Staying Groomed North of the River

A good number of the guys in my chair walk over from Streeterville or the Gold Coast. Doctors and residents from Northwestern. Guys who live in the high-rises off the Mag Mile. Businessmen staying at hotels for three days who need to look right for a room full of people on day two.

These neighborhoods have money, but honestly, not a lot of real barbering. You got hotel salons, quick-clip chains, and upscale spots where the person cutting your hair changes every month. So let me give you the game plan I give my east-of-Michigan-Avenue clients.

If you live here: build a maintenance rhythm

Living in Streeterville or the Gold Coast usually means your calendar is not your own. Hospital shifts, market hours, travel weeks. The mistake I see is guys booking a cut only when something's on the calendar. A wedding, a board meeting, a date. That means you're always either freshly cut or overdue, nothing in between.

Flip it. Get on a standing schedule and let the events land wherever they land:

• Haircut plus beard guys: every 3 weeks for the full service, and if your beard grows fast, drop in for a 25 minute Beard Sculpt at the halfway point. Your beard line is the first thing that goes, and a razor-finished line is the difference between groomed and scruffy.
• Clean-shaven fade guys: every 2 weeks. No way around it, that's just what a crisp fade costs in time.
• Bald head guys: a proper head shave with beard work every 2 to 3 weeks beats the daily razor fight in your bathroom. Hot towel, straight razor, done right.

If you're visiting: yes, you can get a real cut on a work trip

Some of my favorite reviews came from travelers. A guy from St. Louis in town last minute. A visitor from Germany on a business trip. A man from Austin who came in for a beard shaping. They all found me the same way, searched, saw the reviews, took the shot.

Here's the traveler's playbook. Book before you fly, don't wait until you're standing in the hotel lobby with dead phone battery and a 9 AM meeting. My studio is a short ride from every hotel in Streeterville and the Gold Coast, appointments run on time because it's a private suite, and you'll walk out in about 40 minutes looking like you got cut at home. Maybe better.

The beard deserves more respect than you're giving it

Real talk. Most guys' haircuts are fine. Their beards are the problem. Growing a beard without maintaining the lines is like wearing a tailored suit with busted shoes.

A proper beard service is not two minutes with a trimmer. Mine includes taking the beard down where it needs it, shaping it to your face, a hot towel, and a straight razor finish on the lines. I've also taught more than a few first-time beard growers how to handle the in-between weeks at home. What oil, when to brush, where never to let a trimmer touch. Ask, and I'll break it down for your specific growth pattern.

Why my clients cross the river

My studio sits in River North at 9 W Erie St, inside Salon Lofts, Suite 11. From Streeterville that's a 10 to 15 minute walk down Erie, straight shot. From the Gold Coast, a quick ride down State. And what you get on the other end is different from the salon-floor experience: one private suite, one barber, one client at a time.

Seventeen years of cutting every hair texture in this city, 350 verified reviews sitting at 5.0 on Google and 4.96 on Booksy, and a hot towel waiting at the end of every cut. That's the pitch. The chair does the rest of the talking.

Appreciate you for reading.
— Johnnie J

More from the chair: Need a Cut Near the Loop? Read This First · How to Find a Real Barber in River North