Leap Blog

How often will I get this chance to do this? Every 4 years. The leap blog. Well here it is. No big thought for this one. Just an entry to mark the occasion.
Happy leap day!

Teen girls with comb_overs?

I just can’t think of a better way to describe it. They just look like nice teenage girls with comb-overs. If they were 65 year old guys it would look like it belonged that way, but these are teenage girls. Maybe you have seen them too, recently. Long hair. Parted waaaaay over to the side in a half bang that sweeps the forehead. This fringe drops past the eye on the far side. I am still trying to figure out which celebrity teenybopper is responsible for initiating this fashion trend. I want to try to get a picture the next time I see one so I can post it here so you can see what I mean. Bottom line… teen girls with comb-overs… the new wave in youth fashion.

My Uncle Phil

I spent some time visiting with my Uncle Phil last week. You need to go see your Uncle Phil too. I bet you did not know you had an Uncle Phil. Uncle Phil is cool and you too can be cool just by paying him a visit. So cool, in fact, that you will leave Uncle Phil’s tonsorial parlour with your very own Uncle Phil’s tonsorial parlour Good Guy Club membership card. I got mine. Uncle Phil’s tonsorial parlour is a REAL barber shop, Kings Park, Long Island, NY. I had discovered them on the net a few years back and the place sounded just like a place I would enjoy. I made a note to get there on my next visit to NY. I stopped in. We talked clippers. I shared a few NEW Andis tools. I got a great haircut and I have made new friends. All together, a worthwhile visit and a new name added to my family tree… Uncle Phil.

Again with the booth monkey.

The Andis booth monkey came through for us in a big way at ISSE 2008. He had been gone for a few events. Truth be told, as many of you know, he is NOT the original booth monkey, but a second generation booth monkey pressed into service to support the Andis team. Look for him at America’s Beauty Show in Chicago in March. Find him and point him out to me at the booth and you get a FREE Andis prize too!

4 min live

My Andis 4 min fade technique continues to spread like wildfire across the clipper cutting community. ISSE was the seen of the most recent big-crowd demonstration of this powerful technique. A SRO crowd packed into room 203C to see and hear the 4 min. concept demonstrated on both a mannequin and live model. The best news for all is that I now have the Andis 4 min fade technical breakdown sheet as a pdf file. It can be instantly emailed around the planet to any and all who ask for it. Drop me a line through ask the expert here on the site and I will get it to you A.S.A.P. You really have to try this.

NEW Mag Guards

It has been quite some time since I have blogged here about the virtues of an Andis product. I do not really need to scream about our stuff. You know I am a totally biased, raving lunatic, Andis clipper junkie… so me getting excited about another Andis item is nothing to take all that seriously. But… here I go. The NEW magnetic, nano-silver attachment guide combs for the Improved Master clipper are a huge hit. These are easy to use, and fun to sell. They have been great to take out and show as I visit barbershops throughout my travels. This is the first real, true improvement in clipper guards in about 100 years. Prior to the intro of these all guards relied upon pressure to hold the guide comb on the clipper. From the tips of the teeth of the lower blade to the back, heel edge spring clip the guard was held under tension. No more. The mag guide comb is held in place with powerful, rare earth magnets. This provides very secure attachment yet no stress to the guide comb. They are, in fact, so strongly held in place by those little magnets that you can suspend the clipper by the guide comb and it will not fall… and you know just how much a Improved Master weighs… that says a lot. Also, the positioning of the magnets allows serious pressure to be applied to the leading edge of the guard, like when fading off a line, with zero chance of popping the guard off accidentally. These puppies are just a little bit more expensive than the old style guards and currently only offered in 1/8” and 1/16” sizes (the most popular , anyway), but well worth a look. Shoot me an email if you are intrigued by this and I will put a FREE sample in the mail to you right away. Once you try it, you will be a big fan too. Then you can mention it in your blog too!

Check out Matthew Palmer's talent

A T-outliner + creativity + a willing canvas and look what you get! Matthew Palmer is a barber from Clinton, NY. He submitted the following examples of his work created exclusively with Andis tools. Matthew, thank you for your enthusiasm for the Andis brand!

Mr. Anthony @ ISSE

ISSE 2008 had been and gone. Were you there? Did you see the best of the west in beauty industry education? Tony Cammileri (Mr. Anthony) was there for Andis cutting on stage. He was hogging the mike at times, not such a bad thing. It had been quite some time since I spent a show working with Tony… it does not happen nearly often enough. Tony is old school and one of the best when it comes to sharing classic technique in a simple, straight forward and easy to understand way. Many learned much from him over the weekend. I even came away with a nice taper around the sides as a model for him.

Wax with hold

As you know from prior entries… I have amassed a lot of hair. Well, I still have it. I would have that flat top if it was not for a single, new found hair care product that is keeping me happy enough to resist cutting down the top of my hair. I helped Fantastic Sams launch their new Fantastic Men hair care line for men. I was given a pile of samples of the stuff. I used the shampoo and conditioner, all-in-one item a lot. The firm hold gel was pretty O.K. My hair was shorter then and the hair wax, a creamy paste in a jar seemed more like cold creame than a hair wax. I just skipped it. Flash forward to all this hair. In my office one day and the dry air and heat had made my hair staticky. I grabbed this wax stuff to try to clam and smooth my hair and the minute I put it through my hair with my fingers I knew I liked it. Just enough hold, Not-too-tacky texture, mild fragrance, lots to like about this stuff. Next time I cross paths with some Sams friends I will need to pick up a few more samples.