David Kafer and Jason Hall, owners of RED 7 SALON with locations in Chicago and Evanston, Illinois.

Chicago's Red 7 Salon took it one step further when they were tapped to do ambush makeovers for a national daytime program, The Rachael Ray Show. Even though it meant a kind a few hassles and a really early morning, owners David Kafer and Jason Hall jumped at the opportunity.

Afterward, Hall was gracious enough to contact us and share his illuminating and humorous behind-the-scenes story:  

"Call us crazy, but when the YUM-O queen of daytime TV called and wanted RED 7 SALON to perform dramatic makeovers on selected women in Chicago's Midway Airport, we said YES! Our GlamSquad worked with the Rachael Ray Show on taping two segments (aired in early October) in the Chicago area. The work was quite a challenge, but a whole lot of fun. Plus, we got to work with beloved Makeup Goddess/Rachael Ray Correspondent/QVC Queen Mally Roncal! What a hoot!

"So, our day began at 4:30 a.m. We picked up our entire RED 7 SALON GlamSquad and headed off to Midway Airport to make our call time of 7:30 a.m. First, we had to grab coffee-needing caffeine very badly! Then, we had to meet the segment producers at security and walk through together. Though Oprah's protege Rachael Ray was on our side, we still couldn't have anything larger than a travel-sized product! All of our shears and tools were able to get through (Thank God) because we had a lot of work ahead of us. Off to makeover land...

"We primarily worked in the Southwest Airlines terminal (turning a lot of heads) and had to set up a make-shift hair salon. Our first three makeover candidates were pre-selected by the show, and the others were ambushed by Rachael's segment host, Molly Roncal. We did major changes on all. What's really great is that after the show taped, we received a wonderful Thank You letter from one of our makeover candidates to thank us and to say that her haircut (done by our Master Stylist David Kafer) CHANGED HER LIFE! Wow, that's so amazing-you know what I mean? It makes waking up before birds worth it!

"Overall, the day was grueling, but a joy-we performed six major makeovers (only three making the show and the others hitting the editing floor) and were out of there at 7:30 p.m. Seeing as this was for TV, there was a lot of hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait. Honestly, we had never been in an airport for that long. We all needed a good stiff drink after the day was done. It was an amazing experience-fun, challenging and educational. Thanks, Rachael!"

Stacey Soble has been involved in the conversation of salon business for 14 years-as a reporter, a consultant and as the editor in chief of SALON TODAY.

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