American Board of Certified Haircolorists 

Newsletter 

August 2013

In This Issue
Boston ABCH Exam Results
Dallas Exam correction
ABCH Exam Dates
2014 ABCH Advertising Program
Vintage Slogan Recycled
Excuse Me...What?
Wella is ABCH Mentor Sponsor
Lowlights from the Editor

 
SAVE THE DATE!
 
14th Annual  
ABCH 
Energizing Summit
 June 8-9, 2014 
 
LAX Marriott Hotel
Los Angeles, CA 
       
  SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!
After taking the Boston Exam
Congratulations to our Newest ABCH Board Certified Haircolorists!
 
 This year the Boston exam was a huge success. Twenty-seven candidates arrived all looking the part of an American Board Certified Haircolorist and it showed in their work. 

It was the first time in giving exams, every single candidate passed the Performance portion of the ABCH exam. Their work was neat and smoothly done. After all the Performance, Written and Interactive scores were tallied, we ended up with 21 new ABCH Members.

Of the twenty seven Boston Exam candidates, nine haircolorists were from Bellucci Salon in Springfield, MA. The salon already has three American Board Certified Haircolorists and with nine more will be everyone in the salon. In this salon, it is MANDATORY you become Board Certified and watching these candidates at work, you could tell they REALLY took it seriously and it showed.

Jillian Manning shared this story after the Boston Exam:

A mental, whirlwind weekend!! 
  • On Friday morning I closed on my first house. So exciting but also scary making the biggest purchase of your life!!
  • After closing, I made 2 trips of moving before going to work!!
  • After work, I went home to study for Sunday.
  • Saturday is a full day of work followed by more moving (by myself). I went home after to collapse into bed with my ABCH Study Portfolio.
  • Today is the big day!!! The exciting, but dreaded ABCH exam! As I'm driving into Boston, I want to cry with how overwhelming this weekend is shaping up to be.
  • After I do the hands on portion of the exam, I think to myself "I think I might have passed...I hope I did!" It turns out, I passed everything; plus, I had the Highest Interactive score!! What a pleasant surprise!
If I can buy a house, move, work full time AND study AND pass this test.....there's no reason anyone should be dragging their feet on becoming Board Certified!!  It is the best thing you can do for yourself, your clients, your salon and your industry!!!!
~ Jillian Manning
Also received a message from Michelle Forna:
I just went through the certification process in Boston today.  In my 28 years in the industry, I have never encountered as many people that have a true passion for our industry, based on nothing more than passing on the "truth" about our tools.  I guess you would catagorize me as a "veteran".  I drank the KoolAid...I worked as an educator for an Italian hair color company for eight years. All I could do was teach how to make OUR product "work"  I thought that was Gospel.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  The American Board of Certified Haircolorits have shown me  a non-biased , love for the industry method of knowing all there is to know about hair color.  They were empathetic, patient, and completely committed to us absorbing the required information.  I got to spend the day with some very talented people...all of us wanting the next to succeed.  I have the highest of praise for this organization.  They love their craft, and want to up our standards,  to ensure that the most flattering color is given....making our precious clients feel good about themselves, and us able to do that for them.  I recommend that anyone interested in honing their craft...beefing up their skills....contact the BOARD.  If you love your craft....it's a no brainer.  
THANK YOU ANDRE,  TAMARA,  LISA, and all the people involved in this process, and for putting a raging fire under my butt.  I have been a better hairdresser since. 
~ Michelle Forna 
ABCH Exam in Dallas, TX
Special Recognition to:
Alexa Cline
Highest Interactive Score, 49 out of 50! 
Our sincere apology to Alexa for misspelling her last name in the July newsletter.
2013 ABCH Examination Dates
         
              SEATTLE......................SEPTEMBER 8               

                                     WASHINGTON DC.........OCTOBER 13   

                                     ATLANTA......................NOVEMBER 3

Dates and locations for 2014 Exams will be listed on website in November

  

Links for more info: 

ABCH 2013-2014 Advertising Program
  
You worked hard to become an ABCH Board Certified Haircolorist. Promote this special distinction by advertising in the annual ABCH Advertising Program.
$325   total cost for annual program
  • Your name and contact info listed on the ABCH website, which now provides driving instructions to your salon!
  • Your name listed under your state on 25 national full-page ads in consumer publications. The kind you see in your salon and on magazine stands everywhere!                                               
If you are in a salon with more that one ABCH, the first ABCH is $325 and each other ABCH in that same salon is only $175.

Contact Alicia for details!

310-547-0814      [email protected]

CLAIROL CONSUMER AD REVISITED

 

During the last 50 years, there has been a battle of advertising between L'Oreal and Clairol. Clairol started #1 in haircolor in both consumer and professional by a wide margin. Their most famous ad stated, "Does she or doesn't she? Only her hairdresser knows for sure."  L'Oreal countered with this ad slogan, "Its more expensive, but I'm worth it!". Both ads featured beautiful women with long flowing blonde hair. Eventually L'Oreal overtook Clairol and became #1.  

 

Now Clairol is trying a come back using the same phrase,  "Only your hairdresser knows for sure,"  only this time, without using the hairdresser as an endorsement. The ad now reads, "Color so natural, they'll think you were born with it." How sad they no longer feel they need the endorsement of the hairdresser. The old Clairol ad gave creditability to the hairdresser's eye for haircolor. 

Excuse me...What?

A leading professional haircare brand educator approached one of our ABCH Evaluators and said this," Liquid peroxide contains protein, cream peroxide contains moisture. Therefore you need to carry 10, 20, 30, 40 in both liquid and cream in your salon". 

 

Sounds a little like a sales pitch. If you didn't know better, you may pay heed to such nonsense. This is the reason its important to become educated from sources not out to sell you something. 

WELLA SUPPORTS ABCH  

 

Wella has committed to sponsor the American Board of Certified Haircolorists (ABCH) mentoring seminars. Reuben Carrenza, CEO of Wella,  considers this program to be valuable.   

 

The seminars will be a two-day hands on workshop. The educators are a team of experienced ABCH evaluators. There will be one evaluator for every seven students. Over the two days the students will be guided through the preparation of the mannequin and the mandatory and optional techniques.

 

"We know that trained haircolorists are equipped to please today's demanding clients. We would love to have all of the students use Wella products however, the purpose of these  mentoring seminars is not to sell products. They are designed to produce qualified  haircolorists regardless of the products used."

 

By working with ABCH, Wella is helping the industry upgrade professional haircoloring.  

Seminar details will follow in future newsletters.

Lowlights from the Editor         CH-CH-CH-Changes -- NOT!!!
Some clients, like many celebrities, cannot make up their mind about style and so become chameleon's, asking their hairstylists to morph them into the next trend. Cha-CHING!
Nicole Ritchie's temporary White-out turned heads in May but she is back to classic and still healthy hair. Beyonce captured the spotlight with a short pixie cut in early August, but a few days later appeared with this cute bob (love the headband!).

Empower your chameleon clients, but don't enable them. Know when you can satisfy their zany urges with temporary products & smart color techniques and when to pull out the scissors, bleach or extensions.  Earn their trust towards many years of happy transformations.

Problem? Question? Complaint? Suggestion?   

Write to me... I love getting email and talking to other stylists about haircolor!

[email protected] USE subject line: ABCH

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editor 

Mary Petillo, ABCH