First Lady Michelle Obama will appear on the cover of the fashion glossy when the April issue of Vogue arrives on newsstands in less than two weeks.While other presidential first ladies are largely forgotten, Michelle Obama “Let’s Move” fitness campaign may be her official issue as first lady, but it will not be her greatest legacy.

According to Vogue magazine Michelle’s greatest legacy will be permanently redefining the American ideal for femininity, beauty and womanhood, and her appearances in Vogue magazine will be remembered as central to this. However, Michelle Obama is the second First Lady to grace the cover of Vogue, that honor goes to Hillary Clinton in 1998. Nor is she the first women of color.

Contrary to folklore, the first black woman to appear on a Vogue cover was not brown-skinned Beverly Johnson but ethnically ambiguous-looking, although African-American, Donyale Luna, who graced the magazine’s British cover eight years before Johnson became the first black cover model for American Vogue in 1974. Donyale Luna becomes the first cover model of ethnic origin for Vogue, for an issue entitled Eye on the International Collections.

Unlike a model who may be hot today and gone tomorrow, Michelle Obama has emerged as American fashion’s most bankable face of the last half decade. Few models enjoy one Vogue cover, let alone two. Even fewer black women who aren’t models land two covers – with A-list stars such asBeyoncé and Halley Berry, both of whom are light-skinned, being notable exceptions.

The First Lady seems to have settled comfortably into her pop-culture status as a fashion icon.Years from now, few will remember what President Obama said in his most recent State of the Union address. But some little girl will come across a copy of Michelle Obama’s Vogue magazine covers, presenting her in all of her dark-brown-skinned, full-lipped glory, and see herself and know that she is as beautiful as an American first lady. Almost as important, some people who don’t look like that little girl will have learned to appreciate her brown beauty, too, thanks to the First Lady of Style… Michelle Obama.

Happy Holidays from Salon Voices!

Tis the season for giving, and this month we are giving away TONS of gifts for you! Starting December 6th, we will be doing a giveaway a day until Christmas. See the calendar below to see what you could win!

All you need to do is check our facebook page at 9:00 a.m. each day. We will ask a question, and all you need to do is answer it to be entered to win. Winners will be drawn at random at 10:00 p.m. and announced the following day.

Click here to see a full calendar of giveaway items and to learn more about each product or service.

You must be subscribed to SalonVoices newsletter and must like us on Facebook to win.

Your staff is critical to the growth of your Salon or Spa! Most all salons and spa want to be recognized for a standard of excellence and costumer services. As a salon owner you require your staff to provide value added service and individually pamper each guest to maintain and increase client retention. As your salon or spas clientele increases, so too are the demands on your most valued assist the salon professionals. No mater the professional cosmetologist, barber, esthetician, nail technician or massage therapists all work is physically demanding. Standing over clients providing service making many of the same respective motion day after day, week after week, year after year will break down the body. Just as you would assist your staff in setting retail and service goals, why not challenge them to take a holistic approach to caring for there body. You can grow your business, empower your staff and exceed your salons expectations as well as their own personal goals and growth.

The 90 Second Movement Break for Salon and Spa Professionals

Take a 90 second a movement break before and after each client or invite them to take one with you. When taking your 90 Second Movement Break remember to keep your Head up, Back straight, Shoulders back and down, find gentle tension, Hold for 15 second and breath naturally. Repeat often as you like.

Rotator Cuff Stretch

• Stand with eyes looking forward
• Bend arms at elbows
• Bring one arm up and place one hand behind shoulder
• Bring other hand behind your lower back
• Reach hands towards each other
• Push both elbows back away from body
• Hold & repeat 3 times on each side
• A towel may be used to assist

Neck Stretch 

• Stand with hands clasped behind back
• Shoulders down & chest up
• Slowly rotate head around in a circular motion
• Hold each position 5 to 10 seconds
• Rotate in opposite direction Repeat

Care for your hair all summer long!

Summer is right around the corner! While everyone loves the sun and fun summer offers, it introduces new threats to hair health. Keeps your clients’ hair looking great by teaching them how to protect their locks from some of summer’s greatest offenders; sun, humidity and heat. Summer’s conditions are all harsh on hair causing it to be dry, brittle, dull, frizzy and hard to style. Here are a few tips to keeping hair healthy:

Sun: Just as it can damage skin, the sun can also damage hair. Suggest that your clients wear a scarf  over their hair to help protect it from the sun. If a client comes in for an up-do for an outdoor wedding or special event, propose pulling the hair into a classic chignon and wrap it with a scarf–this looks chic and keeps hair healthy. For a day in the sun, advise your clients to wear hats or keep their hair up, to prevent and minimize damage to the hair. Plus, wearing a hat will protect your skin–it’s a win-win!

Humidity: Everyone wants happy clients- that means letting them know when NOT to get a cut. If you want a happy client- and a returning client, encourage those with coarse or curly hair to wait for those bangs until after the threat of summer humidity is over. New York salon owner Mark Garrison, of Mark Garrison salon, warns, “The ‘boing’-or shrink up factor- is just too great!” Persuade your coarse and curly haired clients to keep their bangs longer during the summer- this will look sleeker and allow the client to sweep them to the side.

Heat:  Summer heat also brings sweat.  When you sweat, hair can become flat and greasy- not a good look for anyone! A quick fix is dry shampoo. Amy Abramite, the creative and educational director of Chicago’s Maxine Salon, suggests that, “If you’re on the go, refresh and cleanse your style with dry shampoo.” When clients come in for a cut or style, teach them how to use dry shampoo by spraying 1-inch sections, going against the grain of hair growth. Allow the shampoo to absorb and then brush out the hair.

Teach your clients these tips so that their hair stays beautiful and strong all summer long. Prevention is the most important step in keeping those luscious locks healthy, but if clients come in with damaged hair, recommend a highly moisturizing and conditioning mask- this will make the hair silkier and smoother.

Can a broken down body threaten your career?

Many salon professionals work long hours standing on hard floors making the same repetitive or sustained motions. This same repetitive motion  breaks down the muscles, joints and connective tissue causing weakness and pain in those muscle and joints. If your body’s muscle, joints and connective tissue are not healthy they will not work as a unit. Allowing them to pull on the bones and stabilizing the joints through full range of motion.

By incorporating a daily routine of 90 Seconds Movement Breaks your stress will be reduced, range of motion can be restored, flexibility of the muscle and soft tissue will be improved and muscle and joint pain will greatly reduce.

Your body is your greatest asset to earning income!

When taking your 90 Second Movement Break remember to keep your Head up, Back straight, Shoulders back and down, find gentle tension, Hold for 15 second and breath naturally. Repeat often as you like. 

 The Fly

For Shoulder, neck, arms, wrist, palms and fingers

• Stand tall in a ready position with chest (sternum) lifted, feet shoulder width apart.
• InhaleExtend arms out front
• Exhale Interlace fingers
• Inhale Rotate palms out Hold
• Exhale Raise arms up over head Hold
• Inhale Keep head up, shoulders down
• Exhale Keeping palms flexed Hold
• Inhale Slowly push hands out  to sides and down to hips Hold
• Repeat if time permits

For wrist, hands and fingers

Wrist and Finger Pull

• Extended one arm out palm facing up
• Shoulders down and chest up
• Assisting with other hand take a hold of fingers slowly pull fingers toward body
• Hold & Repeat
• Turn palm face and repeat
• Alternate hands

Salon Voices is the leader in Social Networking Operations and Reputation Management focused on salons. The challenge of promoting your salon’s accurate images rests in your hands. Salon Voices delivers the true face of your hard earned reputation to your current and potential customers. Salon Voices combines social networking reviews with confidential insight from your regular and consistent customers to give you a concise analysis of your business. For more information visit http://salonvoices.com.

Exercise courtesy of:  http://www.activebodyworks.com/salon&spa.html

Are you famous for your super silky hand lotion? Do you have a genius idea for hair therapy, skin care or beauty tools? Possibly you sell your products on a small scale from your home a boutique or local fairs, but now it is time to get serious. You want to get your product into the hands of consumers globally, into beauty salons and retail stores, but WHERE do you start? How do you take your kitchen experiment to the market? Producing a product that is safe, reliable and attractive to consumers is only step one. Actually getting it on store shelves is a whole other challenge. Join Salon Voices and Charles Montgomery to learn everything you need to know about mass marketing, producing and funding your product.

Mass Marketing is the process in which one attempts to market their product to the general market, opposed to niche marketing, where one markets towards a specific clientele. Learn how YOU can move your product to mass marketing and production!

Part 3: Marketing, Legal and Federal Requirements: Monday May 21st, 7:30 to 8:30pm.

Get the answers to all of these questions in the third session of SalonVoices’ May webinar series with Charles Montgomery. Learn the price of mass marketing your product and the lead time it will take between signing your contract and selling your product.

In this session learn:

This is part three of a three-part series.
Sessions run on Mondays, May 7th, 14th and 21st, 7:30 to 8:30pm EST.

1 session $75
2 sessions $130 ($65 each)
3 sessions $180 ($60 each)

WASHING: In order to combat the frizz, you must start at the basics: washing your hair. While some stylists recommend not using shampoo on dry, frizzy, curly hair- if you must wash, you should use a creamy shampoo–NOT a clarifying shampoo. Your curls require conditioner. It is impossible to over-condition frizzy hair. Every time you wash your hair, use a heavy conditioner and use a deep conditioning product once a week. As Morales mentioned, to eliminate frizz, you must protect your hair from the humidity. As soon as you get out of the shower, apply a combination of smoothing cream and an alcohol-free gel to the hair cuticle. Comb it through with a wide tooth comb.

ENHANCING: Enhance your curls by applying a curly hair styling to damp hair. Rub the cream into the hair and allow the hair to air dry. While it is not recommended to use a blow dryer on curly hair (as this may invite frizz), IF you do blow dry use a diffuser and hold the dryer under your hair while cupping or squeezing your hair in your palms.

LET IT BE: It is best to leave your curls alone- playing with them, blow drying, scrunching, etc. will increase the frizz factor. Your best bet is to let your hair air dry and style it by twisting curls around your finger.

SNIP IT: Get a haircut that suits your curls. Generally, length is better as it weighs down the curls. A medium to long cut leaves curls looking loose and sexy. However, when done properly curly hair can look great short, too. Find a stylist who has curly hair themselves or is very experienced in working with curly hair because they will understand your specific needs.

Curly hair might need a little extra love, but when you take care of it and give it what it needs- it will look amazing! Keep these tips in mind and you will fall in love with your curls!

Salon Voices is the leader in Social Networking Operations and Reputation Management focused on salons. The challenge of promoting your salon’s accurate images rests in your hands. Salon Voices delivers the true face of your hard earned reputation to your current and potential customers. Salon Voices combines social networking reviews with confidential insight from your regular and consistent customers to give you a concise analysis of your business. For more information visit http://salonvoices.com.

Due to the commotion and buzz over the topic, our friend Christy Montoya at SalonGalaxy.com has been contacted by the CEO of eSalon, Francisco Gimenez, who tried to explain the product and how they are not trying to keep with those behind the chair.

He confessed that eSalon is not a complete solution for hair color services, as they cannot offer a fraction of the options that traditional salons can. In fact, eSalon products are only able to lift 2-3 levels because the FDA will not allow him to package developer that exceeds 25% in volume. Also, his chemist believes that ammonia-based products are safer than MEA…? According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, ammonia is a hazardous substance that has related negative health effects.

eSalon offers an online ordering system where the consumer inputs their information to receive a specifically formulated bottle of hair dye. The process takes about 10 to 15 minutes to complete. You are prompted to answer questions involving your natural hair color, what chemical treatments or processes you have had in the past, your ethnicity, hairstyle, etc. Then you choose what color from the swatches given matches your desired hair color.

When it comes time for the application, eSalon has designed a formula that involves a two-step application process. You apply the first formula to the roots, let it sit, and then apply the second formula to the ends. If done properly, the color should match the swatch that you chose.

As this opportunity looks quite appealing to the consumer eye, it is important as salon owners to educate your clients and explain why these products, among other at home coloring kits, can be dangerous and should be avoided.  Stylists have been educated and certified to offer these services for a reason!

Salon Voices is the leader in Social Networking Operations and Reputation Management focused on salons. The challenge of promoting your salon’s accurate images rests in your hands. Salon Voices delivers the true face of your hard earned reputation to your current and potential customers. Salon Voices combines social networking reviews with confidential insight from your regular and consistent customers to give you a concise analysis of your business. For more information visit http://salonvoices.com.

Appearance means everything with the holidays just around the corner. It’s a wonderful time of hanging out with loved ones and hosting a party or two. Take this opportunity to show your guests just how glamorous you can be! Cindy Perlman offers some great tips on how to achieve this look. She suggests, “Focusing on being stress free and getting your sleep every single night the week before the big day.” She also recommends keeping a bottle of moisturizer or body oil by your kitchen sink to keep your hands looking nice and fresh.

Another way to relieve stress is to treat yourself to some pampering.  Many salons have affordable services that will make you feel good without hurting your wallet.  The “blowout” is a current hair trend that several women are benefiting from.  Sachi Fujimori explains, “These single-service beauty parlors, known as “blow-dry bars,” offer quick, affordable walk-in procedures for women who want to look their best before a night on the town or heading into the office for a meeting.  A weekly blowout is an affordable luxury compared with spending hundreds on highlights and coloring.” This service is perfect for clients on the go or financially conscious.

We wish you a safe and happy holiday. Let us know how you plan to create your effortless and sophisticated look!

Salon Voices is the leader in Social Networking Operations and Reputation Management
focused on salons. The challenge of promoting your salon’s accurate images rests in your hands. Salon Voices delivers the true face of your hard earned reputation to your current and potential customers. Salon Voices combines social networking reviews with confidential insight from your regular and consistent customers to give you a concise analysis of your business. For more information visit http://salonvoices.com.

 

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