2012 Bonika Beauty Education Bash Report

Bash 2013

 Click on the photo to see all the photos from this exciting week-end. Video version to come!

The 2013 Second Annual Bonika Reunion and Bonika Beauty Education Bash has come and gone. We are making plans for next year. Frances London Dubose cut 10 heads of hair creating some fabulous styles, she showed 4 color techniques and 8 quick updo ideas plus a hands on razor cutting class. Sheila Tate cut two mens hair then instructed everyone in a hands on class how to create and remove a weight-line, tapering, scissor over comb and a number of other barbering techniques. Stylists attended from as far away as Canada and we provided professional models from ACT models of Alabama. It was a great week-end. I wish it could have had more attendance, but those who came really enjoyed the up close personal classes. Plans are already underway for the 2014 Bash om MLK week-end. Be sure to check the website at www.bonikareunion.com for details and sign up for the newsletter for updates.

Bonika Shears announces their first “Bonika Shears Family Reunion”

Bonika Shears announces their first “Bonika Shears Family Reunion” for education and networking among stylists who cut with Bonika Shears. The announced dates are January 8th & 9th in Duluth, GA , just northeast of Atlanta, GA.

Says Bonnie Megowan, founder of Bonika Shears, “The folks who use our shears have joked for years that they are part of our family. They call us mom and pop or auntie and uncle. It just seemed natural that we get everyone together for a group hug with a family reunion.”

The plans started out small with a selection of a date and a small hotel for the meeting. A handful of educators who were together at the Premiere Birmingham Show put together the idea for the format. Then the Family Reunion concept began to take on a life of its own. As of today’s date educators include
• Frances London Dubose, of South Carolina, called the make-over queen and the most published stylist in the US today. She will teach hands on classes in cutting.
• Dave Ray, of New York City, who has won almost every nationally, recognized beauty competition in the US and an official judge for manor competitions throughout the US. He will teach classes on color and business.
• Rhonda Brown of Ohio, lead educator for Conedco of Ohio. She will teach a foiling class.
• Nikita Smith of Illinois sought after educator presenting at major shows nationally and internationally. She will teach a hands-on cutting class.
• Sheila Tate of Georgia is the creator of “Cutting Cross Cultures.” She is both a cosmetologist and barber. She will teach a hands-on class called “Barbering for the Cosmetologist.”
• Fingaz of Ohio, television celebrity from Hair Battle Spectacular Season One
• Leah Watson of Maryland is perhaps one of the most educated cutters in the US. Her passion for cutting is evident in the styles that appear in print ads, cinema, television and commercials.
• Hosea Hicks of DC, educator, columnist and blogger
• Tomeka James of New Jersey, international educator and celebrity stylists specializing in wig making, weaving and cutting.
• Mags Kavanaugh of Florida, a trichologist with a degree from UCLA in Trichology and Cosmetic chemistry. She is one of the top nationally recognized experts in the industry of hair care with her website askmags.com.
• Naitcole Michele of Georgia is a top educator nationally appearing at hair shows throughout the US.
• Kathryn Pilczuk of Georgia is the “Ka” in Bonika. She is considered one of the first stylists who began cutting with Bonika Shears and is known for her ability to network and bring people together.

Additional educators continue to sign up for the educational network experience. There will be “look and learn” classes, hands-on classes, networking opportunities, vendor tables and more. Many of the events are free to stylists who own Bonika Shears. Details on the “Bonika Family Reunion” can be found at www.BonikaReunion.com.

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!

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

Student Competitions in Fort Worth, TX

We attended the student educational forum and competitions at the Will Rodgers Memorial Center Fort Worth October 26-27th. These students do the most amazing work. Take a look at some of their work. Click to see their work.To name drop, we ate with hair artist Ron Barnes. Also sitting at our table was the 2008 US Gold Medalist from the Hair Olympics, Delano Dees and the US Team make-up artist Gilbert Dove.
Madrid did his usual performance at the forum.

Sheila Tate joined us from Atlanta and taught a class for all the students and teachers. Jerry and Jessica along with their staff put on a tremendous show. The students who attend their schools are very lucky. Not only do they have the best shears in their kit, the Bonika Jazzy, but they have some of the most caring teachers we have ever come across as well as a "commitment to excellence."

Expo Latino

Gene and I just finished the Expo Latino show in Long Beach, CA. Sheila Tate of "Cutting Cross Cultures" taught a class called "Cutting Cross Cultures." We were told it was one of the better attended classes.

This was a party group. Most attendee were more interested in buying cosmetics and spa items than shears. Most of our shear sales were to platform artists. I sharpened about a dozen shearrs. There were other sharpeners at the show, but I was the most expensive at $30.00. One shear I sharpened was the infamous original Vortex. The screw design on that shear makes it impossible, plus there were other design flaws. Fortunately I cn sharpen using the clamp on the Scimech without taking it apart and since the rideline looked good, that's what I did. I tightened the screw with an allen wrench on one side and a UFO tool on the other. It takes 3 hands. (Not really, but avoid this shear if at all possible.) I offered her a $50.00 trade-in on any shear so I could show this baby off to other sharpeners as a warning, but she wanted to keep her shear. I think hell for a shear sharpener would be sharpening this particular shear all day long, and only this shear.

I didn't mention our other adventures. Northwest Airlines sent one of our suitcases to Texas rather than California. This, after charging us $25.00 to ship our luggage. Then FedEx let us down, too and 3 of our displays were broken is shipping. So I don't know which is best for shipping to a hair show. Also, our bi-lingual model was not provided as promised. But, all in all, these were minor annoyances and our good surprises like friendly, helpful union workers at the convention center more than made up for the bad!

We were surprised how many people spoke English at this show and how many non-Latino's attended. Tomorrow we host our Sharp and Shop here at the Clarion in Carson. We expect a small group but are really looking forward to this. We may try to pull this together for future travels.

Photos from the show http://picasaweb.google.com/bonika/ExpoLatino2008

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

Premiere Orlando 2008

I will try to upload some pictures later of the Orlando trip to the Premiere Show. Our sales were up over last year and there was a lot of interest in our new Twister Sister. Jay Hunter sharpened nearly 200 shears which was great considering we were charging $5.00 more per shear this year than last year. Special thanks to all our workers: Ron Ellis, Carla Ellis, Harry Megowan, Tammy Megowan, Mystie Hunter, Jay Hunter, Chuck Bigalow, Bradley Bigalow, Judith, Danny LaPrade, Gene Megowan, Bonnie Megowan, Sheila Tate, Leah Watson, and Carissa Roper. I hope I didn't leave anyone out. It was a successful show and when it was over we all went to Disney World. Just a word of advice, if you go to the Magic Kingdom go to the Pooh's buffet at the Crystal Palace. It was well worth the money.