Staying on Top of Seasonal Trends

As your salon's leader, one of your important roles is to serve as a conduit between the beauty and fashion worlds and your stylists who work your frontline. So this month Salon Today asks:

"How do you and your staff stay on top of seasonal trends?"

See a sample of the H Factor by clicking on this link.

"AT SAMUEL COLE AND SALON MOXIE, we publish a seasonal trend report that is distributed to our entire team. We call it "the H Factor" because it is named after the author Nichole LuMaye's nickname, H. The joke in the salon is that Nichole has her Ph.D. in glossy fashion magazines and her favorites are Italian Vogue and W. So my husband Jack approached Nichole and asked if she would start sharing that information with fellow stylists. The first issue featured the major trend of Ombre color. At the time, no one other than Sarah Jessica Parker and the Parisian elite were ready to the switch to a ‘rooty' look flowing into light ends. Our stylists were able to perfect the technique and start transitioning their clients in that direction. We have several clients who, almost a year later, are bringing in images of this trend and we are able to give it to them without any guesswork. Overall, we feel like the "H Factor" keeps us on top of our game and opens our minds to look at the art of hairstyling from a different perspective.

JACK AND JOELLE RAY, OWNERS
SAMUEL COLE AND SALON MOXIE
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA

"BEING A WELLA SALON, we take new trend ideas from their education and make them more salon-friendly to do and reproduce. We then share these ideas with clients, introducing them by saying, ‘I have a suggestion,' or ‘Are you ready for a new idea?'"

TODD GRUBBS, OWNER
TWIST SALONS
VIRGINIA BEACH AND
CHESAPEAKE, VIRGINIA

"WE HAVE A CHALKBOARD in our backroom, and we often write something, such as ‘Mochamocha' when Matrix's Color Sync Mochas were released. Or we'll pin up a picture of a cool updo, a tip from a magazine or even just words of inspiration like ‘embrace your curls.' We only have one small room for everything so seeing those words or pictures keeps them in our minds and we'll end up saying it to clients."

KIM BAKER, OWNER
BIJOU
SKANEATELES, NEW YORK

"AT MARSHALL SALON COMPANY, we do our best to stay on top of the most current trends and techniques. One of our favorite resources are the MODERN SALON and SALON TODAY e-mail newsletters and MODERN SALON TV! We are on the e-mail list so we get daily news from the team there that helps keep us informed. We print articles that are really interesting and post them in the breakroom for staff to read. Awesome articles are shared at our weekly pow-wows or our monthly staff meetings. MODERN SALON TV information is passed along to our staff so they can watch it during their downtime. We keep all of the latest publications of industry-related magazines and also have a DVD library and TV in the breakroom to use during slow times. We love education and try to attend local education events whenever possible and always take a salon trip to one of the larger hair shows."

BOBBIE SCHAEPERKOETTER,
SALON MANAGER
MARSHALL & COMPANY
HAIR DESIGN STUDIO
JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI