Moroccanoil Travel Kits

Good news for Moroccanoil lovers who’ve been waiting: the travel kits have arrived!

For those of you who are not yet familiar with Moroccanoil products we’ll first give a quick rundown of what makes people love the brand. Afterwards we’ll go over what is in the kits.

“Moroccanoil is what I call a very cosmetic brand in the sense that it feels good, smells good and will help you obtain luxurious hair.” — Emmanuel Noel, Salon owner and Master Stylist

"All we usually hear about it from clients is “I love it!” — Britney, Stylist

About Moroccanoil
Moroccanoil is named after argan oil, produced from the kernels of the argan tree, common to Morocco. This oil is valued for its nutritive, cosmetic and numerous medicinal properties. A powerful antioxidant and UV protector, Moroccanoil's proprietary argan oil blend is rich in vitamins and natural elements that fortify the hair, including Vitamin F (Omega 6), Vitamin A to improve elasticity, Vitamin E to protect against free-radicals, and Phenols to shield against environmental stressors. The Moroccanoil products restore shine and softness, are not tested on animals and contain no animal ingredients.

"Touchable hair" is the one comment which sums up our clients' experience of Moroccanoil products.

“I usually recommend Moroccanoil for thick, dry, curly and colored hair,” says Emmanuel. “Because Moroccanoil products are heavier than other lines or brands, I might not recommend them for clients with thin and fine hair as they won’t be able to obtain the volume they may be looking for.”

The Travel Kits
Moroccanoil has actually launched two travels kits. Both kits come with

• The Moroccanoil Oil Treatment
• Moisture Repair Shampoo
• Moisture Repair Conditioner
• Choice of the Intense Hydrating Mask or the Luminous Hair Spray

"The argan oil is good for both your hair and scalp,” says Meredith. “It’s moisturizing and shining without being too heavy.” The shampoo and conditioner included in the travel kits can be used daily or every other day. If you opt for the kit containing the mask, Meredith recommends only using it once a week in place of the conditioner.

As part of our front desk staff, Meredith gets to hear a lot of the feedback about our products from clients who have actually used them. “For the Moroccanoil, I’ve only ever heard one negative comment. It was from someone using the Moroccanoil Treatment, but using waaay too much. You have to use it sparingly.”

The Oil Treatment for All Hair Types (0.85 fl.oz): This oil is the foundation of all Moroccanoil product. It is the original Moroccanoil treatment. Don’t be afraid of it because it’s an oil! You can apply it on a daily basis before styling. Start with a small amount in the palm of your hands, and work it carefully through your damp hair.

The oil treatment provides you with a natural, silky finish and brilliant shine without any residue. It protects your hair from damage caused by drying or over-processing, and helps restore over-processed and damaged hair to its natural condition.

Stylist Stephanie also recommends cocktailing it with your favorite styling products. Again, just add a drop to your product, emulsify the two together in your palm, and then lightly work through your hair. She has added to a spray, for example, to enhance the anti-frizz benefit. Stephanie finds that it generally plays well with most products, so experiment!

The Shampoo Moisture Repair (2.4 oz) and The Conditioner Moisture Repair (2.4 oz): The formula for each product contains keratin, healthy fatty acids and proteins. The two products are sulfate-free, phosphate-free, and paraben-free. They are safe to use with color-treated hair and help repair chemically treated hair.

This Shampoo and Conditioner set is good when you want to get rid of static, and if you don’t want your hair to feel ‘squeaky’ from being needlessly stripped. Because they do not lather excessively, they are well suited to travel.

You can choose between getting the kit that includes the Intense Hydrating Mask or the one with the Luminous Hairspray:

The Mask (2.53 oz) is particularly effective for dry, thick, and coarse hair, hair that craves moisture to stay healthy. Use up to twice weekly until hair restores itself.

The Spray (2.3 oz) is perfect for any hair type. It produces a long lasting natural hold without stickiness or build up. The spray is a great humidity blocker, and helps give texture to hair. Junior Stylist Paul does many of our client blowdries. He has found the Moroccanoil Spray very workable and that it does not over-stiffen hair. He finds this true even if you apply it before drying the hair, which is relatively rare quality for a styling spray.

The products come in a white waterproof holder that is perfect for the bathroom, beach and swimming pool and that can be reused as a beauty case.

That’s our overview of Moroccanoil and its new travel kits! If you’ve not experienced it yet, we invite you to try the line out when you next visit your stylist at Atelier Emmanuel.

Travel Kit w/ Hair Spray: $43
Travel Kit w/ Mask: $45

2011 June Edito

The continued rise of the smartphone has brought on many other trends with the overall direction being promotions geared towards Right Now.

In this current landscape, a monthly promotion has come to seem almost...quaint.

Given the accessibility between clients and businesses which now exists, it seems better to offer promotions which can be altered more often and more efficiently. Though we’ll miss the art of the postcard, it also seems less practical nowadays to produce physical promo cards.

So we’re doing away with our monthly promotions, but we will continue to offer promotions. In fact, we offer them through more channels than ever. We use Twitter to regularly post specials. We’ve made use of Bloomspot and Yelp deals. Presently, we’re also trying out LocBox, which enables us to send promotions exclusively to our regular clients. Occasionally promotions also crop up on Facebook, and even in some of our blogs.

Promotional stuff aside, we’re looking at what we can do to be a better salon and day spa for you. Just this week we’ve begun using QualityBack, which was created by one of our clients. QualityBack is an expedient way for you to give us input about what you like at our salon, or might like to see changed. Atelier Emmanuel’s team wants to do its utmost to offer you a great experience, and we think this could be a great system to let us know if we’re meeting your expectations. Click here and try it out!

Recent Photoshoots

We did a couple of photoshoots in May —for fun, and to populate our website. We worked with Tara Arrowood who’s always game for our ideas. We did two days of shooting. The first one was primarily with models provided by Look Model Agency, which lives two floors down from us. Jeffery, Al, and Nicole are also longtime partners who are always happy to help us find models to work with.

We went into the first photoshoot with ideas of what we wanted, knowing that we'd have to adapt them to the state of the models' hair. For the second photoshoot we decided to take the idea further. More models, less planning! We managed to get 9 models, principally via Model Mayhem. With few exceptions, we didn’t know what they would actually look like until they showed up. Once they did, the fun started...

We're still putting together a slideshow to showcase all the styles we played with. Until then, here is sampling:

Style by James Mackey
Model: Sayaha Aida (Model Mayhem)



This is an example of us doing a rendition of an image we'd seen. The inspiration, on the left, is a photo by Robert Jaso. Click on his name to see his site. He has some really amazing work!

On the right is our version. The style was done by James Mackey. This is a case where we didn't know the model beforehand, and so had to adapt to her hair. We're not sure how Jaso managed to get his model to crane her head like that. She must have a really long neck!

Styles by Stephanie Martin Model: Carlos (Model Mayhem)
Model: Trinidad (Model Mayhem)



Stephanie wanted to do rocker styles. Fittingly enough, it turns out Carlos is a drummer in a local band. That shot, btw, was taken as Tara was repositioning his head. Sometimes the best expressions come just when the model is distracted from posing.

Style by Britney Ketchie
Model: Alicia from Look Model Agency



The style by James, earlier, was about perfection. Getting very clean lines and hair which falls perfectly. With this model, Britney took the opposite tact and created a style which embraced the messiness and chaos our hair can have. There's an art to the controlled use of wildness in hairstyling.

Styles by Darby Ciampi
Model: Briana (Model Mayhem)



And to round off for today, some everyday styles by Darby. Hair bands across the eyes will be the big hit in sunglasses in 2012, offering a much higher spf than standard lenses.

Makeup
Julie Dy
Lena Chavez

Lena and Julie are our go to ladies for makeup, and as usual they did great work, and were great troopers about the volume of people they had to handle. Sometimes you have to be careful that makeup doesn’t take the stage from the hair. But more and more we want to go with stronger looks, so next time we are going to let Lena and Julie push the envelope even more.


Wardrobe
Sometimes we get so caught up in the hair, that we neglect the wardrobe. We were lucky with most models that they brought interesting fashions with them. In a few cases, we had to run out and get something. We'll learn to specify what we want. Also, we would really like to work with local designers — so if you know any, please have them contact us!

Hope you enjoyed this sampling from our recent photoshoots. Look for more photos soon!

Product Review: BC Bonacure MEN Shampoo, Styling Gel

There are a lot of hair care products out there. Pretty much every week we are solicited with a new line. Though we are selective with what we carry, even Atelier Emmanuel has quite a bit of product on offer. Sometimes we realize that some great products have become lost to us on our own shelves, so we can imagine what is like for you!

With a few new staff members coming on board in recent months, we realized we needed to begin an in-house review of our products. We're going to catalogue both our most popular items and least popular items. Along the way, we'll report our impressions to you. The aim is to give a brief overview of our products. Maybe also look at the worth of what we carry. These reviews won't be thinly veiled hype for every product. So we hope it will be of use for you.

Bonacure MEN Oily Hair Shampoo and Styling Gel

We launch this series with two products for men, both part of Bonacure (BC) Hairtherapy, developed by Schwarzkopf Professional.

What Schwarzkopf Has To Say:

BC Men oily hair shampoo
"BC Bonacure MEN Anti-Grease Shampoo is an Oily Hair Shampoo with Sebolin™ that actively degreases scalp and hair. The product entirely removes oil, product residues and also prevents the production of sebum in the sebaceous glands. Its ingredients, which include menthol, refresh and calm scalp, stimulate circulation and prevents skin irritation."

BC Men styling Gel:
"BC Bonacure MEN Styling Gel includes special care ingredients, like Panthenol, which moisturize and strengthen the hair to make it supple and smooth. The gel can be applied to damp or dry hair and gives strong hold for perfect style control."

Our Take

“I would say that the main selling point for these two products is the price: they are cheaper than others. I personally prefer other lines that we sell but for low budgets, BC Bonacure will do the job." —George Falcon, Senior Stylist.

We originally began carrying these products because they were an attractive product at an attractive price.

The BC Oily Hair Shampoo, for instance, is about a quarter of the price of René Furterer CURBICIA Regulating Shampoo, another shampoo designed for scalps prone to oiliness.

Now, we should clarify that the Curbicia Shampoo is a more concentrated product with a stronger effect. It is clay based, natural, with a much more absorbent quality. Curbicia is effective, but it has no froth, unlike the BC Shampoo. And its potency might be in excess of what your scalp and hair need.

We’d say, then, that the BC Oily Hair Shampoo is a good selection if
(a) You like the feeling of a standard shampoo (froth, bubbles)
(b) Your hair is not especially oily
(c) Want a more affordable product

The BC Styling Gel is a classic men’s gel. I like it because it has a nice smell, it is strong and affordable. The packaging as well is attractive. —Emmanuel Noel. Master Stylist, Owner

This comment from Emmanuel pretty much says it all for the BC Styling Gel: it does what you expect a gel to do. If you want more sophisticated styling, there are other modern styling products which would be more suitable. But you can’t beat the BC styling gel for the average guy. It’s straightforward, the smell is subtle and, again, it’s affordable. It’s really suited for the man who want to run a dab into his hair and move on.

That’s our wrap-up of these two products. Let us know what you think. Have you tried them? Is there more information you would have liked to hear? Let us know!

Buy either product and receive $5 off!
Bonacure MEN for Oily Hair Shampoo (8.5 oz): $12.05
Bonacure MEN Styling Gel: (5.1 fl oz): $14.24

Agenda | Who's Off When?

Salon Schedule
Monday: 9a — 6p
Tuesday: 9a — 8p
Wednesday: 9a — 8p
Thursday: 9a — 8p
Friday: 9a — 6p
Saturday: 9a — 6p

Salon closed Monday, July 4.
Thursday, July 14 (Bastille Day): French treats at the salon.

Anastasia: off July 9
Claudia: off June 28 to July 13
Stephanie: off on June 21, July 2 to 6

2011 Menu

If you haven't seen it at our salon yet, here's a slideshow of our latest menu.

We tried to keep it simple and readable. Oftentimes menus include a lot of verbiage. We thought that it was better to streamline. What do you think?

ScissorBoy: Hair Shimmering With Clippers

ScissorBoy is Grant, who used to come by our salon regularly to stock us up on styling tools and sharpen our blades. He would arrive on a Segway, sporting a ponytail, another wonderful character in the extended AE family. Currently based in London, ScissorBoy has been posting hair styling related videos on his website for the past year or so. We’ve gotten into the habit of watching the weekly episodes, as it gives us a way to connect with other high end members of the styling community. Sometimes we’re lucky and catch a new trend that is emerging. Sometimes we see how another stylists works and it helps clarify our own approach.

Recently we watched an episode from Scissorboy called “Hair Shimmering With Clippers” to which we felt kinship. We’re presenting it to you, because we thought it would actually help introduce our own approach. The guest stylist in this episode is Pat Wood, based in Manchester. While there is a key difference in how we work, there are some fundamental concepts that we share. We invite you to watch the video here. Or you can view it below.

Two key concepts presented by Pat Wood in the episode are
(1) working visually
(2) working 50% on wet hair and 50% on dry hair

— Working “visually??” I don’t recall ever seeing my stylist cut with his eyes closed!
— That’s because you come to Atelier Emmanuel!

What we mean is that it is one thing to implement hair cutting techniques you’ve acquired, and quite another to take the time to visualize how to apply those to a particular person. This is what Pat Wood means when she speaks about “watching and looking all the time.” Our stylists have studied with world renowned instructors and schools like Vidal Sassoon or Tony & Guy. The techniques are not used blindly, however. We plan the cut around what we see in the hair and in the client’s features. We let go of ideas about what the cut should be and instead work with the reality of the client.

It’s a more dimensional approach. And the result, like in the video, is hair which falls naturally and can style itself.



The next common feature is that 50% of the cut happens on dried hair. Why is that? Quite simply, because you don’t walk around with wet hair! Working on dry hair allows us to better see the results of our work. Working on wet hair is a preliminary phase to build the foundation of a style. We cut the perimeter and give the main lines of your cut. Then, on dry hair, we refine the cut and tailor layers that fall naturally.

Irregular layers, by the way, seems to be another another shared approach with Pat Wood. Creating irregular layers brings more movement to hair and really helps lift up the face. Building up a cut from such layers requires skill, patience, and confidence. You have to be able to “get” each person’s hair and head shape. But the result is a cut which honors the individuality of that person, and this is how you get a cut which grows out well.

Now, the tool we use is the main difference between what you see in the video and the way we work in the salon. We don’t often work with clippers. Clippers are efficient, but we prefer the precision of scissors. And, we feel it offers a completely difference experience for both the client and the stylist. If nothing else, we’re still able to converse over the snip snip of scissors! Either clippers or scissors can give good results; but despite the fact that it takes more time, we prefer the control of scissors.

We hope you enjoy watching the video and that it helps you understand a bit more how we work at Atelier Emmanuel. We’ll leave you with a final tidbit which Emmanuel always emphasizes: that you finish a cut. This is what working visually and cutting 50/50 on wet then dry hair contribute to. They allow a stylist to create a hairstyle which fits you.

The Spring/Summer framesi Italian Style Show

or, Is Chopping Hair Considered A Technique?

On a recent Sunday Atelier Emmanuel attended the framesi Spring/Summer evening event. It was held at the Palace Hotel in downtown SF and produced by framesi in partnership with SalonCentric (the professional products distribution operation of L'Oréal USA). The purpose of the event was to showcase new trends and techniques in hair design.

In terms of organization everything was very well orchestrated: the music, the lights, the service and the timing were in place, making the attendee experience easy. The demos themselves left us unimpressed, if not slightly horrified at times...

The doors opened at exactly 7 pm into a grande salle booming with the requisite electronic music, indicating that this was to be a vibrant and fast-paced atmosphere. Hostesses welcomed us with smiles, white roses, glasses of wine and appetizers. Scattered across a main stage and four satellite ones, a dozen models stood as still as props, while guests mingled.

After a bit of time for everyone to arrive, the electronic music lowered as did many of the lights. The main stage was spotlighted. Boyd Parris, framesi's North America Creative Director, stepped on-stage to open the show. In addition to Parris, the principal presenters of the evening were Jonathan Swaim for a color demonstration, Tom Mascarenas with a haircut and Lanette Dwyer with an Up-do demo.

Like anyone else, we like to be glamored at shows. And there was certainly a lot of verve to these demos. We could see that the framesi stylists knew their technique; but there was a certain aggressiveness to their style which was discomfiting.

There was maybe too much verve, in fact, as one stylist grabbed a thick ponytail of a model's hair and swiftly, unceremoniously, chopped away a good twelve inches of hair. It made for good television but it did not lead to a good outcome. Emmanuel later noted that there was a haircutting concept at work here: the idea is to twist long hair up into a ponytail, hold it taut, and then chop it. It’s possible to have it fall properly, but you need a lot of control to do this. And you need to know how to finish, afterwards.

Unfortunately this model came away with a decidedly unfinished style (une coupe trop sauvage, if you will). We came away wondering what we were being shown. That drama beats technique? That speed beats results? Meandering to the other stages, we found a healthy variety of styles. Again nothing that took our breath away.



We like structure, attention to detail and preciseness at Atelier Emmanuel. We found the framesi demos short on these. There are, of course, constraints to working in an event environment. No one wants to watch a 45 minute haircut on a stage. But better to prepare the model beforehand and then bring her onstage to illustrate a few key points.

If you are going from long to short, you cannot really do a good haircut in a short amount of time. To get rid of so much hair makes for a good show, but it does not teach much. A 10 minute presentation of a technique would have been more interesting.

The idea of going fast is an interesting one, in a demo setting but also with a regular haircut. In a demo, the more you prepare ahead of time, obviously the more you can demo quickly. In real life, a fast haircut begins with the concept in your mind. The better formed it is, and the more you know your client, the faster you can work. And going fast doesn't preclude finishing on the style.

The framesi event was good entertainment. However we were quite happy to come back to our salon the next day and focus on creating hairstyles that are structured and wearable. No matter how long they take achieve.

— attended by Emmanuel Noel, Nicole Siri, and Virginie Delplanque