After many years taming, styling, and coloring tresses in some of New York’s top salons and magazines, native New Yorker Manny Rolon decided to open his own salon in Chelsea and also in Summit, New Jersey. Hailing from a three-generation lineage of hairdressers, Manny has been in the industry for a little over 2 decades. A passion and curiosity of men’s grooming got him started behind the chair in his early teens. From there he wanted to expand his knowledge of understanding movement and how to have hair comply via texture. This has allowed him to create a very unique approach on how to deal with the interior components of a haircut. He treats each client individually and crafts a unique haircut to suit their individual style and bone structure earning him a reputation of being the guy who can transform your hair. Manny’s approach to color is similar to how an artist approaches a blank canvas and weaves customized shade gradations to give depth and layers to make his clients’ hair their best asset. His approach has earned him a position as a brand ambassador for leading brands such as Oribe and Hair U Wear to globally educate and create an educational curriculum to their team members.
After months of closure, salons have just opened in Phase 3 and Manny and his business partners, Mark Bustos and VJ Moscaritola, have been able to open his salons in two locations. His Summit, New Jersey outpost is named the Silver Vine Room and Chelsea outpost is called My Darling Ivy. His inspiration was based on the organic and prolific growth of an ivy vine and he wanted a unique and intriguing name that wasn’t obviously a salon. Just having opened a few weeks before the Covid shutdown, My Darling Ivy is now open and ready for business. The minimalist and sleek design was inspired by the natural growth of vines with steel beams holding the structure of the various workstations, giving an industrial yet airy feel with high loft ceilings, white walls, and wideopen windows to the neighborhood.
In his spare time, Manny spends his time doing charitable work. Along with a few friends, he started hu•MANE Beauty for Change which is a nonprofit whose mission is to transform underserved sectors of communities with the power of education in the beauty field which has brought him to the Philippines, Paraguay, India, Nicaragua and Uganda where he has shared, educated and helped those in need. hu•MANE is now planning to open up their own cosmetology school. And Manny’s mantra is that luck has very little to do with success as long as you are willing to put in the work.
My Darling Ivy 444 West 17 St, New York City 646 838 9313
mydarlingivy.com