I’ve been going to Hoshi for over eight years now; first in Chelsea and the East Village (because I figured, how bad could a New York haircut get if the stylists also have shops in Paris, Kyoto, and, most importantly, Berlin?), then, once I finally moved here, I was ecstatic to find the same standard of excellence applied at their location on Garnisonkirchplatz, just on the other side of the Hackescher Markt S-Bahn station.

As a man who’s probably not got that many more years before he’ll have to just buzz it all off, face the fact that his own mortality is externalizing itself through male-pattern balding, it’s especially important a stylist sets you at ease, and at Hoshi that’s just what I get. And a supreme sense of calm seeps into me from the lack of chatter, the lovely-smelling (but not overly floral) shampooing, the thorough head-neck-shoulders massage that precedes each cut, and the great care and scrutiny that is dedicated to each unruly hair.

Yet they don’t just work their miracles on men, after sending her Hoshi’s way, for instance, a friend of mine has been sporting gorgeous little blond Mia Farrow or Michelle Williams dos, and she says soon she’ll even try a mild Japanese perm. Though they may cost a little more than those 10 Euro places where you can just walk in whenever, I still wouldn’t trade that feeling I have walking out the door and through the throngs of annoying tourists for the world. Treat yo’ self!