While the hurricane was bearing down on Miami Beach, tens of thousands of faithful, can’t-get-enough-education salon pros were making their way to Orlando to visit what appeared to be the busiest and largest-ever 2 day hair show in this industry… including our own Mary Rector-Gable.   

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The Premiere Show, held in the Orange County Convention Center had all the majors who each put out their finest china for this huge group of energetic salon pros! Some of the companies who brought in huge talent and booths included: Paul Mitchell, Matrix, Redken, Farouk, TIGI, L’Oreal, Sexy Hair, Wella and, of course, behindthechair.com. 

I was the lucky gal who for the fifth year in a row got to emcee Mainstage with some of my favorites including: Robert Cromeans, James Morrison, Nick Arrojo, Martin Parsons, Scott Cole and Linda Yodice, Saco for Babyliss, Jill Leitz and Brent Borenson from Redken, Albie Mulcahey and Dwight Miller from Sahag and the Altieris. 

The education was incredible and Robert Cromeans and Martin Parsons had record crowds for their artistry and humor! Lucky salon pros seated in the first few rows got cool free BTC t-shirts, hats and mousepads! Thanks to all the BTC members who stopped by to say hello.  It was great to meet all of you- especially the Tease Salon group in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida…..you guys are great!  Keep that amazing passion. It’s electrifying!

So, what was everyone showing?  Redken was premiering incredible new collections for fall from the runways.  Scott and Linda from Paul Mitchell-The Color were showing their new Surface Collection of incredible haircolor looks,  TIGI was showing off their new upscale line- S Factor- with a whole new booth look which included all TIGI team members in white!  (It’s a good thing Labor Day is not until next week).  

James Morrison, Artistic Director for TIGI, offered a viewing of One Life on Sunday Night and had a book signing in behindthechair.com’s booth.  I was at the movie viewing and it brought tears to my eyes. (Thanks James, for my smeared make-up!)  There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when the final question was asked of everyone in the film “If you knew you only had 20 minutes to live and had one phone call, whom would you call?”  I won’t give it away, but it is an incredibly moving and inspirational video.  Check out a five minute trailer for yourself. 

Beth Minardi presented “Conversations IN Color” candidly revealing her many tried and true secrets about professional color including favorite formulas, philosophy, and information on taking your color business to the next level.

What was new on the show floor? There were some cool new products including an Indian line from Ojon Haircare and great energy from the Sahag Products team doing really incredible street hair. Sexy Hair showed off their new Sexy Lip line of lip plumpers and colors. 

Crowds were also checking out Rusk’s new CurlSilk, salon tools from Industrie, super chemically resistant clothing from BUCO, and products from White Sands, DevaCurl and IV Cosmeceuticals just to name a few.  Oh… and the hunky, half-naked male models of American Crew certainly drew enthusiastic crowds!  And for a little after-hours fun, Redken hosted an evening of pure fun and “WHITE hot energy” at the Hard Rock.  

Save the date – Premiere 06 Orlando will be August 27 & 28th, 2006.