2011 Hair Styles: Trends from the hair show!

by Alicia Ward on Tuesday, March 15th, 2011

Do you know where trends come from or wonder why every magazine is telling you that something is the latest and hottest look? It’s because of events like America’s Beauty Show. America’s Beauty Show is where thousands of salon professionals like you will converge to learn from top industry pros about the latest products and techniques in hair, skin and nails. Then what you learn will be available at your salon – thus, creating the trends.

This year at America’s Beauty Show there were lots of hot new trends. Below we detail the hottest trends for curlies.

Platinum locks!

Make your client’s dark locks a thing of the past with the new hot trend of platinum curls! Everywhere you looked woman and men were rocking platinum locks. If you want to be give your client a bold look this season offer them a shade of platinum to kick their color up a notch.

Seeing Red!

Big bold red is very hot this season. The red of this season is a deep almost maroon and looks amazing on olive and dark skin tones – however, those with plate skin can pull it off too! This color will make your client stand out and add some serious dimension to their curls.

Cut it Short!

Say goodbye to those long layers and hello to short curl bobs! The bob has always been a classic style for curlies but it’s being taken to new extremes this year with fun layers and super short styles. Is your client ready for a big change? Give them a super short style today. Short styles allow your clients to show off their other features and play with accessories.

ABS Chicago: Day Two

by Megan Dorcey on Monday, March 14th, 2011

Our feet hurt and our heads are full of inspiration and new ideas to bring into our business. You could say that ABS Chicago 2011 was a success.  Not only did we fall in love with the platform artists at Farouk’s stage, but we found new and exciting companies that are going to be on our radar this year.

Yesterday was an amazing day, jam-packed full of floor time, the NaturallyCurly & Modern Salon Texture! panel, and spending some quality time with brands like Schedulicity.  We are inspired by this company that understands what a stylist needs as far as an online booking system, and wants to give you the information and tools to keep clients happy.  We will be sharing more on this new online booking company very soon!

The Texture! panel was a huge success, drawing a full crowd of curl stylists from across the country.  We were so happy to have Hair Rules, Ouidad, Mizani, Deva, GK Hair, and American Crew there to share their knowledge and host demo’s to give a little education to our stylist community.  It was definitely an educational day, allowing stylists to ask some of their own texture questions and learn more about the different styles and methods of cutting and styling curly hair.

We are so lucky to be able to participate in ABS Chicago and always walk away with more knowledge, inspiration, and new friends each year!

The Ouidad booth

People, people everywhere

America’s Beauty Show Chicago: Day One!

by Blog from America's Beauty Show on Saturday, March 12th, 2011

America’s Beauty Show is in full swing this weekend, and we are amazed at all of the great products, education and information that is available this weekend at the McCormick Place convention center in Chicago.  First things first: textured tresses are everywhere we look!  Models are sporting natural waves, kinks, and curls.  Even better, the Hair Rules ladies were passing out buttons that promoted textured hair on your way into the show.  Needless to say, we were in heaven.

A model works the Mizani runway.

Keratin is still huge this year, but we saw a huge increase in curly hair specific brands being represented, including Ouidad, Mixed Chicks and Hair Rules.  Moroccan Oil had a great set-up where they were doing demos, and we actually saw them promoting curly hair!  Mizani was in full force with natural hair as far as the eye could see.  We even stopped a woman to tell her she had great curls—and it was a perm!  Proof that everyone is digging the curls.

We had the privilege to and the honor of meeting Vidal Sassoon and listening to him speak.  It was definitely a “we’re not worthy” situation.  He spoke of Chicago being a place of inspiration—the architecture always speaking to him.  We think he’s the inspiration in Chicago this year!  We are heading to the screening of his feature film tonight at the Cadillac Theatre, where hundreds of stylists and beauty gurus will walk the red carpet and get to ask Vidal Sassoon questions after the film.

And some of the thousands of stylists who will attend ABS over the next two days may be the next Vidal Sassoon.

Get Acquainted With Texture At ABS Chicago

by Megan Dorcey on Thursday, March 3rd, 2011

America’s Beauty Show is almost here.

America’s Beauty Show

America’s Beauty Show will play host to the NaturallyCurly, CurlStylist & Modern Salon Texture! panel for the second year in a row, which will showcase the most influential curl experts in the world.  We won’t lie—we almost can’t contain ourselves.

The high-power panel will include brands such as Hair Rules, Ouidad, Deva, Mizani and GK Hair.  This group of experts will also be hosting a demo where they style curls for you to see.  American Crew will also join the demo, showing us all how to care for our curly male clients’ curls.

This panel is comprised of the hottest names in curls, who will be speaking about how to make your business profitable in the curly niche market, the evolution of keratin treatments and smoothing systems and the latest cutting and styling techniques—just to name a few.  The panelists will also be available to answer any questions you may have about your own curly business.

Make sure to check out the Texture! panel at America’s Beauty Show in Chicago on Sunday, March 14, at 1:00 p.m.

ABS Texture! Panel a Big Success

by Gretchen Heber on Friday, April 2nd, 2010

“Texture!”—a programming event presented by NaturallyCurly.com, CurlStylist.com and Modern Salon Magazine—is being heralded as one of the most interesting and successful panels at this year’s American Beauty Show.

The Texture! panel featured a veritable who’s who of the curly hair industry, including Dickey of Hair Rules, Titi and Miko Branch of Miss Jessie’s, Veronique Morrison of Mizani, Ouidad, Shari Harbinger of DevaConcepts, Jonathan Torch of Curly Hair Solutions and Edwin Johnson of KMS California.

America’s Beauty Show is a large (tens of thousands in attendance) trade show for beauty industry professionals that draws stylists and manufacturers from around the world. It was held this year in Chicago March 27-29.

The panel, held Sunday, was a longtime dream of NaturallyCurly co-founders Gretchen Heber and Michelle Breyer, who long wished for the opportunity to get so many curl experts in the same room together.

Judging from the audience’s reaction, the dream was successfully fulfilled. Dozens of stylists piled into the chilly convention center room to hear these legends of the industry describe their background, talk about their philosophies and offer concrete advice.

And while not all curl experts think alike, the event was a harmonious one, with the panelists all realizing the significance of the gathering.

“This meeting is a wonderful example of the shift in our customers’ belief in their natural hair,” said Harbinger.

“No two people are the same. The left side is different from the right side. You have to deal with each person differently,” said Torch, as several panelists’ heads bobbed in agreement.

More practical tips came from Titi Branch: “The consultation is so important. Typically, the curly hair client is traumatized, skeptical. You have to patiently work with her.”

“You’ll have a client for life if you do what you say you’re going to do,“ said Harbinger.

Added Jonathan Torch, “There’s a lot of common sense to working with curly hair. With certain techniques you can remove bulk. The next challenge is to remove frizz. Everybody with curly hair has frizz issues. You can have the greatest haircut but if you don’t know how to manage the frizz, it’s no good.”

At one point, Breyer, who moderated the event, asked the audience how many of them had received specific training in working with textured hair when they were in cosmetology school. Only four raised their hands.

Mizani demostration

The panel lauded the audience members for attending the session to gain more education. “We all need to be educated so that we can all deal with all types of hair,” said Morrison. “As our culture has evolved, we’re looking at curly hair as being more accepted now. The more we know curls, the better.”

“I was self-taught. I needed to develop special techniques to cut curly hair,” Johnston said.

Torch stressed the importance of today’s experts helping the next generation of stylists, “A curly hair style is always moving, from morning to noon to night. It’s hard for a new stylist to fathom. Now that curly hair is mainstream, it’s our responsibility to teach the next generation.”

Curlyheads, too, need special training to work with their curls, said Ouidad. “Many people with curly hair have never been taught; they’ve never been guided to work with their curly hair. It’s important that you stylists educate their clients. Every human being who has curly hair is able to learn to manage their chair.”

Following the panel were demonstrations by some of the panelists, a very popular part of the programming where the stylists were invited to come up close and have a back-and-forth with the presenters.

Each audience member received an enormous bag filled with hair care products, brochures and a super-cool CurlStylist apron.

Miko Branch offered perhaps the loveliest line of the day: “Bringing beauty to natural hair is my goal,” she said.

Mizani Highlights New True Textures Line

by Blog from America's Beauty Show on Thursday, April 1st, 2010

Mizani wowed the ABS crowd with an energetic and dramatic stage show that started off with amazing African-style dancing and drumming.
Mizani, which launched its True Textures line last month, highlighted the variety of hair textures the products are suitable for, with a variety of styles.

Curliness from Salon Tech

by Blog from America's Beauty Show on Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

Curly beauties graced the Salon Tech stage. Salon Tech makes professional styling tools such as flat irons and hair dryers.

Curl Love from Redken

by Blog from America's Beauty Show on Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

Redken showed beautiful texture.

Tabitha Offers Quick Styling Advice at ABS

by Blog from America's Beauty Show on Monday, March 29th, 2010

Tabitha Coffey, star of “Tabitha’s Salon Takeover,” offers advice to a contestant on the Matrix stage during a quick-fire styling competition.