Judging by the Premiere Birmingham Show, the recession is over

We saw the crowds back like in years before at this week-ends show in Birmingham. Special thanks to our great team who helped this to be the best Birmingham show ever. The Sister Twister was one of our best selling shears due to Cory Barnham's cutting classes.

This year we decided to have two separate booths rather than our usual 4 booth island. Gene's team at booth 2507 did not do as well as Mystie's booth at 724 on Sunday. However, on Monday, Gene's booth skunked the other booth. Special thanks to (I hope I don't leave out any names) Mystie and Jay Hunter, Ron Ellis, Harry and Tammy Megowan, Cory and Julie Barnham and their 3 children, Jim Lanier, Nikita Smith, Chuck Bigelow, Ted Powell and of course the whole management of the Premiere Shows. Click on the title to see all the photos I took at the show.

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.