Reader Allie passed on this great tip about Longbow Pub & Pantry in Bay Ridge which is offering a summer special: every order of fish and chips comes with a pint of any of their 12 draft beers.

The deal lasts through the end of the month August and is good every day, all day long. It’s sort of like a reverse of the pizza-and-a-beer deals we’re all used to (which is no longer available at The Charleston, btw. Sad face).

All the shows, on Fridays and Saturdays through May 22, start at 8 p.m. and tickets are $15 ($10 for seniors & students). The company boasts some Broadway-level design and direction, bloody fight scenes, and even Russian and Arabic translations. Tickets and more info here.

Genesis Repertory Ensemble at The Block Institute, 376 bay 44th St., 718-492-0534

BEFORE my $10 blow-out

You could pull your hair out looking for cheap beauty services in New York. Take, for example, the blow-out. It’s a basic treatment that runs upward of $45 at popular salons like Beehive and Woodley & Bunny, and Slope Suds is right there at $40+. So, when I heard that there was a Daily News-approved salon in Bath Beach, Brooklyn offering blow-outs for a measly $10, I was more than willing to brave the freezing one-hour subway ride from Williamsburg for the good hair deal. After all, there isn’t a cheap-o hair experiment I’d ever pass up.

Image Crew Studio (1723 86th St.) offers a shampoo, massage and blow-dry for only $10. Since my hair is naturally straight I decided to go into this experiment with my best unwashed, parted-on-the-side-to-hide-the-grease-bangs “Sunday” hair (it was Thursday, but I had the day off so it was a Sunday for me). I figured that by going in with my hair in its natural state I would better understand just how good this place was.

When I arrived I was warmly greeted by a middle-aged Asian woman who took my coat, looked me over and instantly knew I wanted the famous $10 special. She took me to the shampoo area, washed my hair and massaged my head and neck with such skill that when she finished, I was content as a newborn after a nap. I was so happy I didn’t have a single snarky thought about the circa 1999 Jessica Simpson posters that dotted the walls.

With my scalp still tingling I was handed over to a middle-aged man who combed out my hair and, after some minimal communication about what style I wanted (“uh… straight?”), began sectioning off my hair and blowing it out. This was probably the best blow-drying experience I’ve ever had with someone else behind the blow-dryer. He worked as if with delicate strands of gold—not the over-processed, ill-kept tangles that I try to pass off as human hair. This man was obviously a hair-drying master. When he was finished, he offered me a light dusting of hairspray, ran his fingers through my locks to smooth it all out, and my hair bounced.

I left the salon with my hair looking as it almost never does, which is to say, nice.  Sure, the salon doesn’t offer the luxury services and ambiance of a higher-end salon may (unless you love blond pop stars from and ’80s linoleum flooring), but the experience and end-result is definitely worth more than the $10 price tag.

AFTER

Image Crew Studio, 1723 86th St. at Bay 16th St., 718-236-1388, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week

No styling skills are required for admission to Empire, which is one of the area academies where future hairdressers must toil for seven to 16 months before taking the New York State licensing exam. The school offers the public $10 practice cuts by pupils with little and possibly no experience, which was evident when I checked in for my appointment and was randomly assigned to a student who stared at me with a look of fear. That probably should have been my first clue that things weren’t going to go well.

ME: BEFORE

I had come prepared with a Flickr photo of the haircut I wanted: a simple bob that I thought would be easy to replicate. My student-hairdresser shampooed my hair, combed it out straight and awkwardly took her scissors and cut one line all around the bottom of my hair. Add another line around my face for my bangs and she was done, or so she thought.

As she started to blow dry my hair with the force of someone who didn’t have experience working on actual human heads, my hair started to take an odd form. One side was at least two inches shorter than the other and the ends stood out, making my head look like a triangle block. My bangs looked weird too, suddenly stretching around half my head and clumping together in a strange way. My student-hairdresser looked confused at the way my hair had turned out and suggested that she flat-iron it as though that would fix my strange cut.

I was trying my best to hide my nervousness, but this was beginning to look bad. I’m not someone who is particularly picky about haircuts and I’ve definitely had a few embarrassing hairdos hidden in my past but this wasn’t some intentionally asymmetrical hair style, this was just bad. My student-hairdresser rushed over to the instructor, a woman named Miss B., who looked at my head and started to scream.

Apparently, that whole cut-around-like-a-line business isn’t how you’re supposed to cut hair—you know, resulting in the choppy triangle-shape that was now on my head. I wondered to myself that if a student-hairdresser doesn’t know the basics of cutting hair to the point where an instructor is yelling at her in front of everyone, why is she even taking clients? But there was something more important on hand: my vanity.

Miss. B. fixed what she could, getting rid of the triangle shape and showing the student-hairdresser how to get rid of some of the unevenness. As much as Miss B. tried, I still knew it wasn’t going to look great.

There were other clients in the salon and they left with nice enough hairdos, so I think my experience probably wasn’t the norm. I left with a $10 haircut that looks like a $10 haircut—or like something a handy friend gave me. When I asked some friends later that night what they thought, they simply replied that despite some unevenness, it was “fine.”

And so it is. Instead of spending more money to fix my hair, I’m just going to let it grow out until I figure out where to get my next cheap haircut, which won’t be at Empire. Maybe I’ll just ask a friend.

AFTER

AFTER

(The PSFC makes its members to work 2:45 hours every four weeks.) “We don’t know how much our work requirement will be yet,” Marangio says. “It could be more than Park Slope’s, at least in the very beginning.” The group also needs people to perform volunteer duties like marketing, passing out flyers, accountancy, and more, says Marangio, who adds that more than 100 individuals are already involved.

So who knew that Bay Ridge—which got its first greenmarket last year—is actually a mecca for flaxseed-oil sippers? Certainly not the co-op’s founders. “We started this process not knowing whether there would be enough people who were into food to make this happen,” Marangio says. “But there are more than people realized. The majority of us have been going out of the neighborhood to shop.”

For more info, email info@foodcoopbayridge.com or visit their web site.

Century 21

The Century 21 department store in Bay Ridge was my first stop. In a separate building behind the main store, I found a wide range of sandals, pumps, casuals and clearance items, mostly from mid-level designers. No Louboutins in sight.

My Century 21 haul, from left: Harajuku Lover slingback t-straps, $39.97 (regularly $90); BCBGirls cropped booties, $59.97 (regularly $139); Betsey Johnson pink kitten heels, $74.97 (regularly $165); Michael Kors canvas platforms, $59.97 (regularly $109); Betsey Johnson mules, $69.97 (regularly $180).

DSW

DSW is a specialty retailer that sells shoes and nothing else, so it cames as no surprise that it had the largest (and most organized) selection of shoes. Like Century 21, it also had lots of mid-level designers, but it seemed to have a larger selection of up-to-date styles.

My DSW picks, from left: Liz Claiborne slingbacks, $59.95 (regularly $79); Guess by Marciano slingbacks, $59.95 (regularly $99); Nine West pumps, $39.95 (regularly $79); Michael Kors toe ring mules, $66 (regularly $130); Steve Madden gladiator cropped booties, $59.95 (regularly $110).

Loehmann’s

The smallest selection of the three. The shoe section was hidden away behind racks of frumpy dresses and blouses. Shoe boxes were scattered everywhere and often the display shoes were the only ones left. Like Century 21 and DSW, Loehmann’s offered mostly mid-range designers, but if you look hard enough, you’ll find some treasures.

The Loehmann’s merch, from left: Lauren by Ralph Lauren heels, $49.99 (regularly $98); DKNYC gladiator pumps, $59.95 (regularly $135); Coach gladiator pumps, $99.98 (regularly $328); DKNYC stilettos, $39.95 (regularly $98); Steve Madden pumps, $49.99 (regularly $90).

So who won the shoedown? Since I picked all of the styles, I couldn’t very well decide myself. So I turned to Patti Gilstrap, owner of the Park Slope boutique Flirt. Her vote was Century 21: ” brightly colored, fun, and flirty yet wearable.”

Century 21, 472 86th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11209 (718) 748-3266
DSW: Atlantic Terminal, 139 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217 (718) 789-6973
Loehmann’s, 2807 East 21st Street, Brooklyn, NY 11235 (718) 368-1256

Prices at New Hair. Photo by Charna Meyers.

Admit it, venturing as far south as I live (Bensonhurst) only happens once (Mermaid Parade) maybe twice (Siren Festival) a year for most northerners. But would you make the trip if you knew that the subway stops which immediately precede the famed Stillwell Avenue station could save a ton of money on haircuts, blowouts, massages and facials?

I’ve been in this area for most of my 30 years and in that time I’ve found primpatoriums a-plenty. OK, they’re not exactly Bliss, but this is the South, and we aren’t as interested in the calming faux paint technique used on the walls as we are with the small amount of money coming out of our fake-Coach wallets.

I’ve put together a listing of what I think are the ‘best-of’ beauty-finds with in these parts. Take the trip down—make a day of it and visit Ruby’s Old Tyme Bar & Grille on the Boardwalk and Stillwell Avenue. Have the Ruby’s house beer on tap and make sure to check out some of the thousands of photographs that line the walls. Say hi to Frank, the best bartender in the spot.

Blowouts

On the Bay Parkway stop off of the D line you will find my go-to spot for a great blowout: New Hair (2246 86th St., 718-373-2782). They will either take those kinks right out of your fro and give you pin-straight hair or they’ll twirl your lanky locks to bouncy perfection all in less than an hour from wash-to-finish. The best part, though, is the incredible head massage that is included in the ridiculously low price tag of $12-16 depending on the length and thickness of your hair. I highly suggest asking for JoAnn as your wash-girl. Giving her a better-than-average tip for her amazing wash will get you an even better massage at your next go. She never forgets a face, especially if it’s Lincoln’s or Hamilton’s.

Facials

I had an awesome facial that lasted a good 90 minutes, even though it was advertised for only 60. One night recently I stumbled into Fragrant Spa (2477 86th St., 718-333-2198) located off the 25th Avenue stop on the D line and asked for specials, which are usually listed on a dry-erase easel outside. They didn’t

Fragrant Spa. Photo by Charna Meyers

have any, so I sort of made my own. I convinced my aesthetician, Debbie, to take $5 off the normal $45 price of a 60-minute deep-cleaning facial. The room is semi-private with 3 tables, enclosed by Kill-Bill style pocket doors. 90 minutes after entering I found myself completely relaxed after having had a full on face massage (awesome!), neck, shoulder, and head rub-down… all of this on top of beautifully polished skin. I will admit Debbie got me on a $10 up-sell  for the seaweed mask. Worth every cent!

Massages

My pick for the best-cheap massage in South BK has less to do with ambience and more to do with the $40 price-tag on a 60-minute full-body massage. Not far from the D line at 20th Avenue is Four Seasons Beauty (1906 86th Street, 718-259-5555). Pinky, a woman who must’ve run with the nearby Side Show in Coney, has a way of contorting her body atop of yours while tweaking and twinking all of the tension out of your limbs. She is in fact known to jump on your back and knead your knots with her knees. I suggest calling in advance for an appointment, as they perform many other services including nails and facial tattooing and the wait can be pretty lengthy. I have yet to try either of the  aforementioned services here but their pedicure technique seems pretty kick-ass and I hear from a good friend of mine that the girl to see is Sue.

Eyebrow Threading

While my pick for outstanding eyebrows isn’t as close to the beach as most of my suggested spots, it’s totally worth the trip on the Q line to Avenue H. I have been a customer of Raheela’s (1117 Coney Island Ave.,  718-859-3133) eyebrow threading salon for years now and I am yet to find a comparable salon for shaping, speed and price. At $7 for eyebrows and only $1 more if you choose to do your upper-lip at the same time, you’re not finding a better deal. With upward of 7 women performing threading services simultaneously, the wait is usually pretty short. But if you are like me and demand perfection in an eyebrow then I suggest waiting for Raheela herself. You’ll find that most of the patrons there are doing the same.