June - Stylist and Salon Newspapers

Offer Your Clients Red Carpet Reds
Red Carpet Reds were my main stage and
classroom subjects at both IBS shows and
here are some of the points I covered to help
you grow your business.
Are your clients asking for a new hot
look? A great way to achieve this is to offer
a red carpet look by creating a
real, rich, even, full-bodied
red haircolor.
A lot of us tend to forget
about red, but it can be a real
moneymaker.
Usually, most of my
clients like to wear a darker or
redder color in their hair during
the winter season, and it’s
certainly preferable -- even
my blonde clients wish to
deepen or redden their color.
It’s just more of
a natural appearance
to have brighter
color when it’s really
sunny outside
during the warmer
The Mane Objective
Marco Pelusi
hair: marco pelusi
styling: james davis/flo coffman
photographer: jennifer o’dell
makeup: stephanie beal
months, and a richer, deeper tone when it
gets colder. However, a reddish tone is a
lovely choice to add into color anytime of the
year -- like right now.
You can really add that stunning pop of
color and rich, luscious look if their skin tone
can carry it. Talk about this option with your
color clients, and charge just a little bit more if
you are adding red into the mix. You may simply
add a few red foils. As a general rule, when
you add red colors they sometimes fade more
quickly than the usual blonde or brunette
colors, however, this can be lucrative.
Whether your client is a redhead, blonde
or brunette, going even a bit darker / redder,
you should always be mindful of which
product you can educate about and sell to
prevent premature color fade. Really put
yourself to the test so you’ll be able to maintain
your client’s color longer.
Evaluate which haircare products your
client is using at home. It’s important to
make sure the products are specifically
formulated to repair and moisturize, as well
as prevent hair from premature color fade
so the deeper color lasts and doesn’t fade
quickly.
Along the same lines, when your clients
are going redder and/or darker, you can
address their eyebrows and eyelashes to suit
their new haircolor. It is possible to make
extra money by tinting these areas but please
check with your state board first to make sure
10 | JUNE 2010 | OHIO STYLIST & SALON
these are approved procedures under your
cosmetology license.
This is a procedure I recommend for a
total look of beauty. When you add red to
your client’s hair, it’s possible a hint of red
may also look good added to the color of
eyebrows.
It’s also possible that a beautiful brown
or black lash tinting will brighten and
enhance the new red haircolor by bringing
out the client’s eye color. Eyebrow and
eyelash tinting is very easy to do as long as
you ensure safety. With eyelash
and eyebrow tinting, there are
necessary safety precautions
you must take.
There are specific tints
meant just for these services
and remember to always follow
manufacturers’ instructions.
The color on both eyelashes and
eyebrows lasts between three and four weeks,
and fades gradually on-tone, which makes it
easy to change.
In general for all color-treated hair, but
especially for newly red color-treated hair,
it’s important that your clients prevent their
hair from drying out, especially at the ends.
The longer the hair is, the older it is, and the
more color that’s on it -- the more it will need
special treatment to maintain its moisture.
Therefore it’s a matter of offering deep
conditioning treatments, using high quality
restorative products specifically created for
color-treated hair. The concept is just like
moisturizing the skin. Conditioning services
are another fabulous way for you to make
more money. So, when you add red and
change the color of the client’s hair, also offer
a deep conditioning treatment as well. If it’s
too big a ticket at the same time, perhaps
strategize with your client to perform a conditioning
at her next service.
The moral of the story is to richen or
redden your client’s color, and perform complimentary
add-on services, both to increase
your income, and to truly achieve that red
carpet red look.
Marco Pelusi is globally recognized as a haircolor trainer and platform artist.
Marco Pelusi Hair Studio, Inc. was named Best Hair Color in Los Angeles
2007 by KTTV Fox11’s “myfoxla Hot List” competition. Pelusi created
the Marco Collagen Color Guard HairCare System, the collagen system
developed for color and chemically treated hair. For more information, visit
www.marcopelusi.com.
Doing Nails Proves More Satisfying
The Nail Extension
Jaime Schrabeck
The prospect of having to write on this
month’s topic proved more daunting than I
expected. It would have been so much easier
to express an opinion on a particular topic.
Selecting my own topic, I could rant about
the negative impact of unlicensed activity, rave
about the value of continuing education or
explain how your salon can attract more male
clients (wait . . . that next month’s topic!).
Given this opportunity to share what’s on
my mind, however, I can tell you that what I
think isn’t nearly as important as what I do. All
clichés aside, I strive everyday to act according
to my priorities. Providing for my family
comes first, and despite other means of achieving
that end, I choose to earn my living in the
beauty industry, doing what I love.
Not surprisingly, doing nails is not what I
aspired to in my youth. It was merely a hobby
during high school, something I did to compensate
for my pathetically weak natural nails.
Applying full coverage, press-on nails,
while quick and easy, required virtually no
talent and it showed. Eventually, I discovered
a talent for acrylic nails, and despite my lack of
formal training or quality professional products,
my nails looked decent and cost me very
little to maintain.
Entering college as a chemistry major, I
intended to become a pediatric dentist, envisioning
myself wearing latex gloves and using
sterilized metal tools to facilitate better oral
health in children. Not only would dentistry
be intellectually challenging, it would be
respectable and profitable. That seemed like
more than enough motivation until I found
more enjoyment in my literature classes, and
changed majors to become an English teacher.
During those college years, I worked retail
jobs and managed a deli, but had never considered
making money doing nails. When faced
with the time constraints and cost of graduate
school, however, I needed something different.
Becoming a professional manicurist offered
the chance to play with nail products, work a
flexible schedule, own a business and support
educational pursuits until I could begin my
real career.
Over a summer break, I completed a
manicuring course financed by the Regional
Occupational Program. The only expense
was the overpriced $180 kit, for which my
grandmother generously paid. I wish I could
say that in those nine weeks my beauty school
instructors trained and prepared me to succeed
in the salon.
Instead, vocational “education” was a huge
disappointment, despite having low expectations
to begin with. I resented the hours spent
studying and practicing alone, and the few
clients who frequented the beauty school
seemed unlikely to ever pay more than $5 for
a manicure.
If nothing else, I learned that my success
as a manicurist would depend on my willingness
to obtain more training and my first was a
full-day acrylic class taught by Kym Lee, owner
of Galaxy Nails and dominant competition
champion. Some of our most influential nail
professionals, including Tom Holcomb, Trang
Nguyen and Carla Collier, competed for Galaxy
Nails early in their careers.
I learned more in that eight-hour day than
in the entire nine weeks of beauty school, and
it was truly inspiring. But it was not enough to
convince me that my career would be in the
beauty industry. I had already invested years
and dollars in my academic education and was
determined to complete an advanced degree.
Even after earning a Ph.D. in education,
teaching at every academic level from elementary
to university and making lots of money
preparing students for college admissions tests,
doing nails proved more satisfying.
While my family was very supportive, my
academic advisors and colleagues thought
being a manicurist was beneath me. In my
defense, I assured them that I’d give up nails
when the ideal teaching job presented itself.
But after a semester of juggling reading
classes with my salon business, I made a choice
that I’ve never regretted. Given all my academic
experiences, I did not expect to have a viable,
rewarding career that initially required only
nine weeks of vocational training. Whether I’m
providing nail services, managing employees,
eliminating unlicensed activity, evaluating new
products, networking with other professionals,
writing articles, judging competitions or teaching
classes, my work as a manicurist continues
to challenge me and I love it.
Just days ago I had occasion to attend an
honor roll ceremony with my sixth-grade son.
Seated in a large audience filled with proud
parents and accomplished students, I recalled
attending a similar ceremony in that same
gym 30 years ago. It seemed that not much has
changed as students spoke eloquently of their
future plans and thanked their parents and
teachers for encouraging academic achievement
and character development.
In the intervening years, it’s my perspective
that has changed drastically. My own experience
demonstrates that students should be
encouraged to pursue their unique interests
and talents when choosing a career, even if that
means applying a great education to what some
would consider a less than desirable vocation.
Jaime Schrabeck, Ph.D. owns Precision Nails, an exclusive nails-only salon in
Carmel, California. She can be reached at info@precisionnails.com.
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