America’s Beauty Show, Our Chicago Recap

Hi!  Suzanna here!  When I moved to Sterling, VA, my former boss immediately began pouring education into me and one of the first experiences I had was attending The Chicago Midwest Beauty Show (now called America’s Beauty Show).  Up until that point, my understanding of “great” hair had been pretty limited to the scope of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.  I wanted to be the best, but only understood “greatness” in very limited boundaries.

Suffice it to say, attending the Beauty Show shattered my ceiling of understanding.  Be it color, cut, placement, finishing – you name it! – I saw inspired artists (often celebrity stylists) sharing their visions and techniques.

Everything changed.

I began thinking outside the box… Dancing circles around the box, if you will.

So imagine how tickled I was when, finally an owner myself, I had the opportunity to do the same for my two younger stylists, Corinne and Emma.  It delighted me to see them experience America’s Beauty Show for the first time.  Picture an endless sea of demonstrations, models, runways, stylists, blaring speakers, streaming videos, etc.

For myself, I was delighted that the Redken stage actually had mannequins set up for the onlookers.  I’ve never seen them promote themselves and their education this way, but it was wonderful to not only watch their new techniques, but to follow along with our own mannequin heads.  Personally, between Redken and Surface haircare, I learned a lovely new technique for a “swag” cut (think “shag,” but with more swing), a neat little “cold set” trick for creating volume on dry hair and a few more delightful, nerdy tidbits regarding product usage, bleach usage and ingredient lists.  In fact, the ear that I bent the most regarding my ingredient curiousities was Wayne Grund himself, the man who created the Surface haircare line that we use here at Glass Door Salon.

Something new that we’re looking forward to offering our guests are temporary root/highlight touch up powders by Color Wow.  I was incredibly impressed by the way that I could make a model’s highlights look fresh and new with a platinum powder (when she actually had about two inches of dark brown roots)!  Oh, yes, I don’t just watch demos on models.  It’s not uncommon to hear me say, “Do you mind if I try it myself?”  That’s the only way to know if something will work!  For instance, there’s a new kind of shear being promoted.  They say it’s better for our body positions.  I tried and tried to love it, but have my doubts that I’ll be able to adapt.  Maybe next year?

Being that the last time I volunteer myself as a “hair show model,” it took three years to grow my cut back into something me-ish, I was nervous for Emma when she texted that a stylist whose work she had followed was at the Denman stage and wanted to cut her hair!  But, in fact, both girls got snatched up and we’ve got the evidence here:

I personally was mesmorized by all of the barbering stages. That’s not something we do a ton of in the salon, so it was incredible watching the barbers create masterpiece designs along the scalp – geometric, floral, etc.  Also, I very much enjoyed watching various updo techniques, but LOVED getting hands-on with Redken. It’s one thing to watch and listen, but I really grow when I am hands-on and in the hair.

Sorry if this post is all over the place.  It’s been one week since we arrived home from our three day journey.  Let us know if you have any questions about trends we saw, techniques that impressed us, etc.  We’re looking forward to being better, more knowledgable stylists for you!

(We try to remember to tell our guests, but if you didn't know, attending hair shows like this is kind of a big deal.  Continuing education is NOT REQUIRED in our field in Virginia.  That's right.  I could get my license at the age of 18 and never attend another class until I retire at 80.  That's not good for you!  Stylists need accountability and inspiration to stay up to date!  Make sure that your stylist is pursuing new classes.  And thank you to all of our guests who purchase their hair care here at the Glass Door Salon.  Our product sales help to fund our education.)

(We all took turns playing with the new Beauty & Pin Ups iron.  It sets pin curls, incubating them in these foil pods.  Love!)

(Nice reminder that Surface hair care gives 10% of its profit to World Vision.  What a commitment!)

(From left – Corinne, model, model whose hair I want, model, me, Emma)