Prize Wheel at the Bonika Shears Booth at Bronner Brothers Hair Show This Week-end

Come by booth 826 at the Bronner Brothers Hair Show in Atlanta this week-end and win a free prize at our prize wheel when you purchase a Bonika shear. Prizes range from a free shear, to Shark tooth or Hot razor, dryers, irons and more. Tell us you saw this on the internet and spin the wheel twice! You choose which of the two prizes you want to keep.

Don't miss Frances London Dubose who will be cutting hair at the Bronner show for the first time. This is the internationally renowned stylist from Charleston you have been hearing about for years.

Sharpening by Jay Hunter at the booth with quantitiy discounts. Special BOGO specials on Bonika Shears. See the Bonika Shears gang!

The most exicitng hair show in our history. Bronner Summer Show 2010

This was the most exciting show in our history. Not because our sells were so great... they were a little above last year.... but we ended up with two of our workers in the ER. First Jay's back went out on Sunday morning and Mystie had to take him for Xrays (seems he has a deteriorated disc) and while they were gone, Chuck Bigelow passed out. customers stepped right over him to continue shopping. Emory hospital released him a few hours later and he was back on the job, but Jay was down for the count. He's on his way to the chiropractor today.

Special thanks to Kristi, Dave, Ron, Eric and others who helped at our booth and to all the vendors who stopped by when they heard about our casualties. Also thanks to Eric, Gerard and Mrs. Tate who all show cased our shears at our booths.

Take a look at our photos of Mrs. Tate's Slim Fast cutting class, Derek J and his new shoes, Yancy Edwards new scissor tattoos and all our photos. More are coming from Eric who took too many photos.

Another Great Bronner Brothers Hair Show

Last week-end we finished up the best Bronner Brother's Hair Show ever. The beauty industry is certainly a recession proof industry. I want to thank sharpeners Eric, Ed and Ron for their help at the booth as well as our family including Mystie and Jay. Jay sharpened a record number of shears. I also want to thank Sheila Tate for an excellent class. It was at the last hour of the day in the last room at the World Congress Center and we found the class not only full, but stylists standing and sitting on the floor.

I most assuredly want to thank our loyal customers. We have about a 40% repeat sale rate at the show. Here's a photo of Derek J of Atlanta Housewives fame and Good Hair fame. Derek bought one shear last month at the ISSE show in California and nine more Sunday at the Bronner show.

Most of the photos I've uploaded were taken by Eric Gentry who worked at the booth with us. I am embarrassed to say with all the hundreds of photos he and I took, none have him in it. We will rectify that next year!

A New Method of Sharpening

I wanted to share with all you Scimech Shear Sharpeners who sharpen on the side a new grip on the Scimech clamp.... it's the Johnny Cash Grip.

We came up with this name not because the hold is as bright and simple as music in the country, but because a new sharpener named Johnny Cash cam up with this hand positioning.

When Johnny came for sharpening training, yes I admit, I was perturbed that he had not watched my fabulous collection of DVD's. He tested out as I expected as a hands-on learner so I let him jump right into sharpening rather than demonstrating. He grabbed the Scimech, repositioned it and came up with this hand positioning. (See the new position followed by the old position)

The Johnny Cash grip takes care of the one drawback of side sharpening over upright sharpening. Side sharpening can be slower because it is harder to see the burr come up on the edge. When positioned like the picture and the light is brought down close to the wheel, it is easy to see the nicks disappear and the burr come up speeding up sharpening. I tried this grip at the Bronner Show. With my arthritic hands, I found this position not only easy on my hands but a faster method. I normally don't sharpen at shows because the arthritis in my thumbs slows me down. I was able to easily keep up with the steady sharpening. I had to modify Johnny's grip. My left hand also held the clamp rather than the arm as in the photo but having the plate at nearly right angles to my body was an advantage. One hint, don't sit directly down wind of the wheel unless you want to get dirty. I was dressed up for stage work and stayed relatively clean during my work. I also used a color stain remover from the beauty supply to quickly clean my hands without a trip to the sink. James Lanier uses a pink scented alcohol he buys at Sally to clean his shears and his hands. I haven't tried it yet, but plan to.

It was so nice to have so many Bonika Shears to sharpen at the show. At least 1/2 of the shears we sharpened at the show were Bonika. Bob and Jim sharpened about 4 each and I did the rest. Hardest to sharpen? The Bonika Baby. The blade is so tiny and must be sharp enough for slithering on dry hair, but they must be strong for cutting on dry hair. We didn't sell too many of these because they are out of stock until next week and we didn't promote them. However, I think all the platform artists at the Bronner Show had these shears.

Baltimore Bronner Brothers Show - Updated

The Bronner Brother's Baltimore Hair Show was everything we expected it to be! There were some great platform artists and some like Belinda Baker who was working with FHI. Shows are great for making new friends and seeing old friends. Belinda was one of the directors of the Olympic Hair Salon in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Another Olympic Hair Salon stylist was working at our booth, Dondi Martin. Dondi is extraordinarily gifted with hair extensions. He was demonstrating at our booth along with his assistant Rekeemah. Rekeemah will be assisting us in Orlando as well.

Nikita Smith's class, the Aristo-Cut was packed. She showed the new cut called Floetry. The package of shears including two texturizers, a curve, the Fishbone and the Phat Shear created a remarkable haircut. The partings are in the slideshow at the left of the show. If you click on the slideshow you can go to the site and printout the pics. Nikita's cut was so beautiful, edgy but classic. She cut it it two different lengths on Sunday and Monday so everyone could see. She shared her story of her recent brush with cancer and God's hand in her life.

I heard Leah Watson's class on Sunday was full, too. I love Leah's new dramatic fashions she has been wearing to the shows. I can see the joy on her face and the way she dresses. She loves teaching and giving back. What a privilege it must be to be a young stylist mentored by Leah.

Bob and Elaine Gorman of Rhode Island were there. Bob was just recently trained and was not going to sharpen at the show, however, 2 barbers spotted him and decided he look more competent than me or Jim Lanier (sharpener from south Florida) and insisted only he should sharpen their shears. So we let him. And he did a great job! Bob, Elaine and Jim were such great and enthusiastic workers.

Top selling shears were the Fishbones and Jazzys. The package deals and show sales are available 30 days after the show and we even sent out 5 shears and one of Nikita's DVD's to a stylist in Maryland who took advantage of that.

Report on Bronner Brothers Winter Hair Show 2009

What an exhilarating, grueling week-end. Gene and I are bushed! The Atlanta Bronner Brothers Show is at the World Congress Center and runs from 10 AM to 7PM for 3 days. It's here at home which is good, so we can sleep in our own beds. It is here at home which is bad, because we stay up late each night restocking what we sold down on the day before.

There is no show in the world like this show. Sheila Tate's class, "Cutting Cross Cultures" was packed. She was really able to demonstrate the use of the T14 Wisper Shear and the T25 Fringer Shear. We sold a lot of these shears. Then every once in a while we would get a run on one particular shear or the other like the Bonika Short Curve Shear, or the Fishbone and we would conclude someone was probably demonstrating them in a class or on stage somewhere. There were a lot of platform artists we saw at the show who use our shears. To drop a few names in alphabetical order (and I hope I don't leave a name out) Hosea Hicks, Derek J Tomeka James, Felecia Pollard, Dave Ray, Sharon Reams, Nikita Smith, Sheila Tate, Tene Taylor, Torain, and Angela Thompson who performed at our booth.

Our sales were up over last year and I think most of the vendors did at least as well as last year. Our dollar amount increase was about the dollar amount decrease at the last show (ISSE) International Salon and Spa in Long Beach. The Bronner team did a wonderful, wonderful job of bringing everyone to the show from all over the USA. Jerry Dingle did a great job spearheading that. And Mamie Bell laid out the floor plan so that there was not a bad location on the floor. I wish every show could do that. In fact the busiest aisle was the back aisle. You will see a photo where I held up the camera when caught in the traffic jam of the back aisle. Also once again Janet Wallace had a great educational lineup with some refreshing new comers as well as old favorites.

Fashion trends that I noticed as an untrained fashion observer was more colors in the hair ... the pinks and purples. Short haircuts with a clipper fade or blend in the back and a textured longer top artfully blended together were popular once again. I only saw a few faux hawks which seem to have run it's course. I saw more natural hair and some afros, too. There was more fantasy hair which I loved to see come back, because that adds fun and excitement to the show. I haven't seen so much fantasy hair since the 90's.

Bronner Photo Album

New Item - The Part-Ner

Use the Part-Ner for quick hair parts. All stainless steel. We will have this at the Bronner Show next week-end. Coming to Bronner Brothers Hair Show? Come by out booth and to our free cutting class with Sheila Tate.

http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/bonika_2042_143943

Thanksgiving

Its Thanksgiving time and even with a slower economy and the slower sharpening season approaching, it's time to give thanks. God has blessed us this year with a new grandaughter and the prospects of another next year. All our family is in good health and get to see each other almost everyday since we work together and go to church together. My mother is 93 and is still in reasonable health.

As far as business, it has been strong. I am thankful we are in the beauty industry and not in trucking or real estate or construction work. I am so thank for our customers who not only buy from us but have become our friends and extended family over the years. Thank you specially Tim for Gene's birthday present (he'll be be 54 on Dec 5). He hasn't opened it yet, but I am sure it's unique. Mystie has a birthday on the 1st and Carissa later this month, so December is birthday month.

Our booth location has changed to a better one at Bronner in February. We are in the center of the room. I am also thankful to the Bronner Brothers Show and the Premiere Show which have helped put our business on the map along with our website. I am also thankful to the platform artists and educators who use, love and promote our shears. There are too many to name, but you know who you are, so thank you.

Bronner Brothers Summer Hair Show 2008

We finshed the Bronner Brothers summer show last night at 7PM and was out of the show by 7:55PM a new record! The unions were more cooperative than usual and over all it was a great show for us. Busy enough to keep us from getting board and slow enough so we were not overwhelmed. Special thanks to those who worked the show with us this year. Of course Gene and me, Jay Hunter sharpening, Ron Ellis who held down our second booth, Carissa Roper employee extraordinare, Nicole, Tamara, Christine, Cathy and our two platform artists Sheila Tate and E. Hosea Hicks.

I was a little worried when we did not have the same booth location as last year and saw another scissor company was there. I was extremely upset to say the least then I remembered "All things work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose." I calmed down and reconciled myself to the less visible location. This new location proved to be the best of our two booths althouh less visible and further back. I heard from one of the employees at the other scissor company who had our old location and they said their sales were way down from last year and that's what they heard from other vendors as well. I said, truthfully, our sales were up. His reply was, "Well, of course, you are Bonika."

Saturday was exciting because Tornado warnings closed the World Congress Center and after a 12 hour day we had to stay on the floor an extra 30 minutes until they released us. Here are photos of attendees sitting on the floor waiting to leave.

Our hair cutting class was packed even though it was first thing on Monday morning. We had about 200 in attendance. E. Hosea Hicks from Columbus, GA was our guest instructor.

Tamara in the photo above who bought shears from us a while back gave them to another sharpener who happened to walk in her salon. He broke her shears and tried to give her something other than her Bonika to replace them. This is a lesson to stylists and to other sharpeners, this is what happens. She spotted the sharpener at the show and was able to persuade him to buy the replacement shears from us wholesale. I talked to him again about upgrading his equipment froma TAS to a Scimech but he said the problem was not his technique but blamed illness that day. Tamara had seen him bending the shears on a yellow block with slits when her shears broke. This sounds more like technique rather than illness. Please, any sharpeners reading this who suspect they do not have proper training or equipment get help somewhere. Don't put yourself and your clients through this.


Here is the link to all the Bronner photos.
http://picasaweb.google.com/bonika/BronnerBrotherSSummer2008