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
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.”
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.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
The founder of Manhattan’s famed Bumble and bumble hair salons and product line has been busted for allegedly lying to tax investigators about $29.6 million he received after selling his stake in 2006, The Real Hair Truth has learned.
Michael Gordon, 61, of Manhattan, remains behind bars after allegedly telling an IRS investigator during a meeting last month that he didn’t know the income had to be reported on his 1040 tax return form. A federal warrant was issued and he was arrested and arraigned last Friday. The British native — who most recently produced a documentary on his late pal Vidal Sassoon that premiered last year at the Tribeca Film Festival and later partnered with fellow hair-salon owner Rodney Cutler of Cutler Salons — was deemed a flight risk by federal Judge Gary Brown and jailed. He sold his stake in Bumble and bumble to Estée Lauder in 2006 to pursue other interests and purchased homes in the Hamptons and Manhattan. But that financial jackpot has come back to haunt him six years later. The IRS has been conducting an investigation into his returns, and even used a confidential informant to build its case against him before last week’s arrest, according to court papers.
The canary — a friend of Gordon’s for roughly seven years — said Gordon openly discussed hiding the money from the taxman after securing the lucrative deal in 2006. The informant “told me that after the defendant received the income from the sale of Bumble and bumble, he was actively seeking ways to hide the money from the IRS, including sending money overseas, so that he would not have to pay taxes on that income,” a federal agent says in a criminal complaint. Instead of reporting the earnings, Gordon allegedly presented a gross income of $1,350,883 that year and a taxable income of $1,124,844. Instead of forking over hefty income tax on the $29.6 million, Gordon actually scored a refund of $39,298 in 2006, according to the complaint. Gordon submitted papers at his arraignment stating that he lived in a $16 million Manhattan apartment with a $3 million mortgage. Officially retired from wielding scissors, he listed his employer as his own company called, “If You Knew”, a hairstyling consulting firm made up of Bumble and Bumble alums. Cutler, who first worked at a Manhattan Bumble location and has called it the most influential salon in America, declined to comment. So sad for this Brit! BOO-HOO
The Real Hair Truth 
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