Beauty: The "1000-lb Cape" and other tales from the Salon Summit

"Once the client is in your chair, and that cape goes on, they'll hardly move. They're your captive; its like that cape weighs a thousand pounds"

Fallon Rusher made that point to a roomful of hairstylists and nail techs at the Valencia Room at Spanish Court, and like the "phantom weight" the idea that the client is captive began sinking in. Some in the room, stylists for may years, conceded that they had never thought of it that way or, if they had, they had simply taken it for granted, without seeking to (benevolently) exploiting that fact to their benefit.

Rusher, along with Kristie and .... are directors of Summit Salon, the world's largest salon consultancy,
providing business consulting services to all facets of the beauty industry; including salons & day spas, cosmetology schools, and distributors, with the overall goal of promoting growth and prosperity at all levels.
The Summit Salon Vision, according to the website - www.summitsalon.com,  is to improve the beauty industry “one person at a time” by “passing it on” so that the salon industry will be strong and prosperous for generations to come.

They were in Jamaica at the behest of The Beauty Concept, a budding Kingston salon consultancy and practice, which invited hair nail and beauty practitioners to the event for a day of professional development. The presentations dealt with knowing one's numbers - as in number of bookings and actual clients needed in order to be profitable daily, weekly and monthly, delivering a better experience and "engineering" referrals - the lifeblood of the  business.


Jamaica National Bank - through its small business arm - JN Small Business Loans was on hand to promote not only its small/micro credit business, but the upcoming barber and beauty expo (i April), which it sponsors. Past winners took the stage at the Valencia to testify to the wonders of the experience and what winning had done for their own beauty (and barbering)  businesses.

Since the 80 billion - dollar (US) beauty business is virtually nothing without products, the day also saw product videos from such brands as Redken, Matrix and Mizani, encouragements - and strategies on building a retail business alongside their service, and analyses of the manifold and varied types of shoppers.

The seminar also included tips for maximizing the impact of Instagram and other social media sites. The group pledged to return to the island ext year - as much to celebrate the effervescent Rusher's birthday as to impart new knowledge.