Busy, Busy, Bronner

Andis will once again be the sponsor for the Bronner Show barber competition on Sunday morning. Register NOW on line to save on the registration fee. Win cash and a big trophy. Show off your barber skills. Each competitor gets a FREE Andis tools kit to use for the event and keep, win or lose... but all are winners just for participating. We will announce the tool here in the blog next week when it is confirmed. Space is limited to 48 competitors... and is usually filled up. You do not ant to miss this. In past years some winners have gone on to be members of the Andis cutting team. Kenny Duncan, Tone McGill and Eric Cheek are former winners. Who is next? Visit the Bronner bros web site HERE for more info.

almost Bronner show time...

The Bronner Bros. Mid-summer show 2012 is right around the corner. Andis will have a lot going on there. Over the next few blogs we will highlight all of what is happening at Bronner this time around. Let's start off with the floor stage. As always Andis will feature some of the industry's best clipper cutting talent including: Tome McGill, Kenny Duncan, Rodrick Samuels, Tameka Thomas, Eric Cheek, Jaye Da Barber... and oh yeah, Me. Here is the Bronner web site. Our booth is on the floor to the right when you walk in. We are HUGE You do NOT need a booth number to find us.... ...And if you do, you likely should not be cutting hair with that bad eyesight! :) See you there.

Shops you should know - Floyd's

Another shop you should know. Floyd's. Locations all over U.S.A. I have had my hair cut here a few times and have never had a bad experience of a bad cut. Good people and a strong average level of talent. Stop in one today. I recommend them for cuts or as a cutter... worth a look for a place to work. Link here.

Shops you should know - Rudy's

I am blogging shops I have come across that you should know about. Today it is Rudy"s. Out west. Popular chain. Here is their facebook page. Here is their web site. Have a look.

Masters of Barbering web site

I met the owner this past weekend at a show. He is an Andis fan and a classic barbering "keeper of the flame". Check out his web site and his info. Classic, solid and usable information. Look here.

Rick the barber form Vegas

Rick cut hair with Andis at the Vegas IBS show last month. new video here form Rick. Nice! Link.

More form the Bolt event

Just a few more images of Bolt barbers, this fun and funky shop on Melrose Ave. in LA

Bolt barbers visit

The Ivan vs. the Flowbee event last week at Bolt barbers in LA was a lot of fun. here are a few images of me and Mohawk Matt and the shop and the action. Talking to students, cutting some hair, posing with Mtt and a client and Mario the Flowbee expert.

Photo shoot

These are images form a photo shoot for a magazine. We were looking for a celeb inspired technical. Bradley Cooper from hangover 1 and 2 fame was out goal. This guy looked quite like him.

Me and 3 friends...

This is me with Rodrick Samuels, Jaye Da Barber and Lucky the mascot from the Lake County Fielders baseball team enjoying the game this past Tuesday.

Andis ink... another great master tat

On the arm of Chris Foster a new cutter at Smooth Cuts in Kenosha, WI. A great little shop near the Andis factory. We always appreciate the advertising.

A Fantastic night

Andis and I were on hand for the Fantastic Sam's hair cutting chain's California award night and competition. All attendees received an Andis clipper in their goody bag (and an Andis curling iron, too). We presented a special class for selected members of the Sam's team. I was a judge for the nights competition along with 2 other manufacturer representatives form other Sam's vendors. This was a great evening at the Disney Grand Californian resort. Thank you to all the great Sam's hair cutters we met.

backhand clipper cutting- Tyr it!

I had a recent visit to a Regency beauty School location in Burnsville, MN. As is typical I shared backhand clipper cutting with the students. They loved it. Danna Nguyen stepped up to give it a try. Nice job Danna. She got right into it and was zipping and clipping along in no time. have you tried the technique yet? For interior layer cutting... on any length and any client. Here it the video that explain the technique, too!

Me Vs. The Flowbee, this week

The Flowbee event is Friday. We have secured the participation of Mario... a devoted Flowbee user to come out to demo the Flowbee and to experience first hand the difference with a Andis/IvanZoot hair cut. There will be plenty of pictures and some video in the wake of the event. Stay tuned.

The other side of the planet - barbering

Take a look at these images. These are of a big and growing guys hair cut chain in Singapore. Notice that the sanitation standards are posted in the window. New comb each client. Throw the old one away. Nice.

Lots of learning in SC

Andis and I were guest presenters last week at the South Carolina department of Education Professional development conference for vocational and technical schools. We shared clipper cutting techniques and clipper care and maintenance information with educators from around the state. This was great event and we were happy to be invited. see you again next year!
Thank you.

Me vs. the Flowbee

Friday, July 8, 2011 is the anniversary of the invention of the vacuum cleaner... so... game on. Bolt barbers in Los Angeles, Monkey House Barber Shop will host an event. Come in and try your hand at cutting your own hair with a Flowbee. I will be there for FREE hair cut fixes of the job you do with the Flowbee is not to your liking. Look HERE for more details.
Stop in and say hello and watch the fun if you will be in the area.

Elijah Mac, In his onw words. Welcome to the Andis team!

Many of us remember many first's in our life...your first crush, your first car, your first tattoo and at 40 years of age I had another first. I attended my first hair convention...as an educator...for Andis clippers! For me this would be like if my first date was with Jessica Alba...winning! Even though I have been in the hair profession for over a decade I never made it to a hair show. This is not all that strange for me...I have hundreds of tattoos and have never been to a tattoo convention....and other things in my life seem to go this way...maybe it's just that I love to "do" rather than "look". With that said I viewed this endeavor as a way to be taught rather than teach and that is exactly what happened. After meeting with The Clipper Guy- Ivan Zoot, I was introduced to Lynn...don't ask me to spell her last name, I couldn't even pronounce it at the show but she is amazing with the clippers on women's styles! She quickly took me under her wing and helped me get comfortable with being on stage and speaking to the crowd. Over the next three days we shared the stage and had a blast...she is a comedian in her spare time so there was never a dull moment. Love you Lynn. One of the highlights was being asked by The Major League Barber Crew to be a guest judge for the barber battle. These guys are super cool and the talented barbers who battled it out were amazing! MLB crew member Wanza and I were really impressed with the foundation work on the Brooklyn Bridge design. Wanza your a G!!! Over the three day event I was tutored by Ivan on many aspects of how to be a great educator and the fine details of the Andis tools I love so much. We also shared personal stories and became good friends...we connected like a set of Legos while speaking about family, friends and the existential questions about the meaning of life. Also Kenny "The Professional" Duncan was on hand to judge the battle on behalf of Andis. He gave me some great tips and insight into being a Andis educator. When it was all said and done I felt like I had won the lottery...all these great people shared their wisdom with me AND I got paid for it!!!! I did kinda hit the lotto money wise also..over the three days I won $235 playing Blackjack and to finish it off...on my flight home I was the last person to board the plane and I guess because I was dressed so nice the flight attendant assumed that the only open seat in first class was mine, so as she greeted me and motioned me toward the open seat I almost blew and said it wasn't mine but then I realized that in some Devine existential way the seat was meant for me. This brings me to the last but in no way least person I need to thank... Mr. Rodrick Samuels not only did I model my attire after him...which landed me the first class seat but he was there for me when I wasn't sure about my future in this profession...he supported me on a professional and personal level and without his help I would have never made this dream come true for myself. So in closing my advice to anyone who wants to be a educator is that as long as you understand that you have just as much to learn as you do to teach...then first class with always have a seat reserved for you.

Aloha
Elijah "Mos Faded" Mack