NAHA & The BIG Show
Waking up in Vegas for many isn't always easy...you feel like your head is going to explode and you struggle to remember how you got all the way back to your room from the other side of the strip. But this Sunday morning came as a treat, we woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to take on the hair world. The only thing pounding was our hearts with excitement knowing we were going to have a full day of stalking and much to write about. After all, today was the day...the big show..the Oscars for hair.
We started our mission in the PBA Beauty Week hall scanning the scene for Hairdinis on their way to presentations and important meetings hoping to intrude on their passage. Upon our arrival to the press room we were greeted by a screen displaying hair enthusiasts tweets and updates on all the action. The Hair Nerds tweets were our favorite ones! :)
Our first star meeting was with the amazing John C. Simpson of Goldwell. Now for those of you who have been following us know one of my big hair dreams is to be in a Goldwell Twins sandwich pic...
We chatted and enjoyed John's presence only ending our conversation after Erin made him promise to make my dream come true at NAHA!!! Oh My! I was super geeked out and the second John walked away, we rallied around each other with a feeling of accomplishment and delight. Instantly my excitement turned into total anxiety as I remembered how photographically challenged I can be. But no time for sulking...we needed to get to the Tantalum Magazine Brunchfollowed by Beacon to soak in some of the magic and off we went.
We were greeted by our new pal John McCormick and entered the endless mimosa haven of Mandalay. Steve Elias has made this an annual NAHA weekend tradition as well as taking pics of his guests with his cool Japanese Polaroid camera.
Once we pissed off our waiter enough by asking for refills of the bubbly ...we headed over to the amazing Beacon Students. We figure if we start stalking them early, we will be ahead of the game for years to come.
Beacon is an held every year along side NAHA and PBA Beauty Week & Cosmoprof North America giving these competitors an opportunity of a life time to receive knowledge and guidance from our industry leaders.
We entered as Geno Stampora wowed the crowd and started in on introductions for the VIP Hairdinis waiting stage side to share their stories of success. Lets just say the A- list was long..Passion Squared Nina Kovner & Gordon Miller, Steve Elias, Sherri Jessee, Faatemah Ampey, Nicholas French, Chrystopher Benson, Jake Thompson just to name a few involved with this opportunity of a cosmo students lifetime!
Each A-Lister gave a little piece of their heart along with wise words to live by closing the days events with hype for NAHA. Starting in 2 hours! With that we hauled our Hairbrained butts to our rooms to prep for the main event!
All dressed up with somewhere to go...NAHA was finally going down within minutes! The anticipation for the Hair-gasm we were sure to have was focus enough to battle the hazardous, scary, uneven walkway to the show venue. (Let's be honest, how hard is it to walk on that walkway in heels?...Ladies??Men??)
The Hair Nerds and Hair Husbands unite!
John McCormick + Hair Nerds = A Good Time!
Our favorite Hair-Bear Dean Banowetz. You just can't miss his dazzling delightful self. We met
Dean back in April where he was honored for all the devoted work he he has done for Beauty Bus and we've been following him ever since.
Speaking of Hair-Bears and Erin's Hair Bestie, Steve Elias ... this poor guy has endured more stalking than should be allowed. He eventually fell in love with the whole group and we look forward to many more years of harassment!
And then it happened!!! I was placed and posed next to John and Dimitrios! I was finally the meat in the Goldwell Twins Sandwich!
Due to Erin's obsession with John's hair, we had to keep a close eye on her to be sure she didn't snatch a lock or two for the road...
(We were driving home from LA the weekend he cut it. Erin was scanning her phone while I sped us through the grapevine and suddenly I hear, " ::gasssssp:: OMG, what the hell is going on!!!" I thought we were about to hit something. Erin turns to me and says," Sweet Jesus, John Simpson cut his luxorious locks..")
I wasn't the only one who got my dream pic! Our photographer extraordinaire, Tuesday Teal and Antoinette Beenders.
We had to practically beat the ladies off of Jake to sneak a picture! After running into Jake Thompson almost every weekend for the last few months, it was tradition to snap a quick pic.
We fell in love with two amazing guys, Mark Adkins and Richie Roman!
And of course the grand stage of NAHA.
With the recent passing of Vidal Sassoon, the show displayed a stunning and joyous tribute to one of our industry's pioneers. It was done so beautifully and honored his life with a celebration of his art.
Giuliana Rancic was our hostess for the show and received the Beautiful Humanitarian Award.
Kris Sorbie, Jasmine Gibbs and Hair Nerd Erin enjoying Jasmine's NAHA Win!
Nick Hemsley took home the People's Choice award along with our hearts! His parents are so cute!!!
Once NAHA has completed it is customary to grab our midnight meal and head to the after party. We always go to the Irish Pub and enjoy twenty five dollar beverages and fifteen dollar side salads because it has become tradition and we are on such a high from the show we can't hear our credit cards crying.
After we tally up it is time to head over to Eye Candy. It's pretty much a stalkers paradise, drinks are flowing, the music is on point and everyone is in party mode. So we put our cameras down and just enjoyed each and every conversation with star status stylists. Then, I saw him... It was Stephen Moody and I was gonna have to catapult my way into the circle to say "Hi" After elbowing my way through the countless star stricken stylists I made it in. We chatting about Sacramento local salons, like Salon B and all the fun we were having in Vegas so I had to breakout the IPhone...
Ending our night with Stephen Moody...priceless! We knew at this point there was no topping this and called it a night floating on cloud nine.