Photos of the ISSE Show in Long Beach

Here are the photos from our long 3 day trip to and from Long Beach, CA and the International Salon and Spa Expo itself.

ISSE Show 2012 in Long Beach, CA

Free Tickets to the ISSE Show in Long Beach next month

The PBS is giving away 5 complimentary tickets per school to their Long Beach International Salon and Spa Expo next month. If you are an instructor be sure to get your free tickets for the show. Form to get access code

Don't forget to come by the Bonika Shears booth and visit our class. Get more information on the largest hairshow on the west coast. http://www.bonika.com/isse.html 

Bonika Snowed In

We are snowed in. The main road to the office was officially closed down. Gene measured 5 1/2" of snow in the front yard. See him in the front yard with two of the grand children. Gene is on the left, that's the snowman on the right.

The phones are rolled to our cell phone and we are able to answer emails, but I don't know when orders can be shipped. I'm sure Kenchii Scissors is having the same problem since they are in an Atlanta suburb, too.

Cabin fever is setting in so hopefully we will be in the office on Saturday and Martin Luther King's birthday. We head off to the ISSE show in LA soon. We could use a sharpener at the show if anyone is interested. Frances London Dubose will be teaching an "Upside down speed cutting" class there at the show on Monday. She is pretty awesome. We are crossing our fingers that a TV network may be filming her at the class. We could use some models for a fabulous haircut at the class. Let us know if you are interested in sharpening or modeling.

Nikita Smith’s Aristocuts Cutting Class at the International Salon and Spa Expo, in Long Beach, CA

Here it is! Those who attended the Sunday morning Bonika Shears sponsored class taught by Nikita Smith of Chicago requested the schematics of her cut.

After showing the finished cut on a mannequin, Nikki walked us through the construction and techniques of the style showing the exact sectioning and lengths. So many asked for the photos of the class displays I have uploaded them to my blog with a link to the website.

Nikita talked about the three cutting personalities developed by Bonnie Megowan. She explained the Gorilla, Eagle and Lion. Nikita is a Lion. And there were several Lions and Eagles in the class with a couple of Gorillas.

Her shear of choice was the new 2010 Bonika Shear of the year, the new Tribal Shear designed by Jay Hunter. She further texturized with the 5 tooth Bonika Chunker, the Bonika Silver Sword razor, the Bonika Fishbone shear and some of the curved shears. The finished cut looked identical to the original, although they were different mannequins.

Thanks to Nikita, our Bonika Shears booth sold all the Tribal shears that we brought and had record sales for the Long Beach ISSE show. (See all the photos from the ISSE show on Facebook)

California Sharp N Shop

This year’s Sharp N Shop increased in numbers from last year and centered on marketing and selling shears. However, I also did a sharpening demonstration including sharpening a surgical shear and a nipper along with a convex shear. Although the Sharp N Shop was scheduled for one day, it felt so much longer since I worked with Bob Lee for a couple of days more helping him get a great start in his new sharpening career. Later in the week, a couple from Wisconsin dropped in at the show and we swapped sharpening tips as I sharpened at the ISSE show. We also trained a new sharpener from South Dakota who met us in Oklahoma City on the way down. Plus, we will be meeting with a couple of different sharpeners on our travels back across the country this upcoming week on our way home. Sharpeners are everywhere and are telling us business is good.

We plan to have one at the same location about the same time next year just before or after the International Salon and Spa Expo in Long Beach.

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

Days 14, 15 & 16 at the ISSE Show - southwest

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Pictures from the ISSE show. Gene unloading at the ISSE show. See our booth wedged between the two cape companies. Here's a new scissor tatoo sported at the show. Nikita crawling into our booth. The only way in or out.

The show is over and sales were less than we anticipated. It could have been the economy, but the floor plan was redesigned so that our aisle was not a flow aisle like last year and we were wedged into a space between two cape and smock booths. I think some people thought we were all one large booth that just happened to sell shears. Our class was really full even though it was at the end of the day on Monday and Nikita's name was not in the program. Nikia always has a terrific class and I think this was one of the best.

I had a haircut by Paul at the Onesta booth. Both he and his wife Caron, educators for the new company Onesta were using our shears. We saw Derek Johnson at the show lots of old friends.

For you sharpeners out there, I sharpened a few dozen shears and took a photo of the Kasho Millenium. If you have not taken this shear apart, be warned. Use a UFO tool and watch out for the washer BETWEEN the blades. It took me 15 minutes to get these babies back together and I was beginning to panic.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! We are very optomistic about this new year in spite of the present economy. We just took advantage of the low car prices and traded in one of our company cars. We will actually spend less and have more. This is the time a assess what you have and see where you can expand and save at the same time.

I am home with a case of laryngitis. I caught Gene's strep throat last week and since I was on antibiotics continued my planned sharpening training. For those of you who have come to training, you know I usually test my students to assess their learning style. You would know, the student this week was primarily verbal. So I talked and more fully explained things than I normally would and by afternoon my voice dwindled off and has been completely gone for about 3 days.

Since we are planning an extensive trip out west with at least 10 classes in schools and one class at the International Salon and Spa Expo in Long Beach, CA, I am taking special care of my voice. So if you call and ask for me, I really can’t talk to you!

Our class at the ISSE show will be at the last day of the show and at the end of the day. There was a miscommunication with the show management, but we are planning a great class, even if only 2 or 3 show up. Nikita Smith is incredible and should be seen. Her squeeze cut technique will appeal to the stylist who like a mathematical precise cut with a messy, textured and predictable result. I know it sounds like a conflict of terms, but you will just have to see it. Her haircuts can be performed in just 10 minutes or less.