For Russia's burgeoning class of high-maintenance women, Jean-Noel Lemond, the head hairdresser at the Jacques Dessange beauty salon in Moscow, comes as a beacon in a world of darkness in the former Soviet Union.


"Women must feel nice with their hair," said Lemond, 26, in heavily accented English. "Coiffure is a ballet of the hands ... Soviets never considered working with hair a ballet."


Lemond's passion began when he entered the Jacques Dessange academy in his native Paris at the age of 18. After his entrance into the Dessange empire -- which includes 500 franchises worldwide -- Lemond began a swift climb upward as he worked closely with Monsieur Dessange himself and was chosen to open the first salon in Luxembourg at the age of 23.


His most recent and biggest assignment was to open Moscow's opulent Dessange salon on Tverskaya Ulitsa in May and take on the role of "artistic manager for the Commonwealth of Independent States." Dessange's masterplan for the former Soviet Union includes opening salons in St. Petersburg, Riga, Nizhny Novgorod and Kiev -- "We want to explode," said Lemond.


With an espresso bar, small store selling accessories and hair products and beautifully designed interior, Lemond said the Moscow store is en vitrine, a showroom where customers can get a little ambience with their $60 haircut.


Victoria, a 27-year-old customer waiting for a hairdo session on a recent Monday afternoon, said she visits Lemond's salon "because it is a very nice atmosphere and I like the professionalism."


More than mastering the art of la coiffure, which at Dessange is associated with streamlined simplicity and has been something of a novelty in these parts, hairdressers are also trained in client psychology. Back at the hairdressing academy, Lemond was taught how to determine a person's social class and how to gauge her level of taste and elegance. This poses quite a challenge for a Frenchman confronted with Russians' well-known extravagance.


"Women sometimes confuse day and evening wear," said Lemond, adding that the salon's philosophy of simplicity is sometimes hard to convey, too. "And they don't understand why less voluminous is better."


As the top hairdresser, Lemond also has to ensure that not just anybody can walk in off the street for a cut, even if they have the money. Prostitutes are discouraged.


"We make them feel a certain way so that they do not really want to come back," said Lemond, explaining that the staff of 30 hairdressers are instructed to be polite but deliberately cold. "That was part of the training we had."


Otherwise, Lemond's clientele is fairly exclusive, with foreigners making up 25 percent of the customers and men 30 percent.


"Women here have nice taste," he said, referring to some of the glamorous Russian customers like singer Alla Pugachova. "The women who come here have traveled a lot. They wear Hermes and Chanel."


Most importantly, Lemond considers what he does a way to fulfill his "love of the image of women" and an art in a place that was once a wasteland of second-rate hairdressing.