HairBoutique Blog

Cutting Edge Secrets:

Tressed to impress - from cool L.A. and quintessential London to fashion capital New York - Preferred Hotel Group^TM (one of my personal favorites) has a collection of luxe hotels offering access to celebrity hair stylists and their hallowed salons, guaranteeing head-turning results this summer.

Guests and locals alike are slipping into luxury hotels to pick up a full fringe or revolutionary color; it’s the perfect setting to toast their new look with a fabulous cocktail or sophisticated dinner à deux.

(Image above - Montage Laguna Beach, Orange County, Calif - Image Courtesy of Preferred Hotel Group - all rights reserved).

The secret is out and here are a few highlights to put shine into your summer. You’d be a head case not to:

Cool Cut, Cool Britannia - Paul Edmonds at Egerton House Hotel, London

Next door to Egerton House Hotel, a member of Preferred Boutique, is award-winning stylist Paul Edmonds who gave Natalie Imbruglia her infamous cool crop and Emma Thompson those classy waves. Enjoyment of your new ‘do whilst taking afternoon tea at Egerton House Hotel will be heightened thanks to the resident’s discount and a myriad of treatments available at the salon. (more…)

Besides being a self proclaimed workaholic, I’m also a major packrat. Sometimes the mountains of books and magazines I collect on my favorite topics - business, hair, beauty, celebrities, Astrology, Feng Shui and Self Help become completely out of control.

However, there are days like today when all that packratting comes in handy.

I was cleaning out some boxes of magazines in one of the “libraries” when I discovered a National Enquirer from May 2, 2000. In the Mike Walker Gossip pages was an interesting box on the bottom of the lower right hand corner of the first page with the title of “Joystick Jolie”.

The box showcased a photo of busty cyberbabe Lara Croft with her gorgeous raven black hair.  Along with the image of Lara was a real life photo of beautifully coiffed Angie accepting her Academy Award for Girl Interrupted. The box explained that Angelina “will be gunning for more screen glory as Lara Croft in a movie version of the computer game” known as “Tomb Raider”. (more…)

Since I promised myself I would get with the blogging program, like everything else I do, I threw myself into it 1000% percent.  Since the time I started working hard on my own blogging, I’ve been finding all sorts of great new blogs that are expanding my horizons.  I’ve been finding great blog treasures in a lot of different subject areas other than hair, beauty and fashion.  Which is a very good thing since I tend to be myopic about those topics.

Blogging has become yet another form of a scotoma for me.  I never really saw all the fabulous blogs (in my defense I do work lots of hours) on the Web until I started creating my own blog.

Recently I happened upon a very cool blog that celebrates Girlfriends.  The blog is charming, inspirational and  really got me thinking in all new directions.  The fabulous blog is called Girlfriend Celebrations.  The blog is cheerful, fun and very inspirational.

The blog is written by Dawn Williams Bertuca who is a professional writer, editor and a mother of two and Tina VanZant Bishop is a Registered Nurse, photographer, and mother of two.

These two fab girlfriends brainstorm girlfriend party ideas and spend precious “girl time†drinking coffee, dreaming, trading CDs, feng shui-ing, and thinking of all the fabulous places they will go when they get a spare moment.

Dawn and Tina honor and celebrate female friendships.   As these two women suggest “not enough women make “girlfriend” relationships a priority”.   I completely agree.  (more…)

I was always one of those Type A kids that always knew what I wanted to be when I grew up although it didn’t agree with the vision of my parents.

From the time I was in the 2nd grade I wanted to be a writer. I loved to write little plays that the neighborhood kids would put on. We would assemble a series of milk cartons covered by a large piece of cardboard and the requisite sheet. We also would bug the different parents to string clotheslines so we had a curtain to open and close for each act.

I remember the first play I wrote. It was about the poor little country girl who travels to the city and one day becomes a huge success and marries the man of her dreams. Yeah, lame but what would you expect from a 2nd grade kid?

Around that time my dad decided I should grow up and be a professional musician. Which meant lots of piano, clairnet, guitar and organ lessons with tons of practice, practice, practice. I didn’t particularly share his vision so I was not all that keen about the music part of my life but somehow I managed to thrive and figured all that keyboard work would help my typing.

Actually it did. By the time I got to high school and took keyboarding I was the fastest in my class. At least be chained to the piano helped me in school.

By the time I was in my senior year of high school I had decided the road to being a professional musician was not for me and business seemed a possibility although a little risky. I also decided being a full time writer was folly. I opted for a more practical path and decided to be a sociologist or psychologist. After all, I loved reading true crime books and studying people. (more…)

When I was younger I loved to travel.  That was then, before 911, airport security checkpoints, sky high gas fuel and extremely overcrowded airlines.

In my 20s I worked for one of the top software companies in the world and spent most Mondays and Fridays at airports around the US.  I racked up lots of frequent flier miles which I used for even more travel for vacation.  I become a whiz at learning all the ins and outs of the major airports and having fun doing it.

As CEO of HairBoutique.com it’s a requirement for me to travel from time to time.  I have become proficient at delegating trips to other HB team members whenever possible, or doing business via conference calls, net meetings or email.  Sometimes you just have to get on a plane and go do face time.  There’s no other way.

When I do have to travel, I employ every trick in the book to make it as painless as possible.  For trips requiring multiple changes of clothing I have learned to ship my clothes in advance and pack suits that are interchangeable.  I also prefer to stay in hotels with comfy beds to minimize jet lag and guarantee a good night’s rest. (more…)