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Chris Brescia

in his own words

Chris grew up in the East Bronx, and he was always creative. He loved art. He loved a lot of things, and he struggled to work out what to do with any of it.

What he loved most was graffiti. He came up in a neighborhood where it was everywhere, and where some of the most famous writers in the city got their start. He was honest with himself about it, though. He was never going to make a living that way. But the pull stayed. He wanted to work with his hands and his eye, and he wanted to make something people could see.

He looked at becoming a barber, then found cosmetology school and unisex hair. That was the one. He jumped in with both feet, and he never looked back

Cosmetology school gave him the basics. The salon floor gave him the job. Chris started the way most people in this trade start, at the bottom, and he stayed there longer than he wanted to.

He assisted for years before he ever had a chair of his own. He swept. He mixed color for other people. He held foils and watched hands that were better than his. He says now that those years taught him more than anything that came after, because you cannot skip a step in this work and hide it. The hair shows it.

By the time someone handed him scissors and a client, he understood what a good room feltlike from the bottom of the ladder. He has never forgotten that view.

He trained at Frederic Fekkai, in the Chanel building on 57th and Madison. He calls those four years the best of his career. He walked in completely green. Someone had to teach him how to wash hair.

So they taught him. Shampooing first. Then drying. Then combing and sectioning. Then, eventually, cutting. Every step earned, in order, the way it should be.

The people mattered as much as the training. They were good to each other, and they came from everywhere. Chris met people from countries he never expected to encounter behind a chair on Madison Avenue. He watched what real customer service looked like every day, and he never forgot it.

Sixteen years behind the chair in Manhattan is a long time. Chris learned the craft in those rooms and he is grateful for every one of them. He also knew what he did not want to build. He did not want a room where the people at the top forgot what the people at the bottom carry.

In 2017 he came home to Queens and opened Crush Studio on Ditmars Blvd. Astoria is where he lives and where his clients live. He built the salon he wanted to work in. A comfortable room, good banter, hair being done well, and nobody made to feel they do not belong in the chair.

Eight years on, the block knows the door. The kids of the parents who sat here in 2017 sit here now.

Chris assisted for years before he had his own chair, so he knows exactly what the job feels like from the bottom of the ladder. He builds this place with the staff, not over them.

His view is simple. If the foundation is not strong at the bottom, and the leadership at the top is not pleasant and encouraging, you get a hostile room. Clients feel that the second they walk in. So he keeps it warm on purpose.

He will tell you it is hard not to be greedy in this business, because money pulls in a lot of directions. His answer is to make sure the staff always know they are looked after. Take care of your people, and they will take care of everyone else.

Chris still says the same thing he said in 2017. Everyone here is trying to get better at what they do. That includes him.

The room keeps learning, from the shampoo bowl to the owner's chair. New color work, new techniques, new ways to read what a client is not saying. He pays for the education because e remembers what it cost him to get it.

Cate was the first full time apprentice at Crush. Chris is honest that he is learning to teach as he goes, and getting better at it. He came up shampooing first, then drying, then cutting, and that is the order he teaches. Nobody gets handed a chair here. They earn it, and he is beside them while they do.

Chris did not go to college. He built a good living with his hands, in a trade he loves, and he is clear about what that means for other people.

He wants to train kids coming out of high school who do not want a lecture hall. He wants to ire out of this neighborhood. This is a real path to a real career, and he would like more eople to know that door is open. The apprenticeship program is how that happens, one erson at a time.

The rest of the plan is the same as it was in 2017. Give to the local schools. Show up for the causes around the block. Cut good hair for the whole neighborhood, every hair type, every age, every walk of life. When the neighborhood does well, Crush does well. That has been true since the day the doors opened.

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Frequently Asked Questions

The questions we get asked in the chair every week, answered straight. If yours is not here, call the studio and ask us.

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Do I need an appointment, or can I walk in?

We will always try to fit in a walk-in, and sometimes we can. Booking ahead is safer, because it holds your stylist and the right amount of time. Book online or call 718-204-2096.

Street parking is usually available on Ditmars and the side streets around us. If you are taking the train, we are a short walk from the Ditmars Blvd stop on the N and W.

Yes, every day. Come in with your hair worn the way you normally wear it so we can see your real curl pattern before we cut.

It depends on your hair and the service. Starting prices are on the pricing page, and your stylist confirms the exact figure at your consultation before any work begins.

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