Unless your name is Billy Ray Cyrus, your choice of hairstyle is a serious, sometimes nerve-wracking responsibility. And like any other modern man beholden to concerns not only of image but also abiding fears, warranted or not, of inevitable pattern baldness, I usually felt more comfortable quickly and cheaply snipping just a little off the top. Always better to have something to work with, I say, without resorting to Propecia or a Giuliani.

But the stylists -- yes, call them stylists -- at L' Atelier de Frederic, the mercifully quiet men's section of the Frederic Fekkai Salon on 5th Avenue, have found a way to alleviate this and most every other hair care concern. Reached by a dedicated, discreet elevator, the salon consists of but four sumptuously leathered barbershop-style chairs in a private nook not unlike most downtown bistros -- white tile walls, black trim, dark wood, stainless steel, and flat screen TVs (careful here; Troy was playing).

There, over the course of two and half hours last week, Dominick Sedita put together the most carefully considered snip and shave this writer has ever encountered. He prescribed a cut based on the interplay of facial features, hair texture, and a cowlick that has lasted further into adulthood than my mother ever predicted. He slavishly applied the finest cleansers, recommending the restoring qualities of the More line for any fellow paranoids. The shave -- a languid step-by-step process first with the grain then against -- was, in its old world decadence and tempo, the grooming equivalent of a chef's tasting menu.

Sedita prides himself on the mixture of the guy-friendly barber style (read: free Scotch) and the full-service nature of modern styling. "It's a symbol of [my customers], not just what they're wearing. I will get a feel for what their job is like, or their personality," he said of the process. "You're not just walking in, sitting in a chair, and saying 'Give me a number three,' before they buzz your head." No need for a buzzer when the man making all the decisions can wield a scissor like a surgeon and make any fears of sub-par hairstyling vanish like so much 5 o'clock shadow. --NICHOLAS MOSQUERA

L' Atelier de Frederic
712 5th Avenue, on the 4th floor of Henri Bendel
212-753-9500

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