More about us…
Dina Kales, Founder
I have dedicated almost 20 years to mastering the art of non-surgical hair restoration.
My expertise are rooted in years of training, combined with an insatiable curiosity, mixed in with a streak of perfectionism, and an added helping of creativity.
Hair wasn’t always my calling. After flunking out of college, with no career prospects in sight and no clue as to what I wanted to be when “I grew up” my mother urged me to apply to our local beauty school.
I had never thought about hairdressing as a career, or fussed much with my own hair for that matter, but as a means to an end I signed up for a cosmetology degree.
To my surprise figuring out the mechanics of hair captured my interest enough to pursue hair cutting as a profession. I also fell in love with the industry; it was fun, creative, always something new to learn and most importantly, my work made others feel good.
Having completed my apprentice training at John Frieda’s New York City location, I was eventually chosen by celebrity hairstylist Juan Carlos Maciques to be his personal assistant. During that time, I built a strong hair cutting and styling foundation.
Assisting provided me the opportunity to learn from the best in the industry but it also cultivated in me a customer centric approach; which I eventually applied to all my client interactions.
Some of my career highlights to follow were, working for hair cutting designer extraordinaire Brian Pickston, freelancing as a personal hair stylist to Canadian-Belgian singer Lara Fabian, and working as a barber for SUNY Maritime College (acquiring two semesters of sea time in the process, which I’m actually really proud of) and where I began to specialize in men’s hair.
Years in, somewhere between working full-time and searching for my life’s purpose, I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in psychology. Armed with that piece of paper I came to the realization that no classroom would ever teach me what standing behind a chair had taught me so far. Ultimately it cemented my true passion for this industry.
I decided to specialize in non-surgical hair restoration after falling in love with the creative process involved. Hair replacement is meaningful and important, the work is gratifying and it truly changes lives. From a self-serving perspective, this profession has been extremely rewarding, way more than I had anticipated on my first day of beauty school.
Doing hair has never been a job for me, it is a lifelong passion that allows me to be creative, express my artistic inclinations, while helping others feel more confident with every interaction.
The Top Shoppe
After devoting many years of my career to the hair restoration industry, the need to create a business model that would reflect my inner workings became apparent with time.
Although I loved the work itself, I wanted to have complete control of our guests experience, offer top of the line products and have total transparency in all my professional interactions. The Top Shoppe developed organically, and with time and much love it has grown into a venture I feel proud to call my own.