President Elect Obama's Clipper Cut

President Elect Obama’s Clipper Cut
Will President Obama be a fashion trend setter? There is much media coverage of his barber shop on the south side of Chicago. He maintains a simple, crisp and professional look for textured, graying hair. The look is referred to as “even all over”. It is easy to cut and easy to maintain. Best part for us, clipper cutters, is that it must be well maintained, frequently. In this way our president reminds me of my dad. My dad got his hair cut every 2 weeks on Tues. at 4:30 p.m.. Without fail. My dad never looked like he needed a haircut. He never looked like he had a haircut. For nearly 40 years he looked exactly the same. That includes when I got out of hair school and took over the task. President Obama’s look must be cut nearly every week. It will look long fast. The crispness of the front edge will go fuzzy quickly too. In many cases a cut like this is done once each week and the line-up is even freshened in between. This could make for 2 visits to the shop each week. That is high maintenance. It is still a lot less pricey than a John Edwards $400 haircut. Be on the lookout for a YouTube video coming soon from Andis and me on how to cut the President Obama look.

Links I like
Here is a shot of Obama;'s cut looking like it is ready to hit the shop. Edge is fuzzy. Looks like he might have colored his hair in this image too.
http://current.com/items/89080486_democrats_to_open_obama_nomination_speech_to_public
This is an entire web site on hairstyles for African Americans
http://www.blackhairmedia.com/hairstyles/
This is a web article about the Andis Phat Master... Clipper of choice for the Obama look.
http://www.modernsalon.com/NewsLandingPage/tabid/67/Default.aspx?tid=2&cid=13533

Jim and Nick's Southern Kitchen

Jim and Nick’s Southern Kitchen
We went to dinner one night while at the show in Birmingham. We went to Jim and Nick’s Southern Kitchen. We had gone there last year. Amazing BBQ. Last time I had a rib combo. One half slab of baby backs and ½ slab of spare ribs. This was BBQ heaven. I was primed to do it all over again. But then… On the way back to our table I spied it. I was not sure if I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. I scanned the menu. There it was. They call it “Pig in the Potato Patch”. It was a huge baked potato with butter, sour cream, bacon and chives. Then dropped right down in the middle of it all was about ½ pound of smoked BBQ beef brisket slathered in sauce. This is heaven on a plate. It was so big I could not finish it. It was the single best meal I have had in a long, long time. WoW!. Go there. Eat this. Come hungry. Leave happy.

Links I like

This is the BBQ smoker I have
http://bbq.about.com/od/smokerreviews/gr/aapr072405a.htm
This is a great BBQ place in Chicago that I like
http://www.smoquebbq.com/
More BBQ info than you likely need
http://www.amazingribs.com/

Amazing Contrast

Amazing contrast
If you were on the floor at the end of Monday at the Birmingham show you would have seen something amazing. I did a great layered bob cut on a fine textured, mid length blonde girl. Shear style cutting, T-24 texture blade work and backhand layering… all the classic longer length techniques. Then, the next model was the total polar opposite. I carved/shaped an afro on an African American female model. It was pure OA F/D on a BGRc clipper. Carving, smoothing and shaping it all up with a pick in one hand and my clipper in the other. Cool stuff. This was, within about 15 minuets the ultimate world of clipper cutting. We went from one extreme of length, color and texture to the other, all with the same clipper and a selection of BG blades. It felt good to know that I could handle it all. You need to be sure your skills will let you handle anything and everything that any client walking in the door can throw at you.

Related links:

Here is an article on layering hair, adding texture
http://www.essortment.com/lifestyle/cutunevenlayer_shem.htm

This is the number one site for curly hair owners. have a look.
http://www.naturallycurly.com/

This is the blade I described for afro shaping
http://www.andis.com/USA/BladesAndMore/BladesPopUp.asp?ID=15

Tuesday is Clipper Tip day. Now that I am posting blog entries 5 days each week I am devoting one day each week to a clipper tip. This will be a Clipper Tip taken in numerical order straight from my clipper Tips book. Put these tips to work for you and accelerate your clipper cutting today. You can use them every day… not just Tuesdays! I have included related links as well. Surf on!

Clipper Tip #1 Hang Around - Hang your clippers by the bail loops to avoid drops and damage.

This is a link to a patent for a clipper rack/holder. The inventor is a friend of mine.
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5924579.html
Here is a link for floor mats... Go ahead. Drop the clipper.
http://www.bowmanbeauty.com/page/BBS/CTGY/1-14000
Need a hook? Here are a few...
http://hardware.hardwarestore.com/28-447-cup-hooks.aspx

Premiere Birmingham

Premiere, Birmingham
Birmingham, AL was the center of the American Cosmetology universe for two short days. The show was well attended and we sold very well in the booth. The highlight was the Andis floor theater. I have mentioned the new “bucket theater” before. We have a set of 16 bucket stools and set up a small floor platform. We worked right on the floor as opposed to in a classroom. This kept me in the booth area all day. Close to the product and at floor level close to our customers. Feedback was strong and the models were great too. I end up cutting more hair this way and fewer mannequins. This can be a toss up for me. I like to demo mannequins for the consistency and my ability to follow formatted shtick. I like the reality of live models as well. Bottom line… Did we share good info? Did we sell great tools? Yes to both. See you in Birmingham (on the floor) next year.

Blog entries now include this section at the end. It is called Links I like. It features links to websites that I like that are related to the blog topic of the day. Click on them to learn more about the days blog. Let me know what you like. Email me links you like and I will share them too.

Links I like...

This is the link to the web site for the Premiere show group.

http://www.premiereshows.com/

The neat-O IKEA bucket stools...

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60118186

If you like mannequins as much as I do... welcome th the best mannequins in the business...

http://www.pivotpointshop.com/ProductCart/pc/viewcategories.asp?idCategory=100&pageStyle=P