I was recently inspired to add a new feature to my weekly blog. Once a month, I will feature a local business that I would like to help get the word out about their small business. I can’t take credit for this idea of featuring a small business once a month on my blog. I got this idea from the two very talented women. So, to repay them for the stolen idea, I’ve decided to first feature their small business, Room 3307 Boudoir Photography. Thanks girls! It was a pleasure to meet with you this week and I look forward to building a relationship with you in the future.

Room 3307 Boudoir Photography is comprised of two photographers, Carolina Araujo & Zekeshem Parsons. Carloina and Shem, (as she likes to be called) each had their own individual photography business doing many weddings, portraits, etc… However, in the very saturated market of wedding photography they have combined their efforts to form a corner in the art of photography.
I’m not a writer so I’m not going to do these talented individuals any justice by trying to articulate in this blog what they do. You have to see for yourself. I will say that for any woman who wants to celebrate their beauty and have it artistically captured by these two talents, these girls are the ones to hire. This also would be a great gift for yourself or significant other. Visit www.room3307.com You have to see for yourself. I have also included some photos that I sampled from their blog www.room3307blog.com

Hello everyone! Happy Tuesday to you! It is already the middle of February and I have already failed my New Year’s Resolution of blogging every week. So, to make it up and to get back on track, you get two blogs!

The first blog is that I wanted to let everyone know that I have created a facebook page for Lavish Salon. To become a fan, go to www.mylavishsalon.com and you will see the facebook icon towards the bottom of the page. Simply, click on the icon and you are linked. By becoming a fan you will halp Lavish Salon gain visibility on facebook and on the web.

Happy Thursday everyone! I hope everyone is having a great week. Last week I blogged about curly hair and the Deva Curl Hair Care Line. This week’s blog is about the importance of networking.

Last month, I joined the Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce so that I could network and be more involved in my community. I had to pry myself out of bed at 6:00am to attend the new member orientation meeting for the Chamber. My Husband can attest to the fact that I am not a morning person. He can also attest that networking isn’t my strongest trait as a business owner. Networking for me is like eating healthy. You know you need to do it and you know it is good for you. However, it can still be difficult to do. This is the case for me anyway. I have mainly built my business on word-of-mouth. This has really worked for me in the past but with the downturn in the economy, I have had to go outside my comfort zone and market the salon in other ways.
Upon my arrival to the orientation, I saw a few people that I already knew who were also attending the meeting so I felt a little more at ease. There were roughly 35 new members. I tried my best to connect with the people there, including the people that were there that work for the Chamber. It was a great meeting and I learned a lot about the different committees that I could get involved with and market my business. I gave out a handful of business cards before leaving and I left the meeting feeling motivated and in some ways recharged (even though it was still early in the am).
Later that day, I was at the salon finishing up with my last client when a woman walked in. She didn’t have an appointment but needed a haircut. I was able to accommodate her since I was about to finish for the evening. I figured she was just in the neighborhood or was on her way to Outback but when I asked how she heard of us she said that a friend of hers who works for the Tampa Chamber referred her. Amazing! In not even 24 hours Lavish Salon potentially gained a new client. Also, I learned that this client is looking for work in a particular field that a couple of my existing clients could potentially help her with.
In summary, I have a whole new perspective on networking. I have already signed up for the South Tampa Chamber of Commerce and I’m looking forward to participating with this group of business owners as well. I suggest anyone who owns a business, running for office, or involved in a charity if you aren’t already a member of the Tampa Chamber of Commerce or the South Tampa Chamber of Commerce, I suggest becoming a member ASAP!

As promised, I am entering my weekly blog. This week’s topic…. Curly Hair! Last summer at the 2009 Orlando Premiere Hair Show, I sat in on a class that demonstrated the increasingly popular hair care line, Deva Curl. Prior to attending these classes I wanted to find a product line for my curly haired clients that I truly believed worked. I found products in the past that I felt were so so but I was choosing many different things from many different hair care lines. I wanted to find one line that I loved and could truly stand behind.

In this class, the owners of Deva Curl demonstrated how they approached cutting curly hair. Their theory is that curly hair should be cut dry and in its natural state. Their reasoning is that curly hair falls to a certain length and sits in a particular way when the hair is dry and in its natural state. Some curls on the head may be tighter and curlier than other curls. That same curly hair becomes a completely different canvas when it is wet, combed straight, and then cut. Also, cutting wet also increases the chance of cutting off too much. You won’t know until the hair is dry and in its natural state how much those pretty curls will fall and at what lengths. The light bulb went off! It seems simple enough but prior to sitting in this class, extremely curly hair always intimidated me. Cut curly hair dry! I explained it to my curly haired clients like this… “It is like hedging a bush” or more politically correct, “It is like sculpting a beautiful art piece from a block of clay”. All joking aside, the hair is cut it to get the shape that you want when the hair is dry and in its natural state. Genius!

After the haircut demo they started to explain the concepts behind their product line. Their biggest theme….MOISTURE. Curly hair needs moisture to be healthy. How to achieve this you ask? They strongly encourage against and coined phrases such as “blow-fry-ing” and being a “flat-iron addict”. They do encourage however for curly haired clients to not frequently wash their hair. One to two times a week is what they suggest. Their Shampoos in their line are cleverly named No-Poo and Low-Poo. These shampoos are sulfate free and are designed to not strip out the oils and moisture that curly hair needs. The No-Poo is really mild and doesn’t produce cleansing bubbles when used. The Low-Poo is mild but has a slight lather. Some clients may think that bubbles=clean. Deva Curls says that this isn’t the case. No-Poo and Low-Poo has everything you need to get the hair clean. Just because it isn’t lathering up like the froth on your latte doesn’t mean it isn’t working.
Obviously, curly hair needs to be conditioned to increase moisture. The Deva Curl Conditioner is a nice finish after the No-Poo or Low-Poo. Deva Curl also has several different leave-in and spray-in conditioners as well as a styling pomade that is great for a style finishing product which I love. What is my favorite styling product from Deva Curl??? The AnGEL. The AnGEL is a styling gel that is used to set the curl when the hair is wet. Usually when I mention “gel” to a curly haired client, I am met with a sort of grimace on my client’s face. What I found out from my clients and in my own experience, gel can be drying to the hair and can leave the curl feeling “too crunchy”. The AnGEL does not do this to the hair. It is my favorite product in this line. Before drying the hair, AnGEL is applied when the hair is wet and evenly distributed through the hair. The hair is then dried either naturally or with a diffuser. The result is a soft, beautiful curl with no frizz.

Now that I have adopted the Deva Cut and carry all of the Deva Curl Products in my salon I have discovered a few things. What I am about to write is not part of the Deva Curl Concept. Instead it is what I have adopted for my own use. I believe taking the knowledge you receive and interpreting it to a way that makes sense to you is important. Not all of the curly hair clients that I encounter I cut dry. It just depends on the type of curl and whether or not the client often wears the hair straight. If there is a lot of curl (examples are Nicole Kidman and Keri Russell) and they always wear their hair curly, I will cut it dry. If they have a moderate amount of curl (Mariah Carey or Deborah Messing) and they sometimes wear it straight, I will either cut their hair wet and concentrate on not taking too much off the ends or I will wash it, dry it, then flat-iron it and then cut it dry. I use this method when they just need a trim on all the ends. When it is completely straight I can then just graze the ends with my shears not taking off too much length.
If you have any questions about the techniques I have described or the products from Deva Curl that I mentioned, feel free to contact me at salonlavish@verizon.net or you can visit our website at www.mylavishsalon.com for more information about our salon.

Recently, I was on facebook and saw a post from one of our neighbors, Ann at Dishtopia & The Anytime Tea Bar. She was promoting an offer for her Tea Bar through www.groupon.com She then sent me an email telling me how useful it was for her business and the groupon sold over 200 coupons for her business. I saw a few weeks later my former neighbor, Lynn, at Blue Lotus Spa did the same thing and sold over 200 coupons for 53% off facials. I was then a believer.

Starting tomorrow, Wednesday, January 20th, 2010, for one day only, Lavish Salon will be promoting 50% off eyebrow and/or lip wax. A $12 value being sold for $6.00. How to receieve it you ask? Go to www.groupon.com/deals/salon-lavish and set up your free profile. Once a member, you will be notified daily of all of the businesses promoting their discounts. This is great for anyone looking to get a deal on almost everything from spa packages to golf lessons, to dentistry. This is also great for businesses looking to promote their business for an extremely low cost. There are currently over 100,000 members on groupon.com just waiting to purchase your discounted products and services.

We are very conscious of the environment at Lavish Salon. We are a big proponent of recycling our waste products. All of our soda cans and water bottles that our clients use are always recycled. We also recycle our old magazines, junk mail, cardboard, shampoo & conditioner bottles, color bottles, and its cardboard packaging. I even take the used coffee grounds home and use them in my garden. A year or so ago I didn’t think all that much about recycling. I guess I just figured it wouldn’t make a difference if I did or if I didn’t recycle. I am only one person, right?

Last November, I recently took a trip to St. Maarten as part of a cruise. The excursion that my Husband and I signed up for was a scenic coastal hike. It was the most beautiful hike I have taken and was one of the many highlights of my trip. There was one sobering but eye-opening discovery on this hike. Upon reaching the coastline, I was absolutely dumbfounded on how much plastic debris washes up onto the shore. Water bottles, plastic jugs, a CROCK shoe were amongst the trash that was sprinkled along that part of the coastline. I realize that some of the debris is left there by locals but the vast majority (we were told by our guide) comes from boats and ships that dump their waste and from people littering our lakes, rivers, and oceans with trash. Once tossed from the boat, ship, or your hand, it is soon forgotten. This picture I took on our trip is my reminder to everyone that trash just doesn’t evaporate. It shows up in such beautiful and wondrous places like St Maarten in the Caribbean.

Going forward, Lavish Salon has made a commitment to reduce its carbon footprint. I encourage everyone to recycle. Recycle at home, recycle at your business, recycle, recycle, recycle! If you do not already have the blue City of Tampa recycling bin or do not know of the recycling drop-offs, go to the City of Tampa Recycling website. It is so easy to get started and once you start be careful, it can be addicting.

Happy New Year from Lavish Salon! As most of you, I also make New Year resolutions each year. One of the resolutions I made for the business is to blog more often. So, I decided to blog once a week for the entire year of 2010. So, I am considering this my entry for the first week of 2010.

One of the other resolutions that I plan to keep in 2010 is to seek out more continuing education. Currently, I have the opportunity to attend the International Beauty Show (IBS) Las Vegas in April. I also plan on attending a 3-4 day course with either Paul Mitchell or with Redken.

I look forward to keeping everyone up-to-date with what is going on at Lavish. Have a great year and we hope to see you soon!

P.S. I have uploaded the photos from the TIPS, TRENDS, AND FRIENDS event back in November of 2009. They are located in the blog entry previous to this one. Enjoy!

We wanted to extend a warm welcome to our newest member of our team. Tyler has been an amazing addition to our staff. Thank you for being such a hard worker Tyler. Keep up the good work!

Lavish Salon says Good-bye and Good Luck to Kara. Kara left for Florida State University this fall. Kara was such an amazing addition to our South Tampa Salon. She was such a great receptionist and my own personal assistant at times. Thank you Kara for all of your hard work. We hope to see you real soon.