Narrative Space in Ithaca, NY

This is 2023 and Narrative Space is now almost exclusively a barber shop (they don't sell boots and shirts anymore). I looked online for a hair-cutting place that did both men and women (I am a woman). I didn't want a fancy-looking salon. Narrative has a lovely, old-fashioned look and feel. Their web site said their prices were $40, $45, or $50.00. MUCH too expensive, but I realized I was paying for ambience. My barber was Michael Clark. (One got whoever was free when you arrived.) I showed him 2 sets of drawings of the cut I wanted (front and profiles, the difference between the 2 sets being where I wanted the main curve to be: a little higher or a little lower. To begin with the outcome: The drawings clearly showed that the hair should be even with my chin. It ended up, in fact, 2 inches too short...... just below my ears. The cutting experience was very weird. On 4 occasions, he grabbed the hair at the very top of my head and repeatedly pulled it up and down, as if he were washing something on a scrub board. I don't know what on earth that was about. The way he was separating strands and cutting was quite baffling to me. There seemed to be no organization to it. Unfortunately, I was unaware of how short it was getting. I was focusing on it covering my ears. At the end, it didn't even fall nicely and I had to do some repairs when I went home. Unfortunately it was too short to do all the repairs it needed. He had paid no attention to my drawings or instructions. I knew what the price was before I sat down in the chair. This is embarrassing. I paid $70.00 for this cut.

I had done research on local salons, and Narrative Space was at the top of my list. I really liked the fact that Chris Burnett had both clipper and scissor expertise. My research paid off. Chris did a great job on my hair - short and tight on the sides and textured on top. Great haircut and great shop - cool original barber chairs, warm, industrial Instagram worthy design and a fab shop pup to boot.

Yesterday I had my first post-pandemic haircut with Alexis, and it was fantastic! I'm in the process of growing my hair out after shaving my head last year, and she listened to what I was going for & offered great suggestions for how to get there--I wound up with I think the best haircut I've ever had. Everyone is so friendly and the shop itself is a great environment. I'll definitely be coming back, and telling all my friends to come here too!

I always leave here with a great haircut. The people working at Narrative are wonderful and the store has played a big part in shaping my personal style. Also a friendly place to stop in and say Hi. A huge asset to high quality clothing in Ithaca and a fresh haircut.

Went out of my way for this place looking for a quality beard trim...huge mistake. I had Ben who was very friendly but did a horrendous job in so many ways I'm not even sure where to begin. I had to do so much more work when I got home to even make it remotely even - I actually considered shaving and starting over on a beard that is over a year old. Should have saved the ridiculously overpriced amount and done it myself...go ANYWHERE else!!