Jon-David, Hair Architect ...

Update, May 2010: J-D now works his magic from Joseph Michael's.

Though why he's not a model, I don't know. I mean, look at him. Photogenic bastard. : o ) (Hi, honey. I love you!)

That's my label for him, hair architect.

I've been fawning about him for years. I first went to him, in, oh, 1992? Ohmygod. Wow. I hadn't thought about that until now.

And yesterday, I went to see him at his current salon for the last time. As he told a client, "I was tired of my 8-minute commute. Now it'll be 5."

As he finished my hair, I said, "Well, you're 100 and 0."

"Oh, there must be something I've done that you didn't like," he said.

"Nope," I said. "Well, maybe there's been a style I didn't like. Not enough poof."

"Hey," he said. "I went through a flat phase. It was in all the magazines."

"Oh," I said. "As if you follow what's in magazines."

Well, OK, he does, if you want him to and (this is the key) if it'll work with not only your hair type but the shape of your face and your coloring.

Hence why I call him a hair architect: It's very much an art for him, but there's also a lot of science behind it.

Citysearch.com calls him "The best colorist in all of Chicago." I've never let anyone else color my hair, so I have no basis for comparison, but I can't imagine anyone better.

Yesterday, he casually glanced at my head and said, "I'll be right back."

He returned with two tubs of goo and a stack of foils and the next thing you knew, I looked absurd, as most women do in a salon. (Seriously, the things we go through for you guys.)

Later, foils out, color rinsed, hair shampooed, he started blowdrying and I could see the true color. Not my real color, mind you. God no! It's been a long time since we've seen that. But the color that he envisioned in that quick glance.

And, as always, it's fabulous.

He gave my finished style a final tousle. "I love it," I said, looking at him in the mirror.

He nodded. "Yup, it's hot."

(This shot was taken many hours after he worked his magic, but you get the idea. Lots of layers. Lots of movement. And the lighting in this shot doesn't begin to do the color justice.)

He's moving to a new salon next month, Dennis Bartolomei at 15 East Pearson. The number for appointments is (312) 787-7778. Not that he needs me to drum up business for him.

You can visit his MySpace page if you'd like to learn more. (I'm sure he'll be breaking up those huge blocks of text just as soon as he reads this. I can say that. I'm his editor. In addition to being a hair genius, he's a novelist and playwright, too.)

Seriously, you'll never find a better stylist.