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

Edito

This is the kind of month we like at AE! A couple of runs of nice weather, and lots of action in our salon...

We participated in a number of photoshoots and events including Yelé Jewelry, Netsuite Awards Gala, SF Magazine, and a 1920's styled shoot.

Our massage therapist Margarita popped up in The Examiner's My City. Paul graduated to junior stylist. Meanwhile Virginie continues to build our online presence, and creating avenues to announce our daily specials to you.

We certainly hope to continue in this vein next month. First up? Complimentary desserts by Galaxy Desserts, next week. We hope to see you soon!

Paul's Graduation Promotion

Our assistant Paul graduated to Junior Stylist status at our salon this week.

After nearly 2 years with Atelier Emmanuel, over 80 intense training sessions, nearly 3,000 hours of observation, assistance and apprenticeship with senior stylists... Paul finally qualified to become a Junior Stylist.

Yes, it requires patience and skill to become a professional hair stylist — especially with Emmanuel, who has built the Atelier Emmanuel brand around the ideals of craftsmanship and Old World apprenticing.

To celebrate, and introduce himself to clients who don't yet know him, Paul is offering Express Hair Treatments with a complimentary blow-dry for $30 — which saves you 50% off the standard value of $60.

Express Hair Treatments are a boon to your hair and scalp as well as a soothing, relaxing experience so we encourage you to try a session!

Until June 15th