Salon Gift Certificate Promotions

Using Salon Gift Certificates is the perfect way to promote your business and what better time then the Holiday Season. To attract new clients we give salon gift certificates to all our loyal clients all year long as away of personally thanking them for their regular monthly or semi-monthly visits.

The client can use the gift certificate themselves for their next visit or give it to anyone (friend or family member) for an introductory salon (hair cut and styling) with you. The Salon Gift Certificate is a two sided card with information about the salon on the back and includes a value and expiration date (six months). 

Bounce Back Promotion. 

We're always looking for creative / professional ways to attract new clients. Using Salon Gift Certificate makes loyal clients look good and makes it easy for them to refer a new client to you. You might say...Salon Gift Certificates are the gift that keeps on giving. 

Brazilian Blowout Health Issue

I ran across this picture and article in the New York Times Nov 4th titled (A SAFETY KINK IN HAIR RELAXING?)

The following are accounts taken from the article. Just like the permanent wave process that were once the height of fashion, the lucrative process of converting “frizzy kinky and wavy hair” into smooth straight locks produce a unpleasant odor that some say is a health hazard especially to the stylist who applies it repeatedly. Questions about the safety of popular Keratin Brazilian thermal hair relaxing treatment have been raised for years, most notably in a widely read 2007 article in Allure magazine.

But last month, the beauty world was rattled when the occupational health agency in Oregon(Formaldehyde) a common ingredient found in many Keratin "heat activated" hair straightening treatments. The agency said they conducted lab tests after receiving numerous complaints from stylist citing nose bleeds, breathing problems and eye irritation from the fumes while applying the products. The report came soon after a warning from the Canadian health board about the potential dangers from a popular process called the Brazilian Keratin Blowout treatment. Some manufactures of Keratin straightening process acknowledge that their products contain (Formalin), a substance made up in part of Formaldehyde, but say the amount is insignificant and poses no health dangers. found significant levels of

Many salon owners and stylists believe the health agencies may be overreacting. The warning has prompted various responses from salon owners. Some concerned with the health issue have installed costly ventilation systems to clean the air fumes or dedicated special rooms for the treatments and wear masks to filter the fumes. They say it’s worth the expense as the Keratin relaxing treatments are one of the most popular and profitable procedure salons have seen in recent years. The jury is still out and it should be interesting to see how law suits are handled in the coming years and what this may do to salon insurance costs.

World's Most Popular Hair Styles

The statuesque Greek Goddess with her Sophisticated Chinon, the Eloquent French Twist and Casual Pony Tail reminds us of the staying power of these classic hairstyles. The popularity and longevity are due in large part to there styling versatility. As a result the vast majority of women world wide (75%) prefer wearing their hair long enough to pull up or back into a Chinon, French Twist or Pony Tail hairstyle.

The Pony Tail is the go to hair style for many time challenged stars like Sarah Jessica Parker, Scarlett Johansson, Kate Beckinsale, and Angelina Jolie. When the Pony Tail Style calls for an extra length many stars use a (hair piece) called a "Fall" with a wrap around strand attached to their cap.

If you’re looking for an easy “any time” hairstyle that’s always fashionable and never out of style, pull your hair back into a Pony Tail (high or low) and your good to go. You might say the Pony Tail is the "Work Horse" of hair styles.

Michel Kazan / Creator of the Bouffont Hair Style

Michel Kazan was a hair designer to stars and society figures and the creator of a seemingly endless array of famous hairdos with a career that spanned seven decades. His magazine credits which seem to validate his claim to being the first on the scene with the Poodle Cut, French Twist, Cap Cut, and Bouffant hair styles.

Kazan was an impeccably dressed Frenchman with continental charm and an artist’s eye. Michel had the reputation for setting hairdo trends a year ahead. The hair fashion futurist observed that "nothing can make a woman look more old-fashioned” and out of step with the times than an out-of-date hairdo."  Kazan believed changing your hair style, especially as one ages (its shape, color or length) is the beauty secret for everlasting beauty. 

As the oracle of beauty and fashion his seasonal trips to Paris for inspiration and the pronouncements that would follow remained cause for fevered speculation for many years. Among Kazan's most famous creations were the French Twist, the Bouffant and Page Boy haircuts. Others included the Fluff Cut, the Cockatoo, the Frizzes, the Bubble and the Cleopatra, which rode the success of Elizabeth Taylor movie. And the whimsical Urchin, in which hair was "cropped and feathered” like a little Pixie Cap.

Kazan was also a deft entrepreneur and trend setter. In addition to offering a line of wigs, perfume and hair care products and cosmetics, he sought to capture the American woman's appetite for beauty in short order with Pocket Full of Curls, a pinned-on precursor of today's “hair extensions”. A tireless innovator, Kazan kept pace with the changing face of fashion and culture throughout the tumultuous sixties and seventies, at times adapting and at others, blazing new trails counter to a perceived trend of the time. For example, his use of long straight and wavy hair piece's called "falls" at a fashion show created a sensation that swept the world, despite the increasing popularity of the less complicated styles being pioneered by Vidal Sassoon.

At its height, Kazan's flagship salon, a luxuriously decorated five story townhouse in midtown Manhattan, was host to a parade of notables. His salon also served as a training ground for a generation of talented stylists who would go on to prestigious careers themselves. Michel Kazan will always be remembered as a voice for “American Beauty Culture” and inspiration for all to follow.

 

No Poo Shampoo / Sulfate Free?

What are sulfates and are they really harmful to the health of your hair? Almost every shampo­o you find in drug stores or beauty salons has some form of surfactant in its formula. The most common type is “sodium lauryl sulfate” which has gained a bad reputation in the beauty world in resent years and the number of new shampoos claiming to be sulfate-free is slowly increasing. There are the "no-poo" sulfate-free shampoo advocates claiming sulfates strip the hair of color and natural oils far too much; on the other side there are those who maintain that “sulfate-free” shampoos do a poor job of cleansing the hair because they don't foam up much or rinse out of the hair well enough, especially in hard water.  Sulfonated Shampoos have been use for decades because they work really well in hard water and are extremely effective at generating a lot of foamy bubbles which help disperse the cleanser evenly through the hair too dissolve and rinse away dirt, wax, oil, and styling aids especially the kind found on your hair.

Sulfates and there are many types are cleansing ingredients called surfactants derived from coconut oil, palm kernel oil, soy bean oil and petrochemicals. In fact, there are many ingredients used for multiple purposes in a shampoo formula; water, surfactants, foam boosters, thickeners, conditioning agents, preservatives, modifiers and special additives to give the shampoo its color and odor…. all added at different strengths and levels to balance mildness and conditioning with effective cleaning performance. 

To offset the harsh effect of some surfactants often some type of conditioning ingredients is also added. Typical conditioning agents include proteins, polymers, silicones, and quaternary agents. Each of these compounds with the help of a surfactant improves the feel and softness, while reducing static charge. Shampoos that feature conditioning as a benefit are called 2-in-1 shampoos because they clean and condition hair in the same step. Clarifying and purifying shampoos for example use a stronger type of “surface active sulfate” to dissolve and remove styling aid build up but are to strong for daily use.  Finally you can use topical dermatological hair and body cleansers or baby shampoo which contains milder Amphoteric surfactants like TEA Lauryl Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Trideceth Sulfate or Lauroamphoglycinate. Those provide safe mild cleansing and conditioning benefits for sensitive skin, body cleansers, color treated hair or daily use.

If sulfate shampoos just aren’t your cup of tea, there are plenty of other types of surfactants used in so called (Sulfate-Free) shampoos. Non-sulfate anionic cleansers include Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate, Disodium Laureth Sulfosuccinate, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Sodium Lauryl.  These tend to be less stripping so you may find they don’t bubble up as much, rinse out and clean as well. A lot of people won’t want to hear this, but surfactants especially the milder Amphoterics are among the safest cleansers you can buy although some people with sensitive skin do complain of dry itchy scalp after using sulfate shampoos especially in dry climates. But most people have no problem, especially if they are followed by a hair conditioner and used infrequently.

Polaroid Hair Styling Experience

As a hair stylist you know a hair styling can be transforming and magical. The right hair style can make a large nose look smaller and a round face appear slimmer. And like magic make some people look older or even years younger and pounds slimmer. Often all it takes is few "quick snips and some styling tricks" to unlock its style potential and natural beauty. Everyone is unique and so is their hair. And everyone can wear their hair long, mid length or short, full or close and one of those lengths and shapes will suit them best. I first look for what makes each "person and their hair unique" and design a style to enhance its natural beauty. Because hair grows quickly and has a life-like quality I've found it takes me "three visits in a row" (for adjustments) to fully develop a style. One that holds its shape as it grows, is balanced from all points of view and for the most part...styles itself.

Because a new hair style or hair color happens quickly (snip, snip, snip), for most people (including me) it’s hard to remember what their hair looked like just minutes ago. To truly appreciate the improvements a new color or style has made in their over all appearance, I take before and after snap shots from all points of view (front, profile and back) with the new Polaroid Digital Camera. It prints out wallet size pictures on the spot and you select only the pictures you want to print. To capture the best examples, I take lots of pictures before, during and after and print the best before and after pictures.

If a picture is a thousand words than a Polaroid snap shot speaks volumes and the pictures are theirs to keep. This extra step has helped me show people the improvements a style or color has made and makes their visit a fun and memorable hair styling experience. And because the Polaroid is also a digital camera you can take as many snap shots as you like (print the best) and store the images on our salon computer for future references.

 

You can also use the digital camera on your phone and flip through the picture when you finished. After you can send the pictures via email and make every new clients salon visits a memorable….. Hair Styling Experience!

 

Little has affected cosmetic formulation in the last decade than the Green Movement. Proponents of this philosophy have prompted personal care manufacturers to completely reformulate many products to remove animal derived ingredients, add organic extracts and expunge formulas of any chemical that might sound controversial. Formulas also have to be sustainable and come from fair trade sources. The Sustainable Cosmetics Summit goes through all the things a cosmetic chemist will need to know to formulate “green” in the future.

Bio-degradability is an area of preservation where sustainable may be a better alternative than “natural.” Synthetic preservatives that are safe, effective and bio-degradable are usually easier to use in a wide variety of formulations than are their more natural counterparts. Au-natural "green" ingredients have a short shelf life and need a stable preservative system.

“It’s great to have exotic au-natural green ingredients, but not if they are simply used as a "special promotional additive" with little or no improvement and destroying rain forests in the process." Are you going green...it may be something to consider the next time you reach for something green.