American Beauty Show Chicago

Recently I traveled to Chicago to work with Beth Minardi at the American Beauty Show (ABS). Beth was to present four days on main stage for her company Beth Minardi Signature shades. Each day detailed a full day of prepping beautiful models… seven to be exact! Which were colored by Beth, Buddy, Chloe and I and styled by the talented Stephen Wang aka “Fashion Dragon”.  Along with the very busy show schedule, Behind-the-chair magazine (BTC) held there 15^th annual  Stylist Choice Awards which is an evening of glitz and glam for our industry in recognizing educators, manufactures and products it’s our “Academy Award” night for the beauty industry. I would like to touch briefly on the weather while I was there FREEZING & SNOWY which this Florida woman isn’t use to! I never felt warm enough the entire time…burr… I get chills just thinking about it!

The first day was the day of fully prepping each model with her distinct haircolor Beth, Buddy and I started by openly discussing each formula for each girl. Beth would start on one model and then either Buddy or I would take over and finish. This was the most interesting day to me because it was amazing to see that regardless of who started or finished the ending result was identical. Of course as artists we each think differently in our ability to create beautiful haircolor but it goes to show  the history we’ve had with each other and the education we have empowered ourselves with in  being taught the proper way to color hair. The seven models ranged from a scarlet red head, a cherry brunette, a ginger blonde and a golden blonde. I must say it was quite impressive to see them in their all white dresses this stunningly accentuated the haircolor. Each girl paired it with pink platinum heels which were perfect for a pop of spring. The next three days consisted of an open forum teaching environment, with Beth speaking about each model and her formula. A few topics she discussed were how to enhance any canvas you encounter regardless of past or present color. As she described what she was speaking on, Buddy and I demonstrated the process on that model.

On Sunday night we all attended the Stylist Choice Awards hosted by Mary Procter Gamble editor in chief of Behind the Chair magazine. There were a ton of different categories as I mentioned earlier but the highlight for me was Beth and Beth Minardi Signature shades being nominated in two categories, one for best demi crème color and the other was favorite color educator. She won the award for Favorite Color Educator of 2015. This prestige’s award was well deserved for Beth and I was very excited for her as we all know she strives to elevate haircolor to an art form. It was overall great to be around such inspiring, highly recognized professionals in the beauty industry. We are all there for the love of what we do and the beauty industry.

Spring Cleaning!

My thoughts on spring cleaning/organizing here at Salon Ratay.

ManeStream Hair and Beauty Expo

My team and I traveled to Tampa for the second annual Manestream Hair and Beauty Expo this past weekend. With a mixture of attendees, cosmetologists and barbers this show brings a fierce energy that is one of a kind! Thomas Faucette, the show producer, is a pleasure to work with and sees a purpose that ALL professionals need, want, and deserve top notch education. When he asked me to be a part of his main educational line-up it was without question I would join. Each year I present a main stage presentation with 4-6 gorgeous models followed by a more intimate in-depth classroom setting.

The morning begins with the main stage presentation where I talk about hair color, and the techniques beautifully displayed by my models. This year I did something a little different; I brought my Creative Artistic Director, Alicia Delbrey, on stage to demonstrate simple hair techniques that could be done in minutes and still look fabulous. I have to smile because Alicia doesn’t like the spotlight on her. She is an extremely talented designer but prefers to stay behind the scenes. She was a bit nervous but did a great presentation. One of the styles she demonstrated was the “Barbie doll pony tail”. This is done by teasing the front of the hair to create a little poof, then pulling the back half of the hair into a ponytail. Take the loose pieces and wrap them around the ponytail base, and lastly spray with finishing spray to tame fly-aways.

The afternoon switches into the classroom setting where we discuss my HOT topic: The Truth About Hair Color. During this class we talked about multiple topics such as grey coverage, the truth about hydrogen peroxide, eumelanin vs pheomelanin, the PH scale and many more. To keep the energy alive I demonstrated the new “Sombré” look with one of my models; I explained in depth the technique of creating a more natural look without the seeing a ”dreadful visual starting point” we see on some people. My favorite part of teaching is engaging with the attendants! This show allows more of an interaction scenario which I thrive on! When hairdresser wants to learn, and you see the “light bulb” per say, come on… well… I HAVE DONE WHAT I WAS PUT HERE TO DO!!

One thing that I felt sets this show apart from others is the barber competition and education that is provided.  It was so interesting to see the intricate designs they created, barbers truly have an eye for the lines of design.  Additionally, it always interests me to see the new hair color trends. During this show there were a lot of fashion shades such as reds, blues and even yellow.  The most dramatic fashion hair color I saw was an Ombré that went from blue to green, then yellow. It didn’t fully cover the whole head; instead there were thatchy pieces with an almost black foundation. This color wouldn’t work for me but I appreciate the colorist who is bold enough to try it and make it work with their face shape, skin tone, and haircut. Overall, I would consider the Manestream Hair & Beauty Expo a success. I never get tired of teaching regardless of the shows dynamics my PASSION is educating colorists to elevate the standard of the beauty industry.