Tag: salon today

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.”

Real Hair Truth Michael Gordon busted after IRS says he hid $29.6 Million!

~ Joseph Kellner

TOO MUCH OFF THE TOP: Michael Gordon has been busted for allegedly trying to skirt the IRS.

The IRS doesn’t take haircuts as payment.

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

 

Do you have a endless dream that just sits there?

~ Joseph Kellner

hairtruth2-1

 There are dreamers and there are achievers.The difference between the two is this!

Action without it a dream isn’t a dream anymore, it is rather termed a fantasy. A dreamer could be a mere wish but an achiever is the one that righteously gives there all. The difference is those who wake up and make their dreams reality. Will Power is needed. Not afraid of failing. Doing what they enjoy. Having Perception, Integrity, Honesty. You attain goals instead of talking about it. Entrepreneurs are People who are unafraid to take calculated risk, a dreamer is the first step of achievers. Dream it,  Do it =Achievers – Risk takers.

Actions…Risks…Will….Leap of Faith.

One sleeps, the other one doesn’t. Mindset, Effort, Implementation, Results, execution!

You don’t need a Beauty Industry, Organization, Magazine, Website or a Major Manufacturer to be an Entrepreneur in the Beauty Industry. You don’t need to follow, or ask for a “Pat on the Head”. Give yourself a “Pat on the back and kick in the ass and go for it”. If you have a dream of your own Book, or Educational video, Hair-Care line, Makeup products etc. Go for it. Surround yourself with like-minded professionals who do it on their own. It’s easy to be negative and scared of the unknown that is a human quality. Men where not afraid to create the rocket ship, time and time they would try to get the rocket to take off. There dream was to go to the moon. Little by little they started to see their short-comings and their achievements. And they persisted and as time went by “Glory B”, they did it. It cost them major amounts of time, money, and a good attitude, and they were not afraid to fail. That is the big clue for everyone reading this post DONT BE AFRAID TO FAIL, embrace your mistakes. There will be a lot of individuals that will tell you, You cannot do it, There’s no need for it, Your wasting your time, Nobody is gonna buy your idea. Those are what I call fatalists, THEY SEE THE PROBLEMS BEFORE THEY START AND CREATE THERE OWN BRICK WALLS, THEY FAIL BEFORE THEY EVEN START. It is easy for them to berate you and offer negative advice, they will drive you down to make you start thinking like them.  Which for some people if you do not believe in your idea it will affect you greatly. Be around other Entrepreneurs learn from them. An Entrepreneur will gladly help you and offer his or her assistance. Because they see and feel the same about your ideas as they once did. They know the passion of the idea. They will gladly help you! But when you decide to follow out your plan, you will walk a lonely road. You will have to have the courage to face what will come to you. And you will have to deal with emotions that will rear their heads up and discourage you, depress you, take motivation away from you, and taking you to the point of giving up. You must walk that road, there is no way around this step, because it is your idea, or ideas, your beliefs that you gave birth too.

Fight Manufacturer Deception with Your Own Formulated Brand or Private Label!

~ Joseph Kellner

 

You are all the Sheep… the Brainwashed Sheep… the followers of the Dark ones whom enslave you. The Product companys, the Manufacturered schools, the Websites, and Industry magazines and So Called Organizations. You are all Members of the Control System. Nothing more than Robots going through everyday professional life not knowing the Truth about your Profession and the Multi-Dimensions that are all around you. You go to work not knowing that you yourself are multi-dimensional.  But you will not have access to all this until you take off your blinders and see the truth. I write these words simply as a Messenger of Light… a Bringer of Truth.

Most of your clients have never even have heard of the term “private label products”, so they just assume you manufacture them yourself. But even for the clients who know how private label products work, as long as the products are of high quality and smartly packaged, they will be equally impressed.

You will also have CONTROL!

100% Complete control over your own “High Quality, Personal BRAND” haircare line that is sold exclusively at your salon or from your salons website with your name or salon LOGO on every Bottle, Tube & Jar!

You will be purchasing your Personally Branded Products at the Lowest Possible Price of any product line when compared to any other haircare line (Big-name brand or other private label brand company) and reselling your products at the Highest Possible Markup (200% to 500%) which will give you the Highest Possible “Profit Margin” of any other haircare line on the market today.

You will never have to worry about **Diversion** or some Big-name company taking advantage of you and destroying your “Professional Credibility” ever again.

The Easy Answer Is

1-Profit
2-Image
3-Control

In reality, profit is the main (or only) reason we sell retail products.
Companies in our industry selling private label haircare products to salons like yours and mine are selling on the premise that we would be able to make a much higher percentage of profit by selling their products (under our own brand name) then we would by selling big-name hair care products produced by large famous haircare manufacturers. Private-label hair care products do lift the image of your salon. There is no doubt about it. If you have handsomely packaged bottles, tubes and jars with your salon name or logo on them, it’s very impressive to your clients.

Hair care product manufacturers develop a line of products, and then they come to us “Salon Owners and Booth Renters” and do an elaborate sales pitch with a lot of big promises.

  • They get us to buy huge intro deals with the promise of making all this money.
  • They promise us advanced education.
  • They promise us ongoing support.
  • And they promise us that we would never see their product sold at drugstores, grocery stores or discount chains.

 Bottom line they are full of shit!