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HOLT

Grooming for men’s shoots

Sam Holt does hair, beard and skin for menswear shoots, and touches up the fade on set. Booked by the day by photographers and brands. One barber chair, in a loft on West 38th Street.

Day rate$900$150 holds the shoot dayHold a day →
  • A man with wavy shoulder-length hair tucked behind his ears, in a rust-orange suit against a teal backdrop04 / Rust, teal wall
  • Close-up of a groomer’s hands with a comb and scissors shaping the edge of a model’s beard09 / Beard, set 3
A man in profile against light grey seamless, a precise skin fade and a short groomed beard, the collar of a navy coat turned up
01 / Fade, grey seamless
A man with wavy shoulder-length hair in a rust-orange suit against a teal backdrop

Price board

Grooming, by the day

  • Shoot day$90010 hours on set: hair, beard, skin and the fade. Lunch included.
  • Half day$550Up to 5 hours, one to three men.
  • E-commerce$40Per look on white, 15-look minimum ($600).
  • Test shoot$300Up to 3 hours, weekdays, for photographers building a book.
  • Second groomer+$400For six or more men, so the call sheet holds.
  • Overtime$120/hrAfter 10 hours, billed in half hours.
$150holds the shoot day and comes off the invoice. Same rate for editorial, lookbooks and covers. Kit included.Hold a day →
A model with defined coils and a crisp line-up, in black and white

The work

Between frames

Every head is its own answer. Six jobs from the last two years, set side by side.

Two heads, one lookbook

Coils: Defined with cream and a pick. Line-up redone at call.
CoilsDefined with cream and a pick. Line-up redone at call.
Straight: Matte paste, so it moved in the wind on Lafayette and came back.
StraightMatte paste, so it moved in the wind on Lafayette and came back.

Hair, then beard

The fade: Taken back to a zero the morning of. Beard left at five days.
The fadeTaken back to a zero the morning of. Beard left at five days.
The edge: Squared between looks with scissors only, no clipper lines.
The edgeSquared between looks with scissors only, no clipper lines.

One man, three men

Alone: Shoulder-length wave tucked back. The suit did the talking.
AloneShoulder-length wave tucked back. The suit did the talking.
Together: Three textures, one knitwear story. Ninety minutes in the chair, total.
TogetherThree textures, one knitwear story. Ninety minutes in the chair, total.
On set: Sam presses a powder puff to a seated male model’s forehead between frames

The day

Chair log

Ten hours from call, ticked off as they go.

  1. Chair off the truck

    Clippers charged, blades changed, a mirror on a stand next to the set.

  2. First man in

    Fade, line-up, beard, skin. 20 minutes a man, 35 if the fade has grown in.

  3. First frame

    Sam at the monitor. Shine, stray hairs and collars that push the hair up, fixed between frames.

  4. Look change

    Slicked to loose in 10 minutes, planned on the look sheet the week before.

  5. Lunch

    Thirty minutes. Blot, re-comb, check the beard line under the afternoon light.

  6. Wrap

    The man in the last frame has the same hairline as the man in the first.

Sam Holt, early forties, short silver-streaked hair, a white tee and a black apron with combs in the pocket

Behind the chair

Sam, asked

How long have you been doing this?
14 years on set. Behind a chair since I was nineteen.
Where did you learn?
Sweeping my uncle’s barbershop in Baltimore, then a Saturday chair there. In 2012 I came to New York with a barber license and two clippers in a backpack, and spent three years assisting a session groomer, carrying cases up walk-ups in SoHo.
Your first job of your own?
A catalog. Forty men in turtlenecks in a Long Island City warehouse in August, no air conditioning. Everyone looked dry in every frame.
Why bring clippers to a shoot?
A fresh fade looks right for about three days. The model’s barber cut him Thursday. The shoot is Tuesday. I take it back to Thursday.
What do men get wrong?
They hate being powdered. They need it anyway.
How many shoot days?
Over 1,100. Twenty-six photographers have booked a second one.

Sam

The grooming kit laid out on white: two clippers, a straight razor, combs, a shaving brush and tins of pomade

What comes to set

The kit

HOLT GROOMING
W 38TH ST · NEW YORK
KIT / ONE SHOOT DAY

  • Clippers x2, trimmer, foil shaverincl.
  • Guards 0 to 8incl.
  • Straight razor, new blade per manincl.
  • Hot towel, styptic, aftershaveincl.
  • Tinted balms x12, blotting paper, powderincl.
  • Pomade, matte to high shineincl.
  • Sea salt, curl cream, a pickincl.
  • Dryer, flat brush, combsincl.
  • Neck strips, disinfectantincl.

AT COST, ONLY IF USED

  • Beard fill, per man$4.00
  • Color spray, per can$11.00
  • Fake stubble, per man$6.00

KIT FEE$0.00

Clippers charged twice, never once.
Send the casting a week out.
It changes the kit.

Three men in knitwear with three different hair textures, standing together

Who books her

Tagged

  • “The model’s barber had cut him on Thursday. Sam took it back to Thursday in twelve minutes, at the side of the set.”

    Theo W.Photographer, Long Island City

  • “Twenty-two men in one day for the catalog, and nobody’s beard drifted between the first look and the last.”

    Renata C.Producer, a workwear label

  • “She knows coily hair and straight hair equally well. I stopped checking.”

    Malik A.Photographer, Bed-Stuy

  • “Our band had never been groomed for anything. She made us look like ourselves on a good day.”

    Owen P.Drummer, an album cover

A heritage workwear label (six seasons of lookbooks) · a tailoring house’s made-to-measure catalog · a running shoe campaign · an eyewear label · two men’s style quarterlies · four album covers. Names on request; most brands would rather we didn’t print them.

A groomer’s hands with a comb and scissors shaping the edge of a beard

Before you book

Questions

Will you cut the model’s hair?

I touch up: fades, line-ups, necklines, beard shape. A real haircut only with the agency’s okay in writing, since a lot of contracts forbid it. If the casting needs a new cut, tell me a week ahead.

What counts as a day?

Ten hours from call time, lunch included. After that, overtime is $120 an hour in half hours. A half day is up to five hours for $550.

How does the $150 hold work?

It holds the shoot day and comes off the invoice. If the shoot moves, the hold moves with it once, within 60 days.

How does per-look pricing work?

For e-commerce on white: $40 a look, 15 looks minimum. A look is one man in one outfit. Past 25 looks, the day rate is cheaper and I’ll tell you so.

Do you groom women on mixed shoots?

A clean look, yes: skin, brows, hair brushed out or slicked back. For glam hair or full makeup, book a hair and makeup artist too. I can recommend three.

Do you invoice brands?

W-9 and a certificate of insurance on request, invoices net 15. Campaigns with paid media get a written quote with usage.

Do you work outside New York?

The Hudson Valley, the Hamptons and Philadelphia are a travel day at half rate plus mileage. Farther than that, flights and a hotel, and the chair stays home.

The loft studio, empty: a vintage barber chair facing a mirror, a brick wall and a roll of backdrop paper

The studio

One chair, 9th floor

West 38th Street, 9th floor
between Seventh and Eighth Avenues
Garment District, Manhattan

© OpenStreetMap contributors
Holt, West 38th Street Grooming studio, 9th floor. Buzz 9B. Open the map
  • Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Jersey CityIncluded
  • Hudson Valley, the Hamptons, PhiladelphiaHalf-rate travel day + mileage
  • FartherFlights + hotel, quoted
  • Tests at the studioWeekdays, 3 hours

Hold a day

Pick the shoot date and hold it with $150. Sam texts you within the day for the casting, the call time and the number of men.

$900a day · half day $550 · e-commerce $40 a look

  1. 1Service
  2. 2Date
  3. 3Details
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