just seem to want to get you out of the chair as fast as possible (we have all had those barbers, especially in the city). I have always been able to sit peacefully and relax while putting my faith in the barbers to do their best work here. I often hear regulars conversing with the barbers in a quite friendly fashion, so if that's what you prefer, you will be happy here as well. Each made sure to adhere to my shortness limit (I hate fades!) yet still gave me a clean look that fits my sometimes fluctuating face shape. And the hot towel at the end always looks and smells clean, and is definitely a much loved and respected way to provide additional service to the client without demanding more pay for it.

I highly recommend all three barbers, Raoul, Alex, and Vitaly. The host or owner is always professional and very well spoken, and I found that even as a walk in on a busy day, you are never waiting too long for a chair. I would recommend at least bringing $40 dollars, as the haircut is $31 and after the amazing cut, you will want to make sure to tip them well. I have yet to have a bad experience here, and I will make sure to always recommend them.

The main languages I hear spoken are Russian and English, but I imagine you can find a barber that speaks either Spanish or Hebrew as well, and all of their English skills are amazing. Also, a BIG PERK, they don't try to push you to buy products or hair gel from them, which after a while is just annoying and comes across as so forced from other barbers.

I will always come back here, definitely give this place a try for your...

Unfortunately I was not given much of an opportunity to truly experience Made Man Barber Shop. I recently moved into the neighborhood and was looking for a new local "go-to" place to have my hair cut on a regular basis. I booked my appointment for 7:40pm with Sam and paid upfront with my card online for this reservation. I arrived at 7:48pm (which I understand is 8 minutes late, however I got a bit turned around as I'm new to the neighborhood), and walked in to several barbers in the midst of haircuts. I was not greeted by anyone or acknowledged so I said "Hi guys, my apologies for running a few minutes late, I got bit lost in transit. I have a haircut scheduled with Sam for 7:40pm". A gentleman, presumably Sam, asked if I had to have my haircut by him specifically as he was currently in the middle of a haircut. I stated that I wasn't particular as this was my first time here, just that I had seen some good reviews from him online. He then suggest an alternate barber cut my hair, who was sitting in the client waiting chairs with a slice of pizza. I looked over at him sitting down and said hello to which he replied "We close in ten minutes...". I apologized again for running late to which he replied "Well... it's just that we're closing soon...". I then politely asked if he was not willing to cut my hair, in which case I would need a refund given I had already prepaid online. Instead of offering to cut my hair, he stood up and looked through their appointment book for my online appointment. He found it in Sam's book (who I originally booked this with and was cutting another clients hair) and then opened the register and handed me $25 dollars. I then had to clarify that since I paid with a card there was an additional $2.17 in tax. He gave me my money and then told me that they open again the next day at 8am.

Now I had originally chosen this business because of the number of highly rated reviews both through Google+ and Yelp. I also understand that they were trying to close at 8:00pm, however this doesn't scream client appreciation if you turn down a client running a few minutes late, but still allow them to book an appointment at 7:40pm (If I had arrived on time, was the plan to rush a 20 minute haircut and have me out the door promptly at 8:00pm?). In addition, Sam did seem like a very nice individual based off my brief interaction with him, however he was cutting a different client's hair despite the fact that I had booked that time slot. I was completely willing to be assigned a new barber, just not one who was rather rude in his treatment in clearly trying to shoo me out the door. I had hoped to establish this as my regular barbershop since I live a few blocks away from it, however after this experience I will be taking my business elsewhere.

I understand my experience is likely circumstantial and had I been able to do a 6:00pm haircut that day, that my experience likely would've been much different. Unfortunately, I felt that this was handled rather poorly by the employee I interacted with and left a lasting first impression for this...

|Owner likes to disparage customers that critique his business!!| lol

Really disappointed with my first experience at this barber shop. Let me start from the beginning. Making an appointment online was easy, however, when I walked in Sam (the barber who I was originally supposed to see) asked me if I could see someone else. I thought it would be fine and told him as long as that person was experienced I would be alright with it. I immediately get placed with another barber (I think his name was Darnell). I explained to him that all I wanted was a two buzz on the sides and a small trim on the top. He begins to work and buzzes the sides like normal. Then he sprays my hair and pushes it to the front to begin cutting the top. Without asking anymore questions about my hair and with the knowledge of me only wanting a light trim on the top he quickly snips a piece of my hair ridiculously short and said "oh no. did you want it that short?" even though from the beginning I had shown him with my fingers that I only wanted about a 1/4 inch taken off maybe not even that. He reassures me that he will be able to blend it in so I reluctantly give him another shot to fix his mistake. However, he then with all of my hair I want trimmed pulled down over my eyes he straight cuts it all off way to short! He pushes it all back up and then begins to cut the rest of my hair the same way disregarding how it had been cut before. He then tried to style my hair and when i took a look the wavy hair cut I have loved for so long had been butchered. All of my hairs on the front of my head stood up straight! I looked ridiculous! He then tried to tell me that I told him to cut that much off and almost made it seem like it was my fault! I wanted my hair shorter but with the same style and I ended up looking like alfalfa. The barber continued to almost blame me for the reason my hair looked so bad and kept trying to style it to make it look better. However, there was nothing that could be done. I will probably just end up buzzing my hair off. I loved my hair so much for the years I was able to maintain it before it was butchered by this barber. Instead of leaving Made Man Barbershop feeling on top of the world my confidence has taken a skydive. Yes it may grow back but I didn't go into a barbershop in the hopes of growing my hair back..... This could have all been avoided had the owner (who I was scheduled with originally) didn't shirk me off to someone else. I would like to thank the owner for giving me a full refund and also offering me a free haircut in the future with him if I choose to return. However, I don't think that will ever...