American Board of Certified Haircolorists 

Newsletter 

July 2012

In This Issue
5 New ABCH's LA Exam
Next Exam in Dallas
Keratin Treatment Survey Results
Better Safe With Masks
Kelly Clarkson Lightens Up
Hair Pants and FertHAIRLizer
Lowlights from the Editor

            

               American Board                           of
 Certified Haircolorists        
invites you to 
        join us next year for the 
13th annual  Energizing Summit 
  June 9-10, 2013 
 
5 New ABCHs From Los Angeles Exam

Congratulations to all of our new ABCHs and great work on the outstanding high scores!  

The Los Angeles examination was a bit disappointing in that it produced only 5 new American Board Certified Haircolorists. There were some bright spots and a few stylists that came within just a couple of points of passing. They will no doubt be back to try again.

The Board of Directors introduced a new policy that allows the candidate who fails the written examination the first time to retake the examination on line. This saves the candidate the travel expense of going to an evaluator or Board member to have the exam administered. We look forward to the 3 who failed as a result of their written scores to soon be Board Certified.  
 
American Board of 
Certified Haircolorists Exam
Next Certification Exam: 
Dallas, TX July 15, 2012
                   Register online  or take the practice exam
                                www.haircolorist.com
  
Keratin Treatment Survey Results

 

Thank you! We collected 270 responses during the past month and data analysis shows both surprising and not so surprising results.
262 people listed brands with many listing multiple products. These are the top brands listed:
26%   Coppola Keratin Complex
19%   Brazilian Blow Out   
9%     Global Keratin (GK)                                       6%     Simply Smooth
5%     Pravana
3%     Marcia Teixera
2%     California Smooth 
 
Have you ever had an adverse physical reaction to the use and/or exposure to KT treatments?   50% said Yes 

Has a client in your salon ever had an adverse reaction to their hair or body due to KT treatments?   70% said No

 

To adequately compare answers for the next two questions and to ensure that "porosity" is defined in correct ABCH terms, the following responses were filtered to only ABCH certified: 

How would you describe the effect of KT treatments on artificial haircolor?

42%    seals in haircolor, prevents haircolor fadage 
12%    dries out the hairshaft over time 
22%     causes fadage in porous hair 
7%      causes damage and possibly breakage 
12%    KT services do not have an effect on artificial haircolor 

 

Do you think KT services increase the porosity of the treated hair?

36%    No effect on porosity
23%    Increases porosity by LESS THAN one grade 
10%    Increases porosity by one grade 
<1%   Increases porosity by two grades 
26%    I am unsure of the effect of KT services on the porosity of hair

  

Thank you again for participating! We will open the results later in July (watch for an ABCH Facebook status update.) You will be able to see the various comments about favorite brands, adverse reactions, and preventive measures taken for salon safety.  

Please remember that Keratin Treatments are still a fairly new chemical service to the hair industry and manufacturers are continuing to reformulate to keep up with the quickly evolving science and technology. Unfortunately, there are brands offering "new" straightening Keratin Treatments that restructure the sulfur bonds and so are quite different from the original formaldehyde and non-formaldehyde products. Watch for a future article with more details.

Better Safe...

Many who responded to the KT survey noted that their salon does not have a separate area with increased ventilation. Most indicated that they used some extra type of fan or exhaust. 50% had been adversely affected by the fumes but fewer had clients with irritation problems. 

Research suggests that even if you are using a formaldehyde-free formulation of keratin treatments, extra precautions to avoid breathing hazards are recommended. Clients are situated below the rising gases released during this service so they could safely use a face mask graded at P-95 but stylists are recommended to use a higher grade of air filtration, and should use the P-100 grade face mask. This higher grade protects against gases and vapors , where the simpler and less expensive masks are better for dust-like particles. More expensive masks feature an exhalation valve (more comfortable) that is not usually featured in the less expensive disposable kind. Both masks only protect your nose/mouth but not your eyes. A full-on gas-mask though would scare off customers. Darned if you do and darned if you don't. 

Kelly Clarkson Lightens up for Summer

Kelly Clarkson has reinvented her appearance several times since she won American Idol in 2002. Over the past 10 years, Kelly has been many shades of blonde and brown but never red or strawberry blonde. When she stepped out of the salon on June 6, paparazzi snapped photos of her strawberry blonde haircolor, asking in the tabloids if it was a hit or miss. 

Sadly, no mention was made that this was probably not her target shade but rather a stepping stone along the path to lighter tresses. Wisely, her colorist did not try to accomplish this drastic change all in one salon visit. Sure enough, on June 28, Kelly sang on the show Duets wearing a lighter shade of honey blonde with pale highlights. 

We need to continue to educate the public that dramatic color changes are often best done over several visits with adequate conditioning treatments throughout.

Hair Pants and FertHAIRLizer- No Joke!

 

Mr. Bill Black is a hairdresser from St. Louis. He created an all-hair wardrobe that includes vests, scarves, skirts and pants. A pair of his hair pants are exhibited at Ripley's Believe It or Not in Orlando, FL. Pictured at right.

 

His original claim to fame was a product he invented in the late '70s, FertHAIRLizer. Capitalizing on human hair's composting qualities, he sterilized it, mixed it with sand and organic compounds. "A perfect combination of hair and soil that makes plants grow much better and lasts longer than any other fertilizer on the market. This is the ultimate in plant nutrients."  The human body produces a rainbow of vitamins and trace elements that cannot be matched by any plant, animal or chemical process. These miraculous nutrients are condensed and stored into the human hair, thus the creation of FertHairLizer; organic plant food, soil conditioner, and planting mix.

Recycling hair is also good for the environment since the hair doesn't go to landfills or, even worse, to the incinerator. Burning human hair releases extremely toxic gases. Instead, the nitrogen-rich hair, if put on a compost pile, could save quite a bit of nitrogen. Consider this stunning fact: about 6-7 pounds of human hair contains 1 pound of nitrogen - as much as 100-200 pounds of cow manure!

Mr. Bill Black on Jay Leno in 1977. Today, Bill is quite bald and Jay's hair is totally gray. 
Lowlights from the Editor  

  

Happy 4th of July!!!  

Fireworks and haircolor have a lot in common.

Creating firework colors is a complex project, requiring considerable art and application of physical science.

The points of light ejected from fireworks, termed 'stars', generally require an oxygen-producer, fuel, binding agent, and color producer.

While the chemistry of haircolor is different, the desired affects should be similar...gasps and smiles, ooo's and ahhh's. Safe travels and celebrations!                                                                                                              Fun fact for your fourth:

The word for firework in Japanese,

 'hanabi', means 'fire-flower'. 

Write to me...I want to share your opinions and experiences!  

[email protected] USE subject line: ABCH

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editor 

Mary Petillo, ABCH