Beauty On Display

I have been to the Javitz Center for a number of different shows. The car show. The gift show. And now, the International Beauty Show. It doesn't take up the whole center, like the gift show does. But it is LOUD. Every booth is it's own demonstration. More than one booth had a DJ, each competing to make the most noise. Some vendors would toss products into the crowd and like bridesmaids who are single, the surge of people attempting to catch a foil packet of samples was comical to watch.

And then, there were the models. Young, tiny women dolled up in such a way that NO ONE I know would ever even contemplate looking like. The gal on the far right of these pictures had a blow dryer incorporated into her head. WHAT?

There are easily twenty brands of blow dryers, flat irons, and curling irons. There were three booths for trimmers. There were multiple booths for scissors. Do you know some scissors are upwards of $1,000 and the average price is probably $450. Many brands need to be sent away to be properly sharpened, so a stylist needs more than one pair. There are different scissors for different cuts and types of hair. There were many booths with all kinds of extensions, and gel nail booths, and to my delight, the Essie nail polish booth.

The spa side of the show was quieter. La-La music. Many towels, laser machines and facial vendors. I wasn't there long.

I took three classes - front desk information, website and online presence, and retailing, where I realized I could have taught a better class than the guy who did.

Naturally, I watched the Main Stage show on how to create the perfect updo with the world renowned stylist Martin Parsons. (It seemed like it would be fun and it was!)

My goal was to learn about the industry and to look into online booking vendors. I did.

My favorite sentence of day two was from Eileen. "I have been coming to this show for twenty years, you're here one day and you found the American Express Lounge." It was a great place to charge the phone, get some water, coffee or tea, have a little snack and recharge yourself.

I hope to incorporate everything I learned into the salon and even here at TGHR. You can never learn too much.

We had a marvelous meal at one of my personal favorite restaurants in the Met Life building, Cafe Centro. It was the perfect way to end the day without stress before we headed home on the train.

We wondered if we had pedometers on just how many steps we took. My guess is well over 10,000.

I recuperated yesterday. 

I suspect, if I had decided to go on the path of the hair stylist, this might have been my theme song...

Beauty school drop-out, 
no graduation day for you
Beauty school drop-out, 
missed your midterms and flunked shampoo

http://youtu.be/0TOxhzAm7fY