NAHA Online Entry Deadline Extended

Professional hairstylists can show their skills and add prestige to their portfolio.  How?  By entering the North American Hairstyling Awards (NAHA), you are joining the ranks of the industry’s brightest and most talented artists. Be part of the most prestigious hairstyling competition in North America!

(Winning image from 2010 NAHA Hairstylist Of The Year – Tony Ricci – NAHA  & PBA – All Rights Reserved)

Due to the unfortunate weather conditions which shut down businesses across the US and Canada, NAHA is happy to extend the online entry deadline until Thursday, February 17!

Please make sure all online submissions are completed by the 17th.

About NAHA

The North American Hairstyling Awards (NAHA), the most prestigious photographic beauty competition in North America, celebrates the artistry and skill of the professional salon industry. Each year, individuals are recognized in 13 categories of excellence during a star-studded awards ceremony.

Entering NAHA not only highlights your skills and adds prestige to your portfolio, but also allows you to join the ranks of the industry’s brightest and most talented artists.

AHA is part of Beauty Week, North America’s largest, most inclusive beauty event held in partnership with Cosmoprof North America and the Professional Beauty Association (PBA).

More Information

Please follow me on Twitter at: http://Twitter.com/HairBoutique. I look forward to meeting new people from all walks of Twitter and learning from their Tweets. Visit us at Hairboutique.com located at: http://www.HairBoutique.com, on Facebook, MySpace and YouTube.

Thank you for visiting us at The HairBoutique Blog and for leaving your comments. They are very much appreciated. We apologize in advance but must remove any direct advertisements or solicitations.

I met Barbara Lhotan shortly after I founded HairBoutique.com in 1997 when I spied her first updo book at a beauty supply store.  Actually Barbara’s book had already sold out and the only one left was the owner’s copy.

(Image of natural curly cut, color and style created by Barbara Lhotan – Courtesy of Barbara Lhotan – All Rights Reserved)

When I discovered the book was sold out I literally begged the owner to buy her book and even offered double the price.

Beautiful Updos & Long Hair Expert

The book was so great because it not only dealt with beautiful updos, it honored long hair, which is originally what lead me down the path of starting HairBoutique.  I later discovered Barbara is in big demand for her long hair and updo classes.

Although I didn’t personally know Barbara, I hunted her down and called her on the phone.  After a lovely chat with her sweet mom we finally connected and it felt like we had been working together all of our lives. (more…)

PBA Announces Shawn Trujillo and Angie Katsanevas of Lunatic Fringe Salons as NAHA Salon
MBA Award Winners

NAHA 2010 | July 2010 | Las Vegas, Nevada

The Professional Beauty Association’s North American Hairstyling Awards (NAHA) is pleased to announce that Shawn Trujillo and Angie Katsanevas, owners of Lunatic Fringe Salons, have been named NAHA winners in the new Salon MBA category.

(Image of Angie Katsanevas and Shawn Truijillo –  Lunatic Fringe Salons – All Rights Reserved)

This marks the inaugural year for the Salon MBA (Masters Business) award, which was designed to recognize savvy salon owners who have cultivated a cutting-edge salon and a highly profitable business.

Shawn and Angie are also the co-owners of Paul Mitchell The School – Salt Lake City.

More Information

Please follow me on Twitter at: http://Twitter.com/HairBoutique. I look forward to meeting new people from all walks of Twitter and learning from their Tweets. Visit us at Hairboutique.com located at: http://www.HairBoutique.com, on Facebook, MySpace and YouTube.

Thank you for visiting us at The HairBoutique Blog and for leaving your comments. They are very much appreciated. We apologize in advance but must remove any direct advertisements or solicitations.

If you’re a Shear Genius 3 fan you’ve watched Janine Jarman for the past nine weeks cutting, coloring, blow drying, brushing, curling, pinning, extending strands and turning out spectacular hairstyles in a very limited amount of time.

Who will ever forget her first Elimination Win in Week One when her stunning blonde Nymph from the sea floated down the runway strutting her gorgeous cloud of blonde tresses.  It was a WOW moment.

Male Hair Extension Victory Plus Bob Success

Janine also completely transformed a frumpy man into a hunk using HairUWear hair extensions.  The bubbly competitor also created a picture perfect bob on a model with naturally curly hair.   Of course Janine has had a few misses, but for the most part she has come in either as doing Shear Genius work or being a close second.  Her performance on the reality TV show has been stupendous.

Get To Know The Real Janine

While you might think you know Janine from her Shear Genius 3 performances, you may surprised with the real Janine.  I have known Janine since she opened her fabulous Hairroin Salon (www.hairroinsalon.com) located at 1553 North Cahuenga Boulevard in Los Angeles, California (90028-7312 –  Phone (323) 467-0392).

I’ve had the great fortune to visit Janine at Hairroin which is by far one of the coolest salons in Hollywood. (more…)

Before the third Season of Shear Genius started, insiders were projecting that Minneapolis hairdresser Faatemah Ampey was going to be the Diva of the Hairdresser Darlings and even possibly take away the $100,000 prize.

Alas, it was not meant to be.  At the end of the third episode, Faatemah has sent packing.

(Image Of Faatemah Ampey – Shear Genius 3 – Bravo/TV – All Rights Reserved)

Why?  There wasn’t any one reason, but if you study the three episodes she was on the show, a pattern does emerge.  Don’t get me wrong.  I am a Faatemah fan. I had the immense pleasure of meeting Faatemah at the NAHA awards in July of 2010 where the lovely and charming Faatemah graciously accepted her award for Best Fashion Forward designs.

So why was she cut from the hairdresser reality show on Bravo?

As a licensed hairdresser who also have been focused on consumer hair issues since 1997 I believe I have a unique perspective on both sides of the chair.

When I was attending Paul Mitchell Beauty school, we often had competitions.  The first one was very unnerving.  We had to do an updo on our mannequins.  It was a timed competition with a big giant ticking clock placed in the middle of the room. (more…)

The very first short competition the Shear Genius contestants had to do was compete in a Punk To Polished Makeover.  They had just two hours to transform some of the most over-the-top hairstyles I have ever seen gathered in one room.

All of the 12 contestants had to each pick a red scissor box and inside the box was a number.

The number inside the box determined the order that you picked your client.

When Faatemah picked the young woman with the bright pink hair I wondered what she had in mind.

Faatemah hugged her model who said “yeahhh” when she was picked and took her off to begin the transformation.

Did she plan to color her hair or just work with the existing pink hue.

(Image of Faatemah Ampey’s Model Before Transformation from Punk to Polished – BravoTV.com – All Rights Reserved)

It’s important to remember that they only had two hours for their Punk To Polished transformation.

Faatemah’s Vision

Faatemah told the camera, as she painted color onto her roots that her vision for her client was something like “I wanted to pull something out that would be like Barbie goes Inner City.  Down and curly ringlety.  I wanted to do something that was constructive and still fun and kinda pinup for her.”

Running Out Of Time

At the 13 minute mark Faatemah looked at her client and said “I just want to see if I even want to stick with this.”  She had very little time left but was doubting her direction.  She told the cameras “I just didn’t like it.  It has to go up in some kind of beautiful style because just down is just a disaster.”

(Image of Faatemah Ampey’s Model After Transformation from Punk to Polished – BravoTV.com – All Rights Reserved)

Jonathan Antin visited Faatemah at that point and said “you’re going with a different plan now?”  Faatemah said “yeah” as she continued to work.

Jonathan said “I’m worried about you because there isn’t a lot of time left.”  Jonathan walked away to talk to other competitors.

Faatemah did comment on Amy.  She said “I definitely think little cute Amy is out of her league.  I kinda on the inside laugh ‘oh here we go.  There’s always someone who has to bust out their asymmetrical bob.’  It’s one of the easiest cheats in hairdressing.”

(Image of Faatemah Ampey’s Model After Transformation from Punk to Polished – BravoTV.com – All Rights Reserved)

What The Judges Had To Say

Jonathan didn’t mince words.  He said “I think this is a little bit on the messy side.  Especially for kinda a Vintage vibe.  It’s supposed to be perfect clean, at least in this area” and he pointed to the back of the updo which had a large curl.

Bottom Three

When it came time to announce the results Jonathan announced the bottom three.  He called Faatemah’s name first.

He said “Faatemah, your hair was messy, it wasn’t clean, it wasn’t polished at all and you were second guessing your work.”  The other two in the bottom three?  Janine and Brian.

Ironically Amy, who Faatemah said was doing a “hairdresser’s cheat” with the asymetrical cut was in the top three.

The winner was Amy for doing as Jonathan said “a great job.”  Jonathan pointed out that Amy had to deal with a headful of dreadlocks which required a lot of work.

More Information

Please follow me on Twitter at: http://Twitter.com/HairBoutique. I look forward to meeting new people from all walks of Twitter and learning from their Tweets. Visit us at Hairboutique.com located at: http://www.HairBoutique.com, on Facebook, MySpace and YouTube.

Thank you for visiting us at The HairBoutique Blog and for leaving your comments. They are very much appreciated. We apologize in advance but must remove any direct advertisements or solicitations.

I will confess that while I watched Bravo’s previous Shear Genius Seasons, I was very excited to see the new Season Three for a number of reasons.

First of all, I have personally met two of the contestants, Janine Jarmon and Faatemah.  I have known Janine for some time having met her right as she was opening her famous Hollywood Salon, Hairroin.

I met Faatemah in the Summer of 2009 at Cosmoprof in Las Vegas.  Faatemah was a winner in the NAHA hairdressing awards and her work was stunning.  I was lucky enough to interview her after her win.  She was lovely and very modest about her work.

(Image of Faatemah – Contestant on Bravo’s Shear Genius – Season Three – Bravo/TV – All Rights Reserved)

In addition to having met two of the contestants, I am a huge fan of the work of Master Haircolorist Kim Vo and of Orlando Pita who is truly a hair icon.  Of course I am curious to see what role Jonathan Antin will take as one of the new judges.   Various guest judges are also expected to drop in over the course of the season including world famous Oribe and Bravo’s Tabitha.

I was also interested to see how Camilla Alves would do as the new hostess of the show.  Camilla is drop dead gorgeous and comes from the modeling world so she was bringing a special vision. (more…)

The Professional Beauty Association (PBA) and the National Cosmetology Association (NCA) released an announcement that the two organizations have signed an agreement to merge, effective immediately.

According to leadership of both groups, the merger will “combine best practices and leverage complementary strengths, assets and member benefits to improve all sectors of the professional beauty industry.”

Over time, the proposed merger will have the NCA, which is currently based in Chicago, join the PBA’s three existing company-based membership sections in its headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona. This fourth “NCA” membership section will be based on NCA’s existing individual membership criteria. (more…)

Using a razor to cut hair is not new.  In fact, it’s been used by hairdressers for many years.

Some of the best hairstylists use razors to create dramatic and high fashion styles for runways.  Which explains why razor hair cutting is more popular in Europe than in the United States.  Many in the hair profession believe to achieve the most finished results for a tailored hair cut, the razor is the best hair cutting tool to use.

Note: For some images of razored hairstyles check out:  Razor Sharp: Shredded, Chopped & Sliced Hair

Vivian MacKinder, my own personal hairdressing heroine (who I recently saw and interviewed at Cosmoprof 2009), is probably one of the most skilled hair cutters with a razor of any hair professional I have yet to meet in the hair world.  Watching Vivian work with a razor is like watching a sculptor with their special tools.

Note: To read more about the amazing Vivian MacKinder please check out:  The Evolution Of Vivienne MacKinder

Vivian visited the Paul Mitchell school when I was there attending classes and demonstrated several of her techniques.  It was one of the highlights of my attendance at the school.  She also make some very special hair cutting razors available for purchase.  Yes I did buy the razor with some back blades. (more…)

Cosmoprof North America (CPNA) 2009 is kicking off this weekend (July 18 – July 21) in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.

(Welcome To Las Vegas – Image from BobT54 – All Rights Reserved)

The goal of the spectacular convention, in its seventh year is to offer the professional beauty industry (salon owners and manufacturers) business growth solutions and resources to help with the current difficult economic trends.

CPNA is expected to attract executives and buyers from some of the largest and most prestigeous beauty and hair distributors in the world.

Discover Beauty Area

For the third year in a row CPNA is offering Discover Beauty, an area of the convention center show floor dedicated to new Cosmoprof exhibitors.   The Discover Beauty area is expected to feature 18 brands from all over the world including Israel, Switzerland, Australia and France. (more…)