New Yorkers looking for a queer cut to freshen up their 'do need look no further than Magda Ryczko's trio of barber shops. Ryczko founded the first shop, Manetamed, in Williamsburg in 2011 and has since branched out to two other locations, Hairrari, in the East Village and Bushwick. The self-taught barber is passionate about providing customers with excellent haircuts and shaves, regardless of their gender.
Barber shops, which are traditionally cis masculine spaces, need all the queering they can get, and Hairrari is committed to both servicing queer customers and maintaining a standard of service across all it's locations.
"The hardest part was finding talented people, and that's why I developed my own training program," shares Ryczko, who adds that 70 percent of the three shops' staff are personally trained by her.
Ryczko's queer clientele was built mostly through word of mouth and Yelp reviews that claimed she gave the "best dyke haircut." Hairrari also advertised free haircuts in exchange for modeling on the now-defunct Facebook group Queer Exchange. The shops recently partnered with Strands For Trans and the Dress Code Project. "Both are a campaign/alliance of barber shops and salons dedicated to providing safe spaces for those [who are] part of the LGBTQ+ community," explains Ryczko. "It allows one to go to their website and type in their zip code, which will then show them where the nearest safe space shop is for LGBTQ+ folk."
