It’s been a while since my last blog entry. A year in review, I’ve been busy grooming men and loving being back behind the chair doing what I do best…Being the best men’s hairstylist. I’ve been a hairstylist for 25 years and have focused 100% of my attention on men’s grooming for the past 15 years. I enjoy men’s hairstyling more than I can explain and I often get looked down on for choosing the men’s market for my career because most people think you can’t make money at it. I teach to all my trainees that if you do anything for money, you will always be chasing it. If you are passionate and positive about what you do, money finds you. I live that everyday. I love what I do and I’m proud of it!

I began to think about my career highlights and wondered what’s next for me. I feel my men’s grooming skills are performed with mastery, while still continuing to learn new things. I do want to share my skills with anyone who is interested. I do train all the stylists at metro FOR MEN and the good ones stay on to prosper. I’ve lost many trainees along the way because I demand near perfection and have high expectations. I have those expectations because its what our clients expect from metro FOR MEN. I train stylists to not only perform beyone expectations, but to think about what they do at every step. All of our services are thoughful and performed with true skill. I read once, “Good you’ve pissed people off, that means you stand for something”. I do stand for quality over anything else and that is why metro FOR MEN remains the leader in men’s grooming.

Getting back to my career outlook, last year I attended NAHA in Las Vegas as I do every year. I am always so inspired when I return. Last year NAHA opened a new category…men’s grooming for 2013. Every one of my staff encouraged me to enter this contest. I agreed to it and sought advice from prior NAHA winners. Daniel Holzberger told me to hire the best photographer I could afford. I hired Babak, the famous NAHA photographer, devised a collection, found models (that was very difficult), and did the clothes styling myself. I test cut every model to make sure my concept worked and I had the right models. Then I scheduled the shoot. The shoot took place this past weekend starting at 10:00am. I cut, colored, straughtend, styled and clothed all five models by 2:00pm and photos started. Babak was incredible and provided so much creativity. I will confess this wasn’t easy and there were a few times I almost threw in the towel. Thankfully I had a lot of support that kept encouraging me to move forward. Even Babak expressed how incredible my cutting skills were. That was the best compliment ever! The shoot finished at 8:30pm and I thought I was going to die from exhaustion. In the end, it was the best experience I’ve had in my career. I learned so much about me and styling beyond everyday wear. The entry form is due next week. Wish me luck to win the men’s grooming category for the North American Hairstyling Awards! What a way to mark 25 years as a hairstylist.