Dear ITG,
I grew up in Rhode Island, spending most of my free time at the salon with my grandmother and aunt. Even as a little kid, I was obsessed. By the time I was a teenager I knew that I wanted to work with hair, and I knew I wanted to do it in New York. That was 20 years ago, and in the beginning, I did anything and everything that would get me behind a chair. I assisted on fashion shoots, I did weddings for a while, and at one point I learned how to barber. And I just fell in love with hair coloring.
A turning point for me came in 2017, when I colored Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s hair. We ended up working together for two years. Through her, I met Jen Atkin, who introduced me to Bella Hadid. I’m always saying, thank you, Bella because she really put me on the map. From there, it was word-of-mouth—Chloë Sevigny, Kaia Gerber, Emily Ratajkowski. When Kendall Jenner’s team called and asked me to fly out to color her hair red the next day, I dropped everything.
Opening a salon wasn’t part of the plan. But as my following grew, I had this idea to create a girly barbershop in the East Village. That was in 2019, six months before the pandemic. We had to shut down for about three months, and when we reopened—masked up—the community really pulled through. Then I opened my flagship salon in Soho in 2021. Some time after, I started thinking about updating the original East Village space—a sort of return to my roots. While the flagship is a full-service salon—cut, color, extensions, the works—I wanted the East Village location to be something new. I landed on an amped-up blow dry studio meets scalp spa. Usually, if you get a scalp treatment, you don’t leave with a beautiful blowout. And if you go to a blow dry bar, you just get a quick shampoo. I wanted both.
It’s called Jenna’s—named not after myself, but after my best friend. Funny enough, we’re also both from Rhode Island. She’s my chief of staff now—the right side of my body, and the space is really an ode to our kind of friendship. When Jenna and I want to decompress, we get foot massages or even couples massages. Jenna’s, the salon, is a version of that: a space to indulge, unwind, and leave with a healthier scalp and a gorgeous blowout. When we were developing the space, we went everywhere to see what was out there. One of the funniest and most interesting spots we visited was WhisperWave, which does ASMR scalp massages. It’s quirky, cool, and actually really relaxing. But at Jenna’s, we offer things like a detox treatment to remove metals and minerals, a relaxing treatment, and a moisturizing treatment. I keep telling people to think of it like a foot rub… but for your hair. (By the way, for couples massages, we love Blue Ocean Relax. If you like a strong massage, that is the place.)
The original studio was lighter and airier, but Jenna’s is more warm and grounded—more wood, fewer pastels. It’s a bit more elevated than the dreamy, ethereal vibe it had before. Jenna has impeccable taste, and we redid the whole place ourselves. I’d been dreaming of a Murano glass chandelier forever, and we finally found one. It’s the centerpiece now. Before that, my favorite piece was an iridescent Glas Italia table that looked exactly like a rainbow oil slick on a city street—something that always inspired me as a colorist.
Outside of haircare, we’re stocking some incredible products from brands like Rōz, Summer Fridays, Le Bonne Brosse, Sidia, and Snow Fox, which makes these beautiful gold-plated brushes. I get sent so much as an expert, and I wanted to highlight some of my favorites. We’re even hoping to offer same-day delivery through Uber Eats. How’s that?
Love,
Jenna Perry
Photos via the author