Welcome Clayde Baumann!

It’s Saturday 13th February, a day before Valentine’s Day, and I have one thing on my mind... It’s not chocolates and it’s not a sweetheart. I’m thinking it’s my last day at Saks Hammersmith and tomorrow is my first day as a full-time member of Saks International Art Team! Totally awesome!

Working at Saks Hammersmith for the last year was an incredible experience. The team are friendly and talented with staff members who have been with the salon for as long as 10 years. I’m geared to make them proud of me in my new role. I am truly appreciative to Lance Fisher and Richard Stokes for all the support and motivation they have provided on my career path.

One chapter ends and another begins and I before I know it, it’s Sunday 14 February (the day of love) and I’m jetting off to Aberdeen with Mario to present the Saks Spring/Summer Trends (my new found love). It’s my first time to Aberdeen so I’m interested to see what the place and people are like. The flight to Aberdeen is short with Mario and me discussing the excitement that would ensue over the next two days and a promise of the fun times with our Scottish contingent!

The next morning, Monday 15th February, Mario and I are up early after a fantastic night’s sleep and we enjoy a continental breakfast at the Holiday Inn, which is just a short walk from the Aberdeen Salon, before heading over to start the day.

The Salon is buzzing as soon as we get there with 16 creative minds hungry for what the day will bring. Christy is there too and I’m glad to see him for the first time since our A-team shoot. He has (as usual) been responsible for getting everything sorted for us and never disappoints. With exhilarating edge and tenacity, Mario and I begin the morning with two incredible colour techniques developed by the Saks Art Team. Mario presents our “Hues” technique and I present the “Mirror Mirror” technique.
After a short break, Mario and I go straight into the show-stopping cuts, presenting our latest trend techniques “Inside Out” and “Moth effect”. These are inspirational techniques that provide a stylist with a fresh view on texture and weight distribution and how to get the most out of a shape. I would recommend checking these techniques out on one of our trend launches to any stylist.

After a quick and tasty lunch, we go straight into the workshop, when the delegates manipulate the cutting and colouring techniques we’ve shown them and create their own looks on mannequin heads. The quality of work is incredible and I’m blown away by the energy and passion of the Scottish.

It ends as a great day and everyone is feeling empowered with a new set of skills and information, new ideas and something to talk about to create a hype in the salon.
At Saks no amount of hard work goes unrewarded and Aberdeen’s crew is incredibly hospitable.
We are treated to an all expenses paid evening out to the beautiful Church-converted restaurant aptly name Soul. Thank you to Phillip for hosting a wonderful evening out and thank you to the Aberdeen crew for a fantastic opportunity to connect with such talented professionals.

The second day in Aberdeen is aimed at the up-and-coming talent in the industry and we have prepared an informative and full day of activity for the assistants. Mario and I spend the morning with the assistants going through corrective colour and precision colouring. Our training day is met with anticipation and excitement and the Aberdeen assistants absorb the information with voracious vigour. Mario tackles issues such as colour banding and recycling beautiful tones in the hair, whilst I touched on the process of colouring sensitised hair and perfecting these processes.
Watch out! In the afternoon, Mario and I get the opportunity to see what these assistants are made of and we are wowed by their tenacity to try out the new things they have learned. The excitement leads finds us playing with interesting colour placement and identifying the different effects that we can get.

After two packed days of training, it’s time for us to be heading home. Mario and I leave Aberdeen feeling energised and motivated by the friendly atmosphere in Aberdeen.

Thanks again guys! It was a great experience!

A visit to Saks Aberdeen...

Visiting salons and getting to know the network has been a big focus for me this year! We all know Saks as a company that feels very much like"family". With more salons opening throughout the UK its important we stay connected and follow in the companies success and continue to build a strong future together!

I was very fortunate to be booked for a training day with Saks Aberdeen, I had heard a lot about this salon. Philip & Audrey who own the franchise have won many awards and are renowned for their prestigious salon and commitment to staff training and wellbeing. Before any visit I put in a call to the salon to discuss some options and get an idea for what they would like to cover. I feel its important to know what the salon thinks it's lacking, whether it be inspiration for cutting, colouring or styling! Its a great opportunity to learn as much as possible not just from me but from each other! With the agenda sorted, I will travel up the night before on Sunday and spend Monday in the salon. I will begin with a colour demo and 2 cuts(I will have one model pre-coloured first thing in the morning)

Time is very precious at the minute as my wife is due to give birth to our first baby any day now, so although I'm extremely excited about this trip, in the back of my mind I'm hoping her labour doesn't start! lol

To help prep before my arrival, I employ the help of Christy who was on the A Team 09 and works in the salon. He is a bright, talented youngman. I had requested some photos of any potential models and not wasting anytime Christy has forwarded me 6 photos. I will only pick 2 models as we will do a workshop in the afternoon. I have decided to keep 1 look very commercial and the other much stronger knowing they can dilute or strengthen these looks to work for them and their clients. With the models chosen, I email Christy with a brief to help him prep. I have 100% confidence in him and know he'll do a great job.

Monday morning I wake up to a shockingly cold day! It really is freezing!lol. I head over to the salon and if its superb location didn't impress me enough, the stunning floor layout and extremely well maintained workspace certainly did! Even the dispensary was immaculate as if a magic wand had been waved over it to keep it tidy! It's clear to see why this salon is so successful. I am continuing to work with the Autumn/Winter trends which I have loved every minute of and the group already seem excited before I have even started. The demos will include: a long cosy layer cut with sensuous neutrals as the colour inspiration, followed by a short tight fit cut with a twist of texture madness and merging all the jewelled colours together using some crazy colour to create something more edgy. As I complete the looks the group give a generous applause and as true hairdressers are keen to get their mitts on the models and really look through my work.....!

After a short lunch break we start the workshop and the group are eager to begin. As a result of creating their own looks I am keen to get each stylist to explain what it is they've done to the rest of the group. I find this helps them to communicate with one another and feed off each others ideas and creativity. Even if some of the stylists have followed a similar sectioning pattern or cut to my demos, they have all ended up changing parts of it to make it their own and its a real joy to see this development. The day ends on time and with a massive high. A few of us head over to a local bar to grab a drink before I leave to fly home.

I have to say this was a great trip, short, sweet and very enjoyable. I would like to say a huge thanks to all the staff at Saks in Aberdeen for having me. To Christy, fab job & big thanks for assisting, and to Philip & Audrey for booking me to come and visit and for looking after me.

I hope to see you all again next year!! Merry Christmas!!

Mario x

"The universal language of hair!"

What happens when someone travels thousands of miles to London to be taught something new and they hardly speak a word of English?....... you teach them regardless! ;-)

For the past 2 years I have been teaching hairdressers our collections and latest trends from all over the world. Students have travelled from Poland, Demark, Portugal, Italy and sometimes even as far as India! I'm looking through my busy diary and frantically scribbling everything down when I see I have a group of 7 hairdressers from India back for another intense 3 days of advanced cuts and colour from our Autumn/Winter trends. I have so much fun teaching these guys as they are very likeable, passionate and friendly people who always give a 100%.

I am expecting to turn up to work and prepare myself for a busy day as I finalize my plans and get myself ready. I head over to reception to greet my class. However instead of 7 students I have 1! :-(Thinking the others are running a little late I try to speak to the lady who is sat waiting and find out very quickly her English is limited!

Trying to find out if the others are on the way, she politely nods and smiles and I'm guessing this maybe my only class mate for tne next 3 days!

We always run checks at the Academy to make sure Visa's are in place and that we have all participants attending including a translator, however on this occasion there has been a problem right at the last minute and only 1 person is aloud to travel and she is sat with me!

Undeterred from the fact we may have a slight communication issue I am confident I can use the visual aids we have and a common understanding of hair to see us through and I'm sure we are both going to learn something from this experience!

I get started, keeping my words straight forward and to the point. It looks like this bright women before me Sharda is taking it in and as we begin it is clear she has caught onto the concept and we start creating our looks. I decide to work in a "coaching circle" format so it keeps us both busy seeing as we cannot make too much conversation!We do our very best to show her the local shops for lunch and our student area where she can relax and eat whenever we stop for a break.The day has been a massive success and I get the feeling she has left for the day now knowing a few more techniques than when she started.

The next 2 days follow a very simular pattern and its all hands on deck and we are working in perfect harmony! I am amazed that I only need to show Sharda something once as she remembers to unpack her kit, where the towels go, to clear up after herself and where we keep all our products its simply fantastic!

At the end of the 3 days as a special treat I give Sharda a cheeky new hair cut as she has worked so hard! I am thrilled we continued to run the class allbeit the turnout not being what was expected. It gave me a great insight that even though we maybe thousands of miles apart and speak different languages, we both have a common interest and speak the same language of hair!

Thanks for reading

Mario xx

You know that when a group of young individuals give up their Sunday to travel to London and enter a hair competition, their passion and dedication is nothing less than 100%
This weekend I was asked to join a team of judges to judge the assistants NVQ level 2 styling category, and NVQ level 3 cut and style category!
Its 11am and as I enter the Academy i'm faced with lots of youngsters eagerly waiting to start working on their models. Its a difficult job to judge a competition especially when you know the standard of work produced will be very high.
We have Saks salons attending from all over the southern region and the turn out is impressive.
Armed with my clip board and pen, its time to begin. Myself, Mandy, Lorna, Louisa and Danny now have the task of watching these talented individuals work. I am asking each assistant questions about their inspiration and styling to gain some input on their interpretation of their signature look.
With every seat in the house taken, hairdryers blasting away and the engineered sound of sprays fixing the hair together and adding shine, I can already see finding a clear winner is going to be very tough!
Before we know it, we are near approaching the finishing time. The assistants are given plenty of notice and all of a sudden, gowns are coming off and the total image is revealed! We spend the next 10 minutes finalising our scores before a few more photos are taken and we pack up to leave.
Sadly you will all have to wait for the winner to be announced in due course..... may I say it was a pleasure to be a judge for this competition and I sincerely mean it when I say everyone is a winner and has done themselves and their salons very proud.

Congratulations and best of luck.
Mario

Hi,

Its a 5 day blog..... try to keep up! its a great read!

Friday is usually the day that brings the week to an end. We all start to plan our Friday and Saturday nights out and try not to think about Monday morning too much! I on the other hand have had a busy week teaching trends at our London Academy and it is about 10:30pm Thursday night and I'm packing for a trip to Lisbon then Rhodes for the L'Oreal Congress and the launch of INOA early Friday morning!
This is a very special trip yet also a sad one as this is the last time I will be working with Tracey Gallagher (she is leaving saks after 22 years of service)! I am trying hard not to think about that too much and want to enjoy our last few days working together. She has taught me many things over the past 2 years and I am forever grateful for her guidance and input during that time.
So Its Friday morning and my alarm is screaming at me to wake up at stupid O'Clock (3:15am) lolI'm showered, packed and drinking a strong cup of coffee to keep me awake. Its now 4:15am and my taxi is waiting at the front door ready to drive me to Heathrow airport.
I arrive in good time and already I am feeling ready for another coffee!
Tracey arrives shortly after me and we re-shuffle the suitcase full of equipment and clothes ready to check it in. Once we are airside we have a quick look around the shops before we board.
The flight seems to have lasted all of 5 minutes as we both slept the entire flight. We land in Lisbon and straight away head over to the L'Oreal technical centre to prep our models that Tracey kindly cast the month before. We are met by Carla and later, Manuel who work for L'Oreal and are our translator and co-ordinator for our visit.

The prep all goes well but its now 9:30pm UK time and we are only just leaving to check into the hotel for dinner followed by bed time! Tracey asks for a G & T with our meal and to our surprise she is given a pint glass with ice and is then pured a 1/2 pint of Gin! Its another early start and we will be leaving at 5am to catch out next flight from Lisbon to Rhodes. I hope Tracey feels up to it lol At the airport we are surrounded by hairdressers all traveling to Rhodes for the L'Oreal Congress. We are greeted by more L'Oreal reps and handed a neat black wallet which contains all our hotel details, room numbers and boarding cards for the flight.... everything has been taken care of! Once again we are back on a plane listening to the safety brief before take off. I feel my eyes slowly closing and I'm hoping when they open we will have landed.


As soon as we touch down in Rhodes we are no sooner off the plane and looking for our bags and coach ride to the hotel. This is where we will spend the next 4 days getting everything finalized for the show on Monday.As we arrive the sea of people is overwhelming and we manage to fight our way through the food and drinks reception. We are meeting with some of the top professionals in the business and I'm so excited to be part of it all.
After a quick shower and a few more zzzzzzz! we head downstairs to meet with the shows producer, make up artist and clothes stylist. Its somewhere around 7pm and Rhodes is 2 hours in front so my body clock is starting to take a few more hits. After meeting with everyone we prepare to meet early the next day as we are not the only company on stage at the congress, we are 1 of 3 and everyone else needs to spend time finalizing their plans.
8am Sunday morning we are in rehearsal and having a lighting and sound check. Straight after we stop for a quick bite to eat before trying on the outfits and making sure we are ready to start work first thing Monday!
We are on stage at 10:30 am and the schedule is tight, we have 6 models to present on stage, 2 colours, 2 cuts and 2 styles! We have 1 hour 30 minutes which from previous experience I know isn't long. Rehearsals go great, Tracey and I have to speak to an empty hall to make sure our volume levels are correct, the models are sat in the right place and that they all know their cue and when to move to the beat of the music.
The girls are looking fab, confident and ready for show day! We on the other hand are feeling exhausted and are in need of a good night sleep if we want to be up early to start getting ready.Monday morning and its all systems go! We have showered and eaten, and now we are heading to our room back stage to start preparing the models for show time. Its frantic and even though Tracey and I plan ahead as much as possible time is starting to run out. We have to make a quick dash to the stage as we are introduced as the Saks Artistic Team before we begin our presentation.
After a quick wave hello we run back to the room to continue preparing.
Times up and we need to head back stage where we finally get our microphones and ear pieces fitted. Its the first time I have had all this high tech equipment. It allows me to hear how long we have been on stage and how long we have left, its brilliant.
We hear our intro music and finally head out and all I can see is flashing lights and dark shadows in the seats....we are facing approx 500 people!
Our first demo is colour. We are working from our new Autumn/Winter trends and Tracey is working a gorgeous contrast theme of colours while I choose a range of .2 tones. Models finished its time to recap and move on to the next demo. For our cut section I am working an 80's feel, with volume and plenty of texture in the cut, while Tracey's inspiration is from the Anti head shape as she cuts dry with clippers. I am back combing away and cutting blunt and a fate gasp echos in my direction and I think the audience thinks I've gone mad! (I assure you I haven't) Cuts complete we move to our session looks, I am crimping and using a combination of techniques for a working girl grunge look while Tracey's Gothic inspiration is taking shape beautifully. My ear piece tells me time is almost up, and finally our colour demos are back washed and dried leaving us just 5 minutes to finish them off. Its been a quick turn around of each section and the rehearsal definitely paid off!
As the final looks walk the stage the buzz and thrill of the whole experience is still feeling strong within me. We leave the stage and Tracey gives me a huge hug back stage which I'm feeling is a good sign of a job well done!
Luckily we are not booking to travel home until Tuesday afternoon, giving us plenty of time to tidy up, relax and enjoy the rest of the day! We sneak in to the afternoon show as I always love to sit and watch hair being created. We manage to speak to some of the guests and the feedback is excellent!

We have a huge night out with everyone including our models and a great time has been had by all!
Big thanks to L'Oreal Portugal, Carla, Manuel for looking after us.....
Tracey for being such an inspiration and also such fun to go away with and to everyone else involved.

Thanks for reading!!
Mario x

A message from Alison Dace

Well its a hello and goodbye from me for the moment. Some of you may know im off now to have my second baby, and will be on Maternity for a few months and I leave you in the very wonderful hands of the Saks Art Team. I will be back in March 2010 to continue driving Saks Education and the Art Team onwards and upwards, I will also be looking forward to meeting all of the potential new A Team members for 2010, if you feel you want an out let for your creative juices, to be part of a team that will grow you and build you to push your limits, The A Team is for you.

Your application form will be coming to your salons by the end of the year, fill it in and get it sent back. All the info is on that form, dates, times, places and what is expected of you. If you have any future questions in the meantime, contact kellymatthews@saks.co.uk

Keep a look out for the Spring/Summer Trends Launch in Feb 2010, where you will see the fabulous shoot, created by the A Team 09, and I cant wait to see the photographic images award shots, with that great prize, where we all go to a far far land, how exciting?????..

Also I would like to say a Big goodbye to Tracey Gallagher, she has been with Saks for 22years, and has been an amazing inspiration to all who cross her path, I will miss her dearly, and wish her all the best for the next career journey.

Big Kiss, and good Luck xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

So now its time for me to say ta tar for now, have a great Crimbo and enlightening new year, and I will see you when I return next year....

HUGS xxxxxxx
Alison

Buon Giorno!

My dreams have come true and i am jetting off to Italy to present the “Freestyle” course to our Italian distributors. After much preparation, and before I could blink, I was on a plane to Italy, next stop: Bergamo International - Milan. Katie and I were met by our translators, Elisabetta and Francesca, who whisked us off to our beautiful accommodation, which was in the beautiful village of Montichiari. There we poured over our mood boards and discussed the excitement that would ensure over the following two days before we turned in for the night.

The morning of the show saw Katie and I up early, enjoying some Italian conversation with our hotel attendant and after a tasty continental breakfast we head off to the distributor. Italy really is inundated with gorgeous people and this day was no exception. We were greeted by a beautiful hostess who had, in conjunction with the translators, provided everything we need to put together a wonderful 2 day course. With everything ready to go, Katie and I parted to our separate classes, armed with manikin heads and 4 concepts that were fresh and sensational to present to 18 hungry minds! Briefly, the “Freestyle” course is a presentation that focuses on stimulating the creative mind and inspires imaginative thought by moving away from consumer orientated looks and exploring the Avante Garde.

The focus on the morning of the day one was to present two of our four scintillating styles known as “Dripping and Torn” and “Incision”. I got into the groove fairly quickly and really started to enjoy myself and the presentation was a huge success. Lunch was served after and this, as anticipated, was a feast fit for any hungry stylist. Happily fed and watered, we then went about reproducing the looks in a coaching circle platform and the Italians were incredible, stretching their imaginations and exploring the looks to their full potential. The final looks were nothing short of spectacular and I found myself in a wonderful exchange of love and enjoyment for the industry as well sharing of different methods on how to get the looks we wanted to achieve. This really got me ecstatic about what day 2 would bring!

But first, a little surprise. Elisabetta and Francesca took us on a small tour of the surrounding areas and we found ourselves in another beautiful village called Desenzano, where we took a breathtaking stroll alongside Lake Garda, which has an awesome backdrop of the Italian Alps. We then had dinner, surrounded by the ambient sounds of an authentic Italian restaurant. The food was incredible and we even learnt some more Italian!

Our mission for day two: To present the final two looks for the “Freestyle” course, known as “Broken Glamour” and “Under Pressure”. The cut and colour techniques were fun and received very well. So much so that we even got to reproduce some colour techniques!

This was a truly inspiring experiences. We as hairstylists are always learning and sharing. Having the opportunity to experience Italy and present there was amazing and I look forward to going back in October. Becoming part of the Saks Art Team has been the highlight of my career and I look forward to the exciting future that the company has!

The next trip is a visit to the place where it all started, Darlington. Tracy and I are heading up there to present the Autumn/Winter Trends launch and I can’t wait.

Until next time, Ciao!
Clayde.