Hello to the new friends I met in Seattle this Monday.  I am glad to have met you and I hope you got something valuable out of our presentation.

Dig through the old posts on here to get an idea of the subjects we cover, and please feel free to comment!

We are all in this together and your input is imcredibly valuable!

Ah, hair shows.

Much more fun (and much more work!) for the people who put on the show than for the people who attend.

The audience gets to sit for hours and (with any luck) be educated and entertained (I think they call that "infotainment.") while the staff runs about in controlled chaos making the magic happen. It is a long, exhausting process.

It started Sunday afternoon in Seattle for the model call (that's where the models come to be screened and consulted so that we can build the show around them.) These were all volunteer models that come from a craigslist post. In stark contrast to many platform artists I have seen over the years, my group will go out of their way to please the models. We want no crying here!

Sunday is also setup day. Pack in all the color and other supplies we will need and take over a hotel guest room to use as the salon.

Monday morning (bright and freaking early) we set the conference room with all the literature, AV equipment, and plastic for the floor of the stage area. Between the guest room and the stage, we use two rolls of plastic sheeting to protect all the floors and furniture. (Getting haircolor on the hotel property means we have to pay to replace it. Yikes!)

Show starts at 10:00 AM. We were setting up at 8:00 AM. We vacated the hotel at 7:00 PM. (And then we went up the road to have a drink and a wrap-up meeting!)

Since I was working the back room at this event, I was able to take pictures of the process. I have posted them (including a number of before and after shots of models) on Flickr (which is completely new to me and I am giving it a try, so I haven't yet figured it all out).

You can see them here.

I wore myself out just telling you about it! I think I need a nap.

This summer we auditioned a number of product lines to see if there was something that we could offer you that was fresh and exciting and fit in with our salon culture. Once we decided to add products that were not Aveda, we had the opportunity to decide which, if any, of the Aveda product domains we wanted to keep. We pulled reports to show us what we sold and what we didn't and we have come to a place where choices could logically be made.  Shelf life of many products is limited and if we aren't selling them fast enough, they sit on the shelf and may not be up to Aveda's quality standards by the time they make it home with you.  No one wants that!

We are keeping the Aveda hair care domain (shampoo, conditioner & styling product) since that is what we consistently sell and can guarantee.

Since we have inventory of the other domains left on hand, we will be offering them at clearance prices. Now is the time to get any skin care, body care (we have been told we can keep ordering Hand Relief, so that item is not on clearance at this time), make-up or candles. The clearance products are all 45% off while supplies last.  We will continue to have travel sizes available, so they are also not priced for clearance.

In addition to the Aveda haircare, we have the full line of Brocato hair products. We also have a few specialty items from Goldwell and Imunal by Kadus, an elite European hair care line.

If you want Aveda products that we will not be stocking, you can get them in town at Foxfire or order them online directly from Aveda.