Why Hair Salons Are Crucial for Residents of Senior Living Communities

When Arthur Nektalov took a break from doing hair at Brookdale Battery Park City, some residents of the senior living community in downtown Manhattan revolted. Nektalov, who’d been working there part-time for about five years, had decided to pivot and focus on his own salon, just two blocks away. The Brookdale staff brought in a new company to do the residents’ hair, but as Nektalov puts it, “they didn’t like it.” Instead of adjusting to the new in-house stylists, those loyal Brookdale clients — most in their 80s and 90s — started trekking up Greenwich Street to see him, even “in the wintertime, [with] rain and snow.”

Two years later, Nektalov closed his salon and returned to being Brookdale’s full-time, in-house stylist. He’s been there for a total of 18 years, offering blowouts, haircuts, color services, and most importantly according to his clients, camaraderie.

“For a woman, her hair defines her sometimes,” says Sondra Green, 95, a former drama professor and actor, who’s lived at Brookdale for nine years and sees Nektalov every other week for a blow-dry, haircut, or both. (She is also, in her words, “assiduous about a manicure and pedicure,” receiving those services every 10 days without fail.) “Arthur’s been doing hair for years and years and years, and he has the patience of a saint, and he will listen to you.”