The 2024 International Beauty Show in Las Vegas was — in every sense of the word — hot.
As scorching as the desert sun outside the Las Vegas Convention Center were the event’s top-tier educators, who graced the West Coast crowd with hard truths and practical advice of value to all beauty and grooming professionals.
For those who couldn’t make it to the show, here are a few beneficial takeaways from IBS-LV '24.
Monaè Everett, during her class Behind the Scenes: Navigating Diversity and Inclusion in Celebrity Styling, on barriers that exist for people of color in high-visibility roles.
At this point at Fashion Week, about 20 percent of the models are of color. And since we aren’t well represented, there are many times I am on set and I hear things that I can’t believe.
They call the models’ hair unruly. Wow. Unprofessional. They say it looks like a Brillo pad. Nappy. I know you guys have heard that word.
Can you imagine being in a professional setting and have someone describe you in this way while you’re working? Difficult. Distracting. ‘Do something with that hair, tame it, it’s all in the way.’
You guys, these are things that are said quite often on set and it comes from absolute ignorance of not knowing how to work with diverse hair textures.
For people who say it can’t just be a Black thing, many times it’s absolutely a Black thing. Many times we see models with curly hair who are white or Latina and they are able to be serviced — so why are there so many Black talent who aren’t?
It’s got to go back to cosmetology school, right? We got to go back to the beginning. Cosmetology schools have been consistently dropping the ball though they’re trying to do better now with a few different initiatives.
What are some ways that cosmetology schools are dropping the ball? They are not teaching us about styling diverse hair textures, working with diverse genders, nor are they teaching us about diverse careers that we can have.
For example, working with production, working with the media, working with celebrities, being an artist educator doing stage shows. How many of you were taught about this in cosmetology school?
… See? Not one hand went up.
Ivan Zoot, during his class Ten Things You Need To Know About the Professional Haircut Business, on managing your books.
You never want to be fully booked. You’ve got to get lunch. You’ve got to get bathroom time.
You’ve got to get air in your book.
If you’re too busy, you’re missing opportunity. If you’re too busy, you’re leaving money on the table.
The client who halfway through a haircut says, hey, do you have time for highlights? Yeah I can do your highlights! We can schedule you two weeks from Thursday …? No.
You want to be able to go in the back, get nine foils, and do a partial highlight right now and take that money.
Your goal is 80 percent. You should never be 100 percent occupied.
If you’re fully booked you don’t have room to breathe. You don’t have room to pee. You don’t have room to eat. You don’t have room to make money.
Miranda Richardson, during her class Marketing your Business & Finding your Niche in the Nail Game, on the importance of pursuing a specific clientele.
What type of nail artist do you want to be? What do you enjoy? Don’t try to do everything. There are only so many nails you can do in a day, in a week, in a month, in a year.
You only need a limited amount of clients who want the type of work you enjoy doing. You don’t want hundreds of people. You want returning clients over and over and over again.
You’re going for a set amount of clients you can trust, and who trust you and your work, whatever type of nails you choose to do. And this is what you want to specify — especially when it comes to your marketing, your social media.
Some people think they need to post every picture they take. Don’t do that.
You can take pictures of everything just to see the improvements in your work, but you don’t have to post it. Only post the things that you want to do every single day, and what you want returning clients to ask for.
You don’t want to put work out there that you don’t like to do. You shouldn’t be marketing that.
Larisa Love, during her class Bold & Blended, on consultations.
During a consultation, I’m so honest, almost to the point where I want to scare them a little bit. This is how much it’s going to cost, this is how many sessions it’s going to be. And I always add a little bit more than I think.
So if I think it’s going to be three sessions, I’ll say four, because you never know. Shit can happen, and at least you have that leeway. And if you do it in three, they’re excited because they thought it was going to be four.
Same with money. If I think it’s going to be a certain amount, I say it’ll be a little bit more, because you never know. What if you have to use more product than you think? Shit happens.
Under-promise and over-deliver. Never guarantee results. It’s not a replication, it’s an inspiration.
And take control. Always take control from the very beginning, from the consultation, because if they take control of the consultation, they’ll take control of the whole appointment and then you’re going to be miserable.
Consult like it’s your first, or it may be your last.
Meaning, if Becky has been coming to me for six years doing a base color I’m never going to be like, hey buddy sit down, I’ll go mix your color. I will still sit down and have a consultation with her.
Because I want to maybe change her mind. And also, it makes her feel special. Our loyal clients should be made to feel the most special. Because new clients come and go, let’s be real.
Rebecca Taylor, during her class Elevate Your Brand: Mastering Social Media, Storytelling, and Mindset, on healthy and productive approaches to social media.
I schedule time to create content every month. On my book, on my schedule, it says Content Day.
Let’s say on a Monday and Tuesday, I’ll block those days off for content and I am there with a mission. I am there on the first day getting all my videos together for the Reels and then the next day I do captions and voiceovers and they’re all batched and they’re ready to go.
And that’s 26 Reels. My posting schedule is Monday through Friday at 6 AM. I schedule it out — done deal, set it and forget it, I’m not farting around on social media.
This is very intentional. I don’t want to be a workaholic any more. I want in and I want out. I’ve got living to do.
It’s a bummer it took me til 43 to figure this out. If you’re younger, Godspeed, get at it. And if you’re older, it’s never too late, get at it.
Because let’s just face it, social media is such a pivotal part of our businesses and our life now, and we need to use it instead of having it use us.
I highly recommend following people outside of our industry. If your feed is just hair, hair, hair, hair, hair — sure, we’re inspired, but we’re also potentially intimidated. We’re comparing ourselves; we’re not good enough, we have issues with self-worth.
It doesn’t have to be like that.
So we follow other creatives to get ideas, but we’re not comparing ourselves directly to them. For whatever reason my feed is French bulldogs, trips to Thailand, food, and I love it.
This means when I go to social media, it’s actually a reprieve. It actually is down time. It’s not 'Ugh, I’m not good enough' — because I curated it that way. I meant for it to be that way.
If I want to research content for hair, I know who to look for. Otherwise, I’m using social media for funsies.