Your hair education can take you in lots of different directions. Sometimes you start playing with hair as if it’s clay or wire or marble—an artist’s material that you can mold, twist and chisel into absolutely anything. You can get so into your own creativity that you just want to break free from the “serving clients” cage and do your own thing.

So it’s no wonder that everyone loves the “avant-garde” category at hair competitions. Hairdressers enjoy competing in avant-garde, because it’s a no-holds-barred, anything-goes demonstration of unrestrained creativity. It fascinates the public, too, because avant-garde is sort of the freak show of what can be done with hair. The photos here are great examples. Designed by Darian Bishop of Dallas, TX, this collection topped all other avant-garde entries at the 2009 North American Hairstyling Awards (NAHA) held in Las Vegas earlier this month.

Think about it: if you could cut and shape hair as anything you like, what would it be? I suggest that, every now and then, you do just that. Take a long-haired mannequin and just go crazy. You might find that you’ll want to keep it and even display it! At the very least, capture it with your camera. It’s not a bad thing to remind clients and colleagues that you’re an artist at heart. Click here to see this year’s NAHA winners and nominees in all categories, and next time I’ll talk about how I think avant-garde hair relates to your work in the salon.

I am “invited” to a webinar this Wednesday. Having just encouraged you to attend the continuously available “iFoil in Color” free webinar (click here) to take advantage of some great online hair color education, this email invitation interested me. Just as I believe that you could benefit from online hair education, perhaps I could benefit from whatever this webinar had to offer.

Upon closer look, I saw that this webinar had little to do with me. It seemed to give instructions for using online social networks like Twitter to recruit employees. The sender assumed that I have employees, which I do not, but I suppose I could pass on some of the tips I’d learn to salon owners and managers who read the blogs and articles I write.

But then I saw the price: a buck short of $200. No thanks. The “iFoil” webinar that I hope you attend is free, since it’s offered by Product Club in an effort to introduce you to the company’s hair color accessory line. Our education here on ModernSalonLearning (MSL) costs $19.99 to $45. In both cases, you hairdressers receive detailed instruction that you can follow in a hands-on manner. I have no problem with charging something; like the company that contacted me, MSL is in the business of online education so there’s a fee. But for a whopping $199, all I’d be getting is generic networking information I can read anywhere. It shows you what a bargain online hair education is!

I just learned that “iFoil in Color,” the free webinar I suggested in my previous blog post that you try to catch, is now available 24/7 just like our own online hair education here at ModernSalonLearning! Although you will not have the ability to submit questions for the live Q&A, of course, you can hear other people’s questions, and I’m sure the Product Club artists who conducted the webinar—Patrick McGivor and Adrienne Rogers—will be happy to answer any questions you have if you contact them directly.

During the webinar, Patrick shares his “Haircolor 2.0” philosophy, which approaches coloring as a service that creates a fabulous, customized experience for the salon guest. In this economy, Patrick notes, it gives you an edge when the client knows that each time she visits, you’re looking at her with fresh eyes and not just doing the same thing every time. He credits this approach with boosting profits at his two Color Studios 14 percent and 12 percent, respectively.

Adrienne demonstrates the “Petal Spray” and “Color Scoop” color techniques. If you like an asymmetrical look and want to learn how to place foils for a precise effect that depends on where the client parts her hair, you won’t want to miss Adrienne’s patient instruction and the beautiful results. In the Q&A, Adrienne shares how she prices her color services. So when you have an hour, day or night, to have fun learning something new, click here to register for the free webinar!

Doing anything tonight? I mean anything better than spending an hour with two of the best hair colorists around? Did I mention that it’s free? You may have received an email from Modern Salon alerting you to the “iFoil in Color” webinar this evening that offers an hour of online hair color education to anyone who signs up for it. What’s the catch?

It’s not a catch, but it is somewhat of an advertising strategy or, you might say, “gimmick.” By inviting colorists to a free webinar, a company called Product Club will have the opportunity to introduce its products to the people most likely to purchase them. Product Club offers about 200 products having to do with hair color—everything from caps, capes and gloves to mixing bowls and foils to educational DVDs. If you enjoy the webinar, perhaps you’ll throw a few things in your shopping cart. But is there a catch? No. You’re perfectly welcome to enjoy the education and leave your credit card in your wallet.

I know you’re busy, but I can’t come up with a good reason for any serious hair colorist not to set aside one hour. Conducting the education are the fabulous Patrick McIvor and Adrienne Rogers, both salon owners and acclaimed colorists and educators. On the eastern time zone, the webinar takes place at 8pm; that means it’s at 7pm central, 6pm mountain and 5pm pacific time. Click here for full information, and click here to register. Doing anything better?

Photo: Patrick McIvor

Nothing warms my heart more than a good educational scholarship, and I like to alert you anytime anyone offers money to finance your continuing hair education. Today’s scholarship announcement comes from America’s Beauty Network (ABN), an umbrella group for members of Cosmetologists Chicago (CC), Cosmetólogos Latinos, the International Nail Technicians Association (INTA) and the American Association for Esthetics (AAE). ABN pledges in 2010 to award $25,000+ in President’s Scholarships to members who qualify through an application process that just opened and will remain so until December 1. Scholarship winners can receive up to $2,500 each; they are selected on the basis of need and academic record.

CC President Luz Segovia says ABN is happy to fund education, because it “not only helps the individual stylist reach personal career goals but, when winners bring what they’ve learned back to the salon, others benefit.” Originally the Evelyn Bunge Scholarship Fund, the President’s Scholarship was launched more than 20 years ago. Spouses, children and grandchildren of the 6,000 ABN members also are eligible to apply.

Scholarship recipients can put the funding toward any broadly related industry education program or tuition. The scholarship helped four-time recipient Karen Gordon of J. Gordon Salon in Chicago finance both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from DePaul University in applied business practices. Karen notes, “There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t use that knowledge in managing my business.” For details and an application, call 312-321-6809 or  click here to reach the ABN website.

Photo: Karen Gordon

Every tight job market becomes an opportunity to introduce male clients to hair color. Men are out of work or insecure about their jobs, and to stay competitive they must look young and vibrant. Today, with jobs so scarce, why not drop the term “gray blending” into your conversation with the guys?

No matter which color line you use, I’m guessing that you can fashion a quick service with subtle results that will rejuvenate your men without making them feel as if they have shoe polish on their heads, which is probably how a lot of them still regard male hair color. For example, Redken sent me a press release about the company’s new “Customized Camouflage Service” that offers men a five- or ten-minute service right at the shampoo bowl to just take the edge off the graying. “The results are demi-permanent and fade naturally until his next salon visit, so there’s no high commitment level—something male clients love to hear,” the press release states.

Charla Krupp, author of How Not to Look Old, told msn.com that this is no economy for people to embrace their gray. “Krupp has talked to job recruiters, and they tell her they’re looking for ‘energy’ (read: youth), not gray-haired experience,” the article notes and further quotes Krupp as saying, “We live in a competitive world in this job market crisis.” Offer an affordable rate for gray blending, and I’m betting you’ll have takers. Men would rather look like a “has it!’ than a “has-been.”

Photo is courtesy of Redken.

Considering that my most recent two blog posts addressed the habits of upscale Manhattan clientele who come into the salon for twice-weekly blowouts, I wasn’t surprised to see this timely announcement in my email: “Blow, New York City’s premiere ‘blow dry bar’ responsible for transforming the tresses of Manhattan’s VIPs on their lunch hour, is pleased to introduce an exclusive curriculum for salon professionals coast-to-coast seeking to master the art of Blow’s proprietary, award-winning blow out, and who are looking to increase revenue in their salons.”

According to the press release, Blow handles 16,000 blowouts a year for 25,000 registered clients. If you want to add “Certified Blow Dry Expert” to your hair education credentials, you can travel to New York and complete the course at this new Blow Dry Bar Academy. Blow also is using this offer as a way to promote its Blow Hair Care line; if your salon picks up the line you’ll be included as a certified blowout stylist on an online national locator and receive additional incentives.

“The Blow Dry Bar Academy will create a new retail and service revenue stream for participating salons, which is vital for survival in today’s economy,” says Stuart Sklar, Blow’s founder and partner. On one hand, I think this would be a fun course for stylists. On the other hand, individual prices for taking the class start at $300, with group rates available, and I wonder whether practicing on your own might work as well. What do you think?

Last time I was telling you about Jeremy Schiefflee, who relocated from Minneapolis to NYC to discover that his Manhattan clientele came in for blowouts once to twice weekly and rarely styled their own hair. “I’d spent so many years with people who wanted me to work with their face shape, head shape and hair texture and explain it all to them,” Jeremy notes. “Here they don’t want to be part of all that.”

Then there’s Robert DiTacchio, who left Los Angeles to settle down as manager of Jon ’Rick Salon and Day Spa in Denver, where he enjoys hair artistry, especially hair coloring, in all of its glorious variety. But Robert credits the diversity of challenges not to the mid-size mountain city, but more to his own price point. “I had the opportunity to charge more out here, but I like to have a balance of creativity,” Robert says. “If you’re very expensive you’ll do highlights all day. You’ll get the older bleached blonde women and the Paris Hiltons. When you want to do beautiful reds and coppers on asymmetrical cuts, you need to be a little more affordable so you get some punk kids and the 25-year-old just starting her career.”

Both Robert and Jeremy have amazing careers, and both get to experience that great feeling of complete trust and enormous gratitude from their clients. Their stories just got me wondering whether you other hairdressers out there might have found a price level that suits you best.

Photo: Robert DiTacchio

Two hair stylists I interviewed recently gave me insight into the way your clientele is determined largely by your salon’s profile and location. Let’s take location first. Jeremy Scheifflee was working in Minneapolis when, already a member of the Brocato Creative Design Team, he was asked to work with Sam Brocato at the new Brocato Salon in New York City, formerly the Oscar Bond Salon.

“The first time someone came in for a blowout,” Jeremy recalls, “I thought, ‘Wow, I haven’t done a blowout in three years.’ In Minneapolis everyone wanted intricate cuts—architecturally strong hair cuts that form the hair’s shape—and then I’d spend a lot of time teaching the clients how to style their own hair at home. In New York, they want one-layer, very conservative hair, and they don’t want to do their hair; they want you to do it. So I’ll blow out their hair and they’ll wrap it up that night, wear it the next morning, put it in a ponytail the day or two after that and come back in to repeat the process every three to five days.”

Robert DiTacchio was headquartered in Los Angeles and traveling the world doing hair education as a Wella/Sebastian artist when he decided he’d had enough jet-setting and wanted to put down roots anywhere but in L.A. He settled on Denver, where he has the opportunity to do all types of hair looks. But all is not as it seems, and we’ll dig deeper next time.

Photo: Jeremy Scheifflee