Author: Joseph Kellner

Hairdresser/Mua/Photographer/Film-Maker/Artist in Orlando, Florida 34787

Real Hair Truth Advice on the Cosmetic Industry

~ Joseph Kellner

The Real Hair Truth

In my next Documentary “Beautiful LieS”, I have interviewed so many Beauty salon employees, booth renters etc to make sure they know there products they use are legitimate. So many company’s will use deceptive labeling/marketing on their products. And if you do not take the time to investigate what are the ingredients in the products you are responsible for any issues that may arise during a service to your client. Yes once you buy a product from a manufacturer and a distributor you own that product. If something happens during the application and process of the product “YOU BOUGHT IT, NOW YOU OWN IT”. You cannot sue the manufacturer, they are not liable legally to any problems due to application and processing of the product! Especially if you are an independent contractor, make sure you have at least 2-3 millions dollars in insurance to cover yourself in the salon.  Watch your back my friends. I had a sale person come to my studio las week. He was selling a Keratin Product called, Bionaza little did he know I new alot about the company. I have cameras in my salon so I went ahead and switch them on. I asked the gentleman some questions about the product, and of course he promised the stars to me. And the product will split the oceans and the heavens and make my clients hair ever so dreamy. He also told me he was selling the product from a friend and this Bionaza was not from his distributor. He didn’t even have any directions on the product. And when I confronted him on how easy it is to buy the so-called “SALON PRODUCT” on the internet he quickly turned heels. Watch out for “SNAKE OIL SALESMEN”, my friends! Especially the lone wolf types, they will sell you anything, but will hastily throw you under the bus if the product does not do what it says it will do. This should be a good filmed clip for my Documentary.

SCUM OF THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY! Be Aware My Friends

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration today announced four new OSHA Training Institute (OTI) Education Centers and the renewal of 24 existing OTI Education Centers. Current OTI Education Centers offer training courses on OSHA standards and occupational safety and health issues. The new OTI Education Centers, which are non-profit organizations, will provide additional outlets for safety and health training to workers and employers throughout the country.

“This year, we have seen record numbers of requests for occupational safety and health training from the private sector and federal agency personnel,” said Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health. “The renewal of OTI’s Education Centers and the addition of four new centers will help OSHA to meet this demand and deliver life-saving training to our country’s employers and workers.”

The OTI Education Centers program was created in 1992 to complement the OSHA Training Institute in Arlington Heights, Ill., which provides training and education to OSHA compliance officers. The OTI Education Centers provide training nationwide to private sector and federal personnel from agencies outside OSHA. The OTI Education Centers trained more than 40,000 people during the 2012 fiscal year, representing an all-time record for the program.

The OTI Education Centers also assist the agency in administering the OSHA Outreach Training Program and fulfilling the program’s monitoring requirements. OTI Education Centers are the principal distribution channel for Outreach Training Program trainer courses, including prerequisite and update courses. Trainer courses are offered by topic areas including construction, general industry, disaster site and maritime. Through these train-the-trainer programs, qualified individuals who complete a one-week OSHA trainer course are authorized to teach 10-hour or 30-hour courses focusing on safety and health hazards. Through the Outreach Training Program, more than two million people received training from fiscal 2010 through fiscal 2012. This is a voluntary program and does not meet training requirements for any OSHA standards.

The new OTI Education Centers were selected through a national competition announced on April 13, 2012, and published in the Federal register on April 15. Applicant organizations were evaluated based on organizational experience, staff experience, location and training facilities, marketing and recruitment, administrative capabilities, evaluation, and the ability to provide training throughout a given region. OSHA provides no funding to the OTI Education Centers. The OTI Education Centers support their OSHA training through their established tuition and fee structures and provide their own instructors and facilities. For more information on the OTI Education Centers Program, the Outreach Training Program, and the Directorate of Training and Education.

For information on the geographic areas served by OSHA’s Regional Offices, visit http://www.osha.gov/html/RAmap.html.

IMPORTANT NOTE! Make sure that when you are working in your salon that the owner or company adheres to the policy’s standards OSHA has mandated for your safety.

Your health is very important!

You may file a complaint to have OSHA inspect their workplace if they believe that your employer is not following OSHA standards or that there are serious hazards. Employees can file a complaint with OSHA by calling 1-800-321-OSHA (6742) or by printing the complaint form and mailing or faxing to your local OSHA area office. Complaints that are signed by an employee are more likely to result in an inspection.

2012 in review for The Real Hair Truth

~ Joseph Kellner

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 18,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 4 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.

How To Wrestle With Non-Compete Contracts in the Beauty/Cosmetic Industry

~ Joseph Kellner

The Real Hair Truth Documentary Blog!

 

You’d expect a fat non-compete clause in a top-tier investment banker’s employment contract. Yet more companies of all stripes are foisting non-compete contracts on lower-level lieutenants–and even line workers.

Some employers also use non-disclosure or confidentiality agreements. A non-disclosure agreement helps an organization safeguard its trade secrets and other proprietary information. Under the agreement, employees are prohibited from disclosing this information. Confidentiality agreements are similar, except that the agreement requires that one or both parties must keep information confidential.

“Even though hair stylists aren’t six-figure earners, they are frequently being asked to sign [non-competes],” says David Conforto , an attorney at Conforto Law Group in Boston. Conforto recently won an injunction for a stylist client so she could continue to work; the judge deemed her non-compete contract un-enforceable because of the high demand for qualified stylists.

Employers wield non-competes to stanch turnover and keep a firm grip on proprietary client lists and critical research. And with global competition more fierce than ever, the paranoia is at a fever pitch. Being a member of this so-called professional industry a few words of wisdom from me to you may help you from being deceived from business owners who rent chairs. After your interview make sure you take a copy of the contract to a lawyer, NOT YOUR FRIEND TO READ. But a Lawyer. Sign nothing, and if the owner will not let you take it out of the salon to give to an attorney, they are probably 100% not honest with you. SCAMMERS are abundant in the beauty industry my friends. Do not get your advice on Non-Compete contracts from a beauty industry magazine, beauty industry website, a hair idol, or so-called Icon, but from an attorney licensed in your state. Read On My Friends.

In Pictures: Five Tips For Negotiating Non-Compete Contracts

While you probably can’t avoid having to sign these contracts, you should make every effort to negotiate as much wiggle room as possible. It is your business and you must conduct yourself as a business owner.

First step: Hire an attorney to vet your contract before you sign it. Yes, you might pay $200 to $500 an hour for the privilege, but that’s probably a good bet. The cost of going to trial over a breach of a non-compete typically runs in the tens of thousands of dollars. Even if you do win the case, you don’t recoup those legal fees, as defendants typically do in other cases. If you lose, you’re out of work to boot.

If you’re presented with a non-compete clause, send your potential employer a letter confirming that you are consulting an attorney to make sure you understand all the terms. Declaring that step in writing is important because it prevents the employer from retaliating by swiping the job offer later on. (Judges don’t look too kindly on a move like that.)

In lieu of a traditional non-compete contract, try to angle for a “non-disclosure” or a “non-solicitation” agreement. Non-disclosure agreements stipulate that departing employees can’t make off with valuable research, while non-solicitation agreements prohibit them from going after important clients–except those they cultivated prior to joining the company. If that doesn’t work, focus on winnowing the scope of the non-compete. “The employer is going to push it to be as broad as possible, but you want to make it as restricted as possible without jeopardizing the job offer. Two key elements here: geography and time. Try to limit both. Reasonable restrictions will vary by industry, of course.

For example, temporarily barring a hairstylist from working in an entire county might not be plausible, but shackling a pharmaceutical rep in the same area might. Contracts stating that you can’t work in the industry throughout the U.S. probably won’t hold up in court, although some tech companies may be able to enforce them, because of the global nature of the Internet. The same strategy goes for the time span of the non-compete. The standard window for these contracts is six months to a year. Anything more than two years is downright draconian, and probably won’t hold up in court. Then again, don’t count on a judge to bail you out. “You still have to pay for litigation, or hope that your new employer will pay for it. In a tough economy, that’s a chance you probably don’t want to take. Take my advice my fellow professionals go see a lawyer.

Legal matters

While there are no federal laws directly governing non-compete agreements, some states do address the legality of such agreements. Under Wisconsin law, for example, the agreements must:

  • Be necessary for the protection of the employer;
  • Provide a reasonable time period;
  • Cover a reasonable territory;
  • Not be unreasonable to the employee; and
  • Not be unreasonable to the general public.

Although most states will enforce non-compete agreements if they are “reasonable” in terms of breadth and length of the restriction, the definition of what is “reasonable” varies. When crafting a non-compete agreement, an organization must pay careful attention to the agreement’s scope. An overly limiting agreement may be deemed un-enforceable by state courts.

 

 

California Superior Court Gives Brazilian Blowout 30 Days to Reformulate or Remove Products from Marketplace

~ Joseph Kellner

Los Angeles—The California Superior Court, County of Los Angeles, issued an order on November 29, 2012 requiring the manufacturers of Brazilian Blowout hair straightening solution, GIB, LLC (GIB) to stop selling its product in California within 30 days and prove that its new, reformulated product meets California Air Quality Standards. According to the attorney general’s court papers, testing by three different laboratories shows that GIB’s hair straightening product violates California air quality law and emits smog-forming pollutants at levels higher than allowed by the California Air Resources Board. Formaldehyde, a human carcinogen, is a major ingredient in Brazilian Blowout.

“The move to pull the original Brazilian Blowout formula from the market is a victory for women’s health,” said Alexandra Scranton, on behalf of the National Healthy Nail and Beauty Salon Alliance. “Brazilian Blowout continues to expose salon workers to cancer-causing chemicals and it clearly violates California’s air pollution standards.”

In a previous settlement agreement with California Attorney General Kamala Harris’s office, GIB agreed to stop deceptively advertising the product as formaldehyde-free and put caution stickers on their product advising users that it releases carcinogenic formaldehyde gas. The company also agreed to participate in further testing to evaluate whether its Brazilian Blowout product violated California air quality laws and reformulate its product if it were found in violation.

Three independent laboratory tests showed that Brazilian Blowout releases high levels of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and in violation of its previous agreement with the State of California, GIB had refused to either reformulate Brazilian Blowout or remove it from the marketplace. Following that refusal, the California Attorney General’s Office asked the California Superior Court to remove Brazilian Blowout from the market on October 9, 2012.

According to the California Air Resources Board, VOCs are an important component in the formation of ground level ozone, a major part of California’s smog problem. The Board’s air quality standards require that Brazilian Blowout contain no more than six percent VOCs by weight. Testing by two independent labs approved by the company, and testing by the Board, found Brazilian Blowout contained between 8.1 percent and 11.49 percent of regulated VOCs by weight.

“We applaud the attorney general for vigorously pursuing an action against this manufacturer who evidently believes it can ignore the law without repercussion. A cosmetic product should never contain formaldehyde, a known carcinogen and respiratory irritant. It’s reassuring that the original formula of Brazilian Blowout, due to violating air quality laws, will no longer be around to harm consumers and hair salon workers in California,” said Catherine Porter with the National Healthy Nail and Beauty Salon Alliance.

Stylists who regularly perform Brazilian Blowout treatments are exposed to formaldehyde gas at levels well in excess of the state’s Proposition 65 warning threshold, according to the California AG’s lawsuit.

“As a hairstylist that has been seriously affected by Brazilian Blowout, I know firsthand just how dangerous this product is. Getting the original Brazilian Blowout formula off the shelves will be a big win for salon workers who have suffered irreparable health problems due to exposure to this product,” said California salon worker Jennifer Arce.

According to the California Attorney General’s office, the California Air Resources Board will test the reformulation of Brazilian Blowout by December 15 to ensure the product meets the VOC limit of six percent.

Brazilian Blowout has been banned in Canada and at least four other countries, including Germany, France, Ireland and Australia, but is still allowed to be sold in the U.S. The federal Safe Cosmetics Act, introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives in July 2011 by Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) would ban chemicals known to cause cancer from cosmetics, as many other countries have already done.

“This dangerous product never should have been on the market to begin with,” said Janet Nudelman on behalf of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. “But because of lax U.S. regulation, countless stylists and salon patrons have been exposed to harmful levels of formaldehyde.  Unfortunately, Brazilian Blowout is just one of many examples of why Congress needs to pass the Safe Cosmetics Act.”

Loreal buys up – Emiliani Enterprises and Urban Decay Real Hair Truth!

~ Joseph Kellner

 

French cosmetics giant L’Oreal S.A. (OR.FR)  reached an agreement to buy U.S.-based Emiliani Enterprises, a professional distribution business, for an undisclosed amount. Emiliani Enterprises established in the metropolitan New York area, New Jersey and Connecticut,  supplies hair salons through a network of representatives and sales outlets open only to professionals. Which wont last to long since L’Oreal acquired the company, L’Oreal USA will extend its distribution in the U.S., which now covers 48 states in the U.S. out of 50. And as for Urban Decay, created in 1996 by make-up expert Wende Zomnir, has built a reputation based on the concept of beauty with an edge and values of femininity and irreverence. The line has star products in the eye category such as the Naked Palette and recently successfully launched its new foundation, the Naked Skin weightless liquid make-up. Urban Decay is popular among the youthful highly-involved cutting-edge consumers who are attracted by the fashion-forward image of the brand. The market for make-up specialist brands represents 44% of the luxury make-up market in the US. In the fiscal year ended in June 2012, Urban Decay recorded net sales of 130 million US dollars. Urban Decay is distributed in the key assisted self-service channel which includes among others Ulta and Sephora. Which does not tell you much since everything and anything can be purchased in Ulta.

L’Oréal USA, headquartered in New York City, with 2011 sales of over $5.1 billion and 9,800 employees, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of L’Oréal SA, the world’s leading beauty company. In addition to corporate headquarters in New York, L’Oréal USA has Research and Innovation, Manufacturing and Distribution facilities across seven states, including New Jersey, Kentucky, Arkansas, Illinois, Ohio, Texas and Washington.  L’Oréal’s impressive portfolio of brands includes Lancôme, Giorgio Armani Beauty, Yves Saint Laurent Beauté, Viktor & Rolf, Diesel, Cacharel, Clarisonic, L’Oréal Paris, Garnier, Vichy, La Roche-Posay, L’Oréal Professionnel, Kérastase and Shu Uemura Art of Hair, Maybelline New York, Soft-Sheen.Carson, Kiehl’s Since 1851, Ralph Lauren Fragrances, essie Cosmetics, Redken 5th Avenue NYC, Matrix, Mizani, Pureology, SkinCeuticals and Dermablend. Basically your typical drug store shit. I will guarantee you more and more so called professional haircare products will show up on the commercial sectore of the consumer market.