Perhaps more than any other beauty feature, your hair can act as a calling card: the right cut and colour speaks volumes about your style. All the more reason to get a snip, shape and style from the city’s most in-demand stylists. Here, we name Toronto’s very best — a group of uber-talented pros that make transformative work out of a pair of scissors and some hot tools. To the salon!

Morgan Tully

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by T H I C (@thichairco)

Hair health is at the centre of Morgan Tully’s ethos — her reputation is built on it. It’s why she employs a dry haircutting technique and, in 2020, launched her tightly curated product line focused on regeneration  (we can’t get enough of the Daily Hair Perfecting Oil.) Also owning one of the most stunning salons in the city, THIC Studio, it’s no wonder Tully counts big-name content creators like Sasha Exeter and Zhanna Red amongst her clientele.

thicstudio.com

Jason Lee

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by paige mcphee (@paigemcphee)

Thanks to his lightweight and airy approach to instantly wearable cuts, Jason Lee is the stylist of choice for the city’s most discerning beauty editors. As such, booking in with Lee at his namesake midtown salon will require some patience, so in the meantime, we’d suggest scooping some products from his recently launched haircare line, Mela & Kera. The heat-protecting Blowout Creme is a must for a silky soft finish.

jasonleesalon.com

Aliza Esmail

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by AUGUST (@salonaugust_to)

Hairstylist Aliza Esmail comes with some impressive globe-trotting cred: first a stint in London at the famed Vidal Sassoon salon, then off to L.A. to train new talent at its Academy, and now back to her hometown as the director of August Salon on Dundas West. Esmail is a pro at angular cuts, but her standout work is on crisp, chin-length chops: impeccably precise and pretty much perfect across the textural spectrum.

salonaugust.com

Jesse Crowe 

Wildly asymmetrical shapes, kaleidoscopic colour blocking, even editorial-feeling bowl cuts — Jesse Crowe’s devoted clientele don’t come to them for your average layers and balayage. Out of their Dundas West institution, Lebel & Crowe, this sought-after hairstylist plays out unconventional ideas with incredible finesse. One of Crowe’s signatures — an unironic mullet — is a good reminder that hair doesn’t have to be so serious.

lebelandcrowe.com

Janet Jackson 

When she’s not keying editorial features or styling noteworthy celebs (Andie Macdowell, Aimee Lou Wood and model Grace Mahary are all fans), you’ll find Janet Jackson making magic at her Etobicoke-based salon, Joujou Hair Studio. Whether you walk in with wavy, type 2 hair or 3C corkscrew curls, this texture expert has the right cut and care regimen to make your natural hair really shine.

joujouhairstudio.com

Read more:
7 Secret Weapons for Styling Your Hair to Perfection
Queer Hairstylists Are Taking Over Hair Salons—Here’s Why
7 Products to Breathe Life Back Into Damaged Hair