Robert Reed – ERGO STYLE

Styling tools are arguably one of the most important aspects of a stylist’s job and on this episode of RadioAMB, Patty Schmucker interviews someone who has changed the styling tool, and the way stylist do your hair, forever. Meet Robert Reed of Ergo Styling Tools. Patty and Robert sit down and take a walk down memory lane as Robert tells his story of triumph over defeat with over 30 years in the beauty industry and just what it took to bring Ergo into the world.

Robert knows a thing or two about why ergonomics are particularly important to stylists and their health. Having experienced his own journey with personal injury, one that has helped him develop, not only the tools to help prevent injury but the education to further protect stylists. Robert is building better quality tools, helping to educate stylists on the correct way to perform their job, and helping them to keep their personal health a priority.

Listen in as Robert and Patty take a closer look at what stylists and salons can do to enrich the health and livelihood of themselves and their guests.

Transcript:
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pretty is pretty important in all things
in beauty welcome to radio a and B
designed for those who want to live a
long and vibrant life I’m patty smoker a
licensed cosmetologist who’s been in the
business for over 40 years
Radio AM B stands for american-made
beauty and it’s where we tell the
secrets behind the making of health and
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you know I grew up as the daughter of a
military man we never lived anywhere for
more than about three years the career I
chose was new to me and and and the
whole idea of the importance of
long-term relationships and the
learnings that took place as a result of
that as well as the rule
Lord of those human connections was
somewhat foreign to me the manual meet
today is someone that I have had the
pleasure of interacting with for over
thirty years
our paths have mostly been parallel
rather than intertwine but as you will
hear he has lived the kind of life many
of us have experienced but have not had
the ability to navigate persevere or
triumph like my friend Robert Reed
Robert Reed captured the imagination and
the allegiance of the professional salon
industry in North America Robert
developed his passion for serving
stylists while serving as president and
co-owner of one of the beauty industry’s
leading scissor brands called Hakkari
USA Robert strategy to develop life-long
customers was the primary focus one in
1994 he formed her go research to
discover and develop the most complete
organ Ahmet collection of styling tools
in the world for professionals and
stylists Robert is the creator of the
successful education program the art of
the blow-dry but it’s Robert’s personal
triumphs that make this giant of the
beauty industry a source of inspiration
for many welcome Robert I’m delighted to
have you with us today
Patti Tanana to share time with you was
a longtime friend and with your audience
well so the you know it’s always
interesting for my audience to hear the
back story you know the human interest
story in terms of how exactly did you
get into the beauty industry and from
creating her go east research well
that’s a long story but since you told
me we only have four hours I’m going to
condense it you know everyone has their
story in the beauty industry about how
they became inspired to join it and I
became inspired through the route of
being hungry I was a hungry disc jockey
and rock concert producer in Long Beach
California during that time I was having
a great time but I wasn’t able to put
much food on my own table hmm I had the
opportunity to hear radio commercial one
time that offered a
unique experience which was that of
getting a rock-and-roll haircut and all
the wine one could drink so I loved that
invitation and got my hair cut at a
salon in Torrance California called fine
arts mm-hmm and tiny was my hair cutter
and he put such great style on me I
loved it but I wasn’t able to really
afford it uh-huh
making about a hundred dollars a week in
a good week as a rock producer then I
had to find out figure out a way to be
able to afford that and they came up
with the idea of trading my voice
talents my production talent to a salon
that I could trade out that talents and
receive free haircuts that salon was in
Los Alamitos California called the Mod
crimpers and these guys were stellar
hair cutters and the winners of many
competitions throughout California which
is very popular at that time while they
were great hair cutters they weren’t
able to speak too well while they were
creating their art so they invited me to
become their presenter and during a hair
show while addressing an audience there
happened to be a gentleman in the
audience who was a legend that I wasn’t
aware of his name was Jerry ready uh-huh
for those of you who may not know him
Jerry is considered the godfather of
protein for hair and the founder of such
legendary companies as Redken Nexus and
germ acts sure Mac was a new company
then we’re talking about 1974 right and
I was invited to join as a salesperson
and frankly the opportunity was so great
and exciting that I joined and kind of
zigged and zagged my way learning about
the industry and visiting salons
throughout California Oregon Washington
Nevada that another opportunity
presented itself it seems like the
harder you work
but luckier yes that’s right at that
time there was a company that had begun
there wasn’t aware of it actually but I
learned about it one afternoon when I’d
asked for a raise
yes for raises $80 a month from German
huh so I could support the two
apartments I was renting and I was let
go oh I guess I wasn’t worth $80 but as
I went to visit some of my friends who
had recently left the company in an old
dilapidated ice house I swear house in
Redding California there were three
gentlemen who started a new company
called kmf uh-huh and in 1976 I accepted
their offer of becoming the first
distributor of that product in the world
based in Southern California mm-hmm and
was there I learned about the importance
of salon education hmm the insights
about chemistry of hair and learned that
the consumer was really anxious to learn
more about how to care for their hair in
the latest most scientifically
progressive manner after working with
kms distributing the products through
Southern California salons we began to
innovate we developed a relationship
with the department store called
Bullock’s which is well like most like
most stores today department stores they
were they were struggling and but they
did invite me into their salons and into
their cosmetic counter to do hair
analysis for some of the guests there
and lead them into the salon and it was
there I really learned how to recognize
the condition of the hair and what types
of products would be perfect for well
and but that was like really innovative
to have be in a department store and to
have a hair guy that was evaluating hair
and then creating an opportunity for the
guests to come into the salon it was a
little bit tight yeah yeah please
they was so well-received that we
expanded through the Bullock’s tours but
over a period of time working with
canvas we began to encounter something
called diversion term familiar with any
professional listening in to our program
today and at that time diversion was
having products anywhere outside of a
salon including Beauty Supplies and oh
it frustrated me so in 1978 I sold that
company to my partner and I decided to
get involved in consumer goods mm-hmm I
started to think what could I do that
would be innovative where would I find a
place a little niche to feel 1% of some
billion-dollar business uh-huh and I
came upon two great ideas one was to
develop a laundry detergent and fabric
softener that would be fragrant based
upon the season okay so we had four
different products for different
fragrances spring summer fall winter and
I thought that was a great idea
uh-huh but I couldn’t sell it no one was
believing then that people wanted
fragrance products as they do today
right but I also had another idea that I
was doing research about because I was
at the time becoming intrigued about
oral oral care haha
and the biggest issues in the market at
that time for that was people who had
oral hygiene problems like bleeding gums
or just one is a better way to have a
fresher mouth hmm
so I talked my way into a USC dental
department and started to do some
research with them there about vitamin
enhancement of toothpaste uh-huh so
vitamin E for cellular cellular
regeneration and vitamin K to address a
bleeding gums hmm and I also had this
crazy idea that people would want
different flavors
had some great fresh fruit flavors and
lastly because I always remembered my
mother saying you forgot to put the cap
on the toothpaste we discovered a unique
dispenser that would allow someone to
dispense toothpaste without having to
put the cap on ah so after working upon
this concept for about a year I decided
it was time to finally sell it to
somebody or find somebody to produce it
with and went to several companies but I
heard a commercial once again on the
radio that said if you don’t look good
we don’t look good
ah and it was from this incredible
visionary person could down so soon so I
said that’s my man and I reached out to
for one one which is how we used to be
able to get a phone number right and
called Vidal Sassoon and learned that he
doesn’t work in the salon anymore he was
in their corporate headquarters in
Century City so I called up there and I
said hello that’s Robert Reed I’m
calling to speak with Vidal just out of
the blue said I’m sorry but I was not in
today but you can speak with his partner
uh-huh whose name was Don Sullivan
okay Don himself was an innovator in our
industry he had created many leading
products for himself and and worked with
companies like Redken mm-hmm and diamond
answered the phone and said Oh Don it’s
Robert Reed have you been he said I’ve
been great Don I’d like to come in and
share with you some new ideas that they
have for product fervid el Don invited
me in I was there the next day came in
with my storyboard my samples and after
listening to me for about 10 minutes Don
said yesterday our Board of Directors
decided to create a new division for a
new professional product from scratch
and it would like you to help me develop
it Wow
I said I’m here about two phases
don’t worry about it we’ll do that but
here’s an opportunity we work together
with me and I was 26 at that time mm-hmm
and Don offered me the position of vice
president of the company and we began in
earnest to create brand new everything
uh-huh we developed the first silk
protein because in our consumer
interviews every woman was looking for
hair like silk hair that was shiny
lustrous had lots of body so that was
our first product development hmm but
Don was such a great mentor and Vidal
was so generous and open-minded that we
shortly thereafter
introduced this great range of products
supported with a brilliant public
relations and advertising strategy of
free samples that came along with the
free hair consultation at a salon
advertisements in magazines with coupons
billboards with arrows pointing to the
nearest salon radio ads that directed
people to look at their Sunday newspaper
to get a coupon to bring into their
local salon it was a huge success
most of our salons gained over 100 new
customers and now all of that was prior
to the internet so being able to get
that kind of reaction was was really a
major major success and so I know that
you like sort of fast-forward through
this process at some point you made the
decision to leave corporate world I mean
you have you put Vidal Sassoon on the
map and in terms of his product what
made you decide to sort of leave that
corporate world and start your own own
business well first I’d like to say that
I didn’t make Vidal the man he was he
made me the man I was that I became as
well as his partner Don Sullivan right
but the company
the pitocin company has grown
exponentially was huge it was almost out
of control it was like rock and roll at
the hair shows and was acquired by a big
conglomerate called Richardson vixen I
had the opportunity if you look at it
that way of either moving to Cincinnati
Ohio and I’m originally from Cleveland
so wasn’t a bad option steam with my
family in Southern California so I
decided to stay in Southern California I
went to one of my friends Tony Beckerman
who told me hairdressers are underserved
and under inspired with their tools
especially their scissors scissors after
their sharpen they’re just no good
mm-hmm but there’s a magical company
that places their scissors in a handmade
wooden box and they’re amazing you
should find out how to work with them
uh-huh and that was a company called
Hikari
Hikari right okay so at that time of
most scissors sold for 25 or 30 dollars
our first scissor sold for $99 mm-hmm my
friends thought I was crazy
yeah and that was like the the the
Starbucks you know when it was 50 cents
per cup of coffee and all of a sudden
you know they’re trying to sell a $3 cup
of coffee that’s what you were doing
with scissors at that point but what we
learned is that if we could recondition
a pair of scissors in the same way that
they were manufactured we would be able
to create value we would be able to
develop in allegiance people stylist
would make an investment in our tool
mm-hmm and we learned that this is
really what our industry was looking for
some people say we changed the
perspective of hairdressers in investing
in new tools but became common whether a
stylist was working out of their home or
in the finest salons throughout the
world that they they they aspired to
excellence they just didn’t know what it
looked like until they held it in their
hand right exactly
and so
we developed this lifelong strategy of
being able to recondition scissors
exactly as they were made that we did
crazy stunts I drew scissors against
walls and then we recondition them in
front of their eyes mm-hmm right right
and so it was essentially with a car you
own the distribution and at what point I
mean obviously throughout this story
product development is always threaded
throughout it when did you actually
begin to think about starting to create
your own product at the end of one trade
show in Chicago after working all day
long our exhibit was closing and there
was a hairdresser waiting to speak with
me mm-hmm he took me aside and asked me
could I please help him
said of course how can I help you and he
reached out and he showed me his hand he
had been in a fire and his three fingers
his pinky his ring finger and what I
called the driving finger were all fused
together from the fire hmm and he asked
me could I please develop a pair of
scissors that he could hold in his hand
so he could cut the hair of his sister
for her wedding hmm it would mean so
much to him in her mm-hmm so I took pair
of scissors and I started to fiddle
faddle around with the handle and dipped
the handle into different types of
rubber and latex so that he could hold
them and once he held them in his hand
and was able to operate them I knew that
being of service to others was going to
be my career mm-hmm I began to work with
hairdressers who seemingly became broken
I mean everyone thinks hairdressing is
an easy profession mm-hmm but it’s very
challenging there’s lots of repetitive
motion in it so I learned that a
hairdressers hand could break down
literally from using it so much
everything about hairdressing is picking
up and gripping
so I began to work with insurance
companies to help rehabilitate injured
stylists
Wow and it finally culminated in us
being able to work with a leading
insurance fund and one of their clients
Supercuts to where we were able to have
the insurance company issue a
prescription for the scissors the
training to use the scissors and the
sharpening for the scissors in our
special way they actually said and
hairdressers might find this funny they
said the only parallel to ways a hand is
used by a hairdresser is that for
chicken pluckers right because they use
their tools in the same way right right
right
and there’s direct correlation I learned
between the efficiency of the tool and
the ease in which to use it that is
where I first developed my interest in
organ aaahm –ax simply to help
hairdressers get back to doing what they
love alright we’re going to take a break
and when we come back we’ll talk about
how that experience leaped Robert
forward into creating our go research so
stay with us we will be right back
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[Music]
welcome back this is patty Schmucker and
you’re listening to radio a and D on
healthy life net I’m here with Robert
Reed from Peugeot research and we’ve
been talking about how he came into the
industry and how he found his real
purpose when he began working with
hairdressers who were injured and needed
to have special design of their tools in
order to do their craft to do their art
so a Robert you actually got an
insurance company to issue you a
prescription to be able to help these
hairdressers is amazing it was the
greatest accomplishments of my career
hmm but once again just directed at what
I learned my life goal is and that is to
help serve hairdressers who serve so
many mm-hmm it’s beautiful and so when
you began I know that there was a period
where you started really making that
happen and did that then lead you into
creating your her go as a company there
was interim period uh-huh but many my
friend had told me that they were in
pain at the end of a day of creating
beauty huh that didn’t make any sense to
me right they loved what they did so
much but at the end of the day they they
suffered for it so I began to expand my
curiosity about ergonomics and what it
meant and ergonomics are simply the
relationship between the body the tool
in the workplace adjustors hmm I
discovered most of the tools that were
presented to them had no professional
input whatsoever in fact normally they
were just copies of something else just
dressed up maybe a little cooler or
cuter mm-hmm and it was time to take a
look and study all the motions of
the hairdresser and discover where the
inefficiencies lied and solve that hmm
so that’s how our go research began this
is a research company we studied we
presented results but I discovered no
one wanted to pay for that either Oh
interesting instead of my customers
asked me to make those products that
would allow their work to be easier and
we began with scissors once again funny
things intervened as such as oh not
funny but interesting things intervened
like state boards wanting hairdressers
to different vector tools in their hands
hmm
because of the fear of HIV and cross
contamination and we began to be
specialists in state board compliance
over a period of time I learned that
there were other opportunities during a
visit to one of my factories in Korea I
I saw these unique tools they were
called flat irons mm-hmm and this is
about 19 1998 and at that time I thought
oh these will be fantastic the trend is
moving to smooth hair so I presented
this idea of tools integrated with
styling techniques to many different
companies no one bought that idea either
their stylist or their creative people
ha ha fantastic but no one wanted to
pull the trigger
uh-huh as a partner so I came home one
day and told my wife Marlene I am tired
of being the scissor guy uh-huh and so
we produced our first production run of
flat irons I think we produced about a
hundred of them in absolutely the
world’s ugliest packaging packaging
actually on it said of Hollywood’s true
secret uh-huh I don’t know what I was
thinking at that time they were received
exceptionally well and we
continue to grow all the way through
about 2008 we developed relationships
with thousands of stylist and salons and
family-owned distribution companies and
then the world changed the economy went
into the toilet and every one of my
small family-owned manufacturing
facilities filed a bankruptcy of one
type or another or within 45 days well
here in the United States in in Asia
okay okay real okay
I had one manufacturer in France they
they suffered what I refer to as an
ethical bankruptcy uh-huh so they just
started to sell willy-nilly everywhere
in violation of our contract but that
said we had a fantastic relationship
with thousands of stylist and nothing to
sell
oh wow so we put the Ergo brand to sleep
all of our employees went to work with a
brilliant hairdresser by name of zambia
i developed tools for sam for a couple
years and again it was the most
difficult time economically in our
generation and we had to leave the
company to start something new
uh-huh and that’s when we rethought our
purpose of not only providing the tools
but providing the education so
hairdressers could use them to create
easier faster better and longer lasting
results and that’s where we are today
and so what is today what is what is
your company ergo well herbal research
is the maker Virgo styling tools and
most people would just know it as ergo
mmm-hmm today we’re a collection of
brushes that have such a phenomenal
allegiance and following it’s so
gratifying to see on Instagram thousands
and thousands of posts or people having
Facebook live and speaking about our
education we’ve expanded into a range of
iron
we have a dryer that is 100% renewable
which is our commitment to having less
trash go into the landfill and once
again the education such as the art of
the blow-dry or its follow of course the
art of the blow guy 2.0 art of the Big
Finish and even with one of our creative
tools called a hot razor okay and so you
you’re part of the business model as
well Robert is that you are really
dedicated it’s the professional
relationship and the relationship
between the professional and the salon
guests tell us a little bit about that
we think that something really magical
happens when a stylist teaches their
guests how to recreate their hairstyle
at home most stylists actually have a
desire to do this but oftentimes they
feel it may be selling when the guest is
so anxious for this information YouTube
and do-it-yourself hair design receives
hundreds of millions of views every year
but we believe when that connection
exists when a stylist shares with their
guests how to recreate the hairstyle
with products and tools that the guest
feels enrich they feel more competent
they feel more confident and ultimately
they become a great walking billboard so
when all this works in harmony there’s
nothing like it exists a retail store
Beauty Supply or on the web so we work
directly with salons we don’t sell to
beauty supplies we don’t sell we don’t
have any authorized Amazon resellers hmm
we think that connection between the
professional and their guests is that
special right and it is I mean when you
take a look at social media and how much
beauty how-tos are used the consumer is
screaming crying to have someone who has
expertise show them how to how to use
that
so our
so we’re going to take another break and
when we come back we’ll talk a little
bit about how life intervened for Robert
as he was beginning to have all of these
various different experiences and how it
really has shaped a lot of the way he
creates really wonderful quality
products so stay with us we’ll be right
back
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healthy life net hey thanks for staying
with us this is patty Schmucker you’re
listening to Radio AM be on healthy life
net I’m here with a Robert Reed the
founder of ergo research and herbal
styling tools we’ve been talking about
his evolution how the company evolved
but Robert you know there have been
several different places along the line
where you had to make various different
turns but there was a very significant
point in which in your life in which
there was a turn of events that really
has shaped a lot of who you are today
tell us about that
well the first year of our gos life 1994
and I was attending a convention in San
Francisco through course of unexpected
events a friend of mine asked me if I
would help him unload some materials
from a truck hmm I thought nothing of it
he had a bad back I was a strapping so
maybe 40 year old I got up on the truck
and shimmied my little tushy in between
the cab of the truck and this big wooden
crate and start pushing the crepe
forward and I heard an audible loud pop
in the bottom of my my hip out of my
back I said wow what was that I thought
nothing of it but the next morning I
couldn’t walk to be taken home in a
wheelchair from San Francisco and over
the course of
next year they discovered that I had
dislocated my hip and suffered something
called avascular necrosis this is where
the hip hop’s out the end of the femur
begins to collapse so I underwent a hip
replacement and unfortunately that
didn’t go too well done I don’t want to
put any fear in the minds of your
audience because technology and surgery
are great today but they weren’t so
great right at the end of 1999 when this
happened right my first surgery hmm I
had to go in for a revision because in
the first week I dislocated my hip five
times ah being rushed to the hospital
each time and eventually at the end of
that week they went in and they put in a
new hip replacement unfortunately the
technology at that time called for them
to use a form of cement to hold my hip
so I wouldn’t dislocate and in about two
years I noticed I was limping I could
have walked in a circle about any effort
and after research they discovered that
my white blood cells were attacking this
cement and is it eaten my pelvis
completely Wow my pelvis was like Oh
honeycomb candy it was look solid but
it’s very fragile
so I underwent another revision at that
time unfortunately I gained a staph
infection it’s called MRSA mm-hmm now my
very resistant right so they took out
all of the components of my hip which by
the way I’ve had five hip replacements
and I have the components of all four
that they’ve taken out if this political
I was just going to say that’s a pretty
awesome collection
you ship anyway I had to undergo two
years of antibiotic therapy without
anything joining my my hip more of my
pelvis to my leg it was just like limp
so I lived for two years on crutches and
in wheelchairs but at the same time I
had a new company and a relatively new
marriage hmm so I had to live I had to
travel traveled to France I traveled to
Japan I traveled to Korea and it gave me
a unique perspective there’s just
nothing like the perspective of a
differently abled person sitting in a
wheelchair and all of the encumbrances
all the obstacles in front of you to
live that life it made me a very
empathetic person and I like the term
you use differently enabled differently
abled differently abled so at that point
I wasn’t so mobile that was my eyes and
my brain were so working in fact they
were seemingly more acutely aware of
everything hmm
so in many of my salon visits I started
to see things differently almost
backwards I think where I would see the
end result of a finished product or
finished result and then figure out all
the steps going backwards to develop
that product right I learned that from
my first therapist
that the key to this was and the key to
my recovery was making sure I took one
perfect step at a time sometimes even
today some 12 years after my last
operation you might see me at a trade
show and I might be limping I’m not in
pain mm-hmm but I’m just walking
sloppily uh-huh because I have to
remember days like that to take one
perfect step at a time and all of a
sudden my limp will disappear I think
I’ve learned this as a great lesson in
life do things as perfectly as you can
and things work out beautifully for you
mm-hmm and it does I’m the whole concept
that from that perspective sitting in a
wheelchair or having to figure out how
to accomplish things that become
automatic for other people if you begin
to I like what you said differently
abled person it’s not that you’re
incapable it’s that the way that you’re
going to accomplish thing is going to be
it’s going to be with a different set of
tools I must say that I didn’t do all of
this on my own getting around the world
and operating my business from a
recovery bed mm-hmm but my wife Marlene
and having such a great team they made
it possible for me they even prompted me
up at a trade show you see me leaning
against the post and that way I could
stand all day long and receive people
and serve our industry right right and
so as you as you began to come back and
then working with the with with the
company it sounds like that was really
shaping the way that you were
redesigning your tools
well sure this skill is called quiet
time mm-hmm
I really began to visualize
stylus doing what they do and being even
more observant I started thinking about
how it could be a better service now
with my new learning than it was in the
past mm-hmm I realized that finishing
blow-drying that’s called blow-dry
blow-drying is singly the most fatiguing
single element that a hairdresser does
every day some take great pride in it
others just try the hair hmm
but I discovered that it wasn’t a method
mm-hmm
most teaching was done through
demonstrations most hairdressers would
see it and interpret it and do it
differently so the default limb is the
art of the blow-dry was to introduce a
system of finishing that everyone could
use the most efficient techniques be
faster develop better and longer lasting
results right all right well we’re going
to take a minute and take a break and
when we come back we’ll talk in a little
bit more detail about where our NGO is
today and how he’s built
ergonomics into the brand for the
professional and also for the consumer
so stay with us we’ll be right back
[Music]
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[Music]
hi there it’s Patti Schmucker and you’re
listening to radio am beyond healthy
life net I’m here with Robert Reed of
ergo research and herbal styling tools
and Robert you’ve talked about really
having that opportunity having had the
injury in that period of time I was
almost a decade is that right that you
were going through that period of some
physical health issues it was a clean
ten years but that ten years seemingly
has allowed me to feel the way I do at
the age I am right right
and so in that you really began looking
at putting quality into the product and
I and you know of course this is
american-made beauty and we always like
to have a brand products that are made
here in the US you make a lot of your
products outside of the United States
tell us a little bit about how you
maintain quality in those products
firstly I think it’s interesting that
when it comes to a professional styling
– one that’s used and enjoyed by the
hairdresser behind the chair one of the
first questions asked at any trade show
or any first encounter is what does it
cost and I’ve developed over my four
decades in the industry a perspective
that it’s not what something costs what
it’s worth hmm
so I began to study how these tools even
something as simple as a brush was
manufactured and I learned that there
hadn’t been any change use materials or
in design of something as simple as a
brush for decades in fact there wasn’t a
clear understanding of what the
difference was between a natural bristle
which many people love and a nylon
bristle
so we began to explore materials and
effects of being able to use a man-made
material like nylon and add different
elements in its formulation so it would
create different results it seems as
though just about every woman in your
audience would remember her mother
telling her to brush your hair a hundred
strokes at the end of each night right
on our YouTube channel which is ergo
styling tools there’s a longer
dissertation on this but there’s a
reason why natural bristles were used 50
years ago and why they’re not suitable
today hmm
nylon bristles again man named material
is in a liquid form when it’s hot nylon
can have different elements added to it
so we add carbon to make sure the
bristle won’t melt because we’re
bristles melting are the number one
reason why someone would replace a brush
in the first place and we add a unique
element to crystal called tourmaline in
its highly powdered form when we add
this to the formula when that bristle is
heated it creates a form of energy
called a negative ion
it becomes ionic and it closes the outer
layers of the hair making the hair shiny
hair color more radiant and the hair
becomes resistant to humidity changes so
first we begin with the desired result
we found factories that could produce
this on a commercial basis for us in
South Korea hmm these same young
manufacturers aspired to be great so we
knew that if we established quality
materials quality production processes
standard operating procedures for making
sure all the materials were consistently
of the highest caliber we would end up
with something unique and during my
recovery period that’s when I started to
think about how we could make a brush
faster that’s how we developed the idea
for a longer barrel and let’s
work with more hair mm-hmm per
professional means they go through the
hair fewer times they can take wider
sections finish faster for the consumer
it means it’s easier to reach the back
of their head with this longer barrel so
they can reach their entire style even
the handle was unique or became unique
because we learned by working with
doctors who specialized in and
reconstruction everything about
hairdressing is squeezing gripping right
so our handles made of a silicone this
is a slightly pliable surface even your
hands are wet or have styling products
on it you don’t grip it as hard you have
full control so this led us to develop
these brushes that have such an
Allegiant loyal following so we work
with all of our factories to ensure that
the initial raw materials meet the
specifications when blended together
they develop a consistent product
assembled by hand and machine combined
to come up with a consistent product
that today the effective rate of our
brushes is about three one hundredth of
a percent Wow
and as far as closing the loop on that
system you put a lot of work into
tooling the hairdresser not only with
those physical tools but also with that
way in which to connect with the guests
and and allow the guest to take those
tools home and have at home services
that are that are satisfactory as I
mentioned earlier it’s funny about our
industry you learn most everything
hands-on haircutting is taught hands-on
for the experience of being able to hold
the hair in certain ways in certain
angles and the scissors to remove the
hair the way you envision hair coloring
is taught to hands-on right we see the
hair color reformulate color we apply
they’re using special techniques but for
blow-drying again almost all of it was
taught through demonstration so the
development of our in salon classes the
art of the blow-dry provides stylist
with this method for efficiency being
able to visualize the hair texture
they’re working on as a fabric and
importantly giving that gift of
information to their guests because
every stylist wants their guests to look
great every guest is seeking that
information put the two together with
the right dialog right asking the right
questions and the guest is really happy
they’ve chosen that stylist to their
profession right well as we come to the
end of the show and you think back on
your career
and where your business is today and
where is it going any any any words of
wisdom for people who are entering the
industry and want to be successful that
would require probably in our response
I’ll put it this way I think that you
want to remember that there’s an old
adage that you become that of your five
closest friends so you become that
person that is a homogenous ation of
your five closest friends mm-hmm choose
your right five closest friends if you
aspire to be a great hairdresser find
the best hairdressers in your community
and hang out with them mm-hmm
shampoo for them sweep the floor for
them do anything you can to observe them
and observe their best habits and
they’ll become a great mentor for you
hmm
for a consumer who’s listening today you
should simply ask your hairdresser
please show me how I can recreate my
hair style in the fastest way in the
morning maybe another way for the office
and another way for
we’ve been right demand that of your
hairdresser they may be shy about
sharing it with you it’s not a secret
they want you to know exactly alright
great well thank you Robert thanks for
spending some time with me today and for
sharing your story we really you you
really are an inspiration not only in
the tools and the work that you do for
the industry but for who you are as a
man and a mentor and a leader thanks for
being with us today I love our industry
there’s so much for us to share with the
consumer that’s right all right well
thank you all for listening and being
with us today
and tune in next week as well I’m Patti
Schmucker thank you for listening to
radio a and B where we think pretty is
pretty important in all things in beauty
have a shiny day
[Music]
English (auto-generated)