Columbus Hair Show 2011

I spent my Monday with two friends, a lot of Red Bull, and a full tank of gas, and headed up to Columbus for my first hair show. I think my expectations were a little bit TOO high. Our instructors had told us how amazing hair shows are, with tons of free loot, great deals on hair and makeup products, and amazing demos. Here's the rundown.

Ticket = $35
Gas = $35
Red Bull = $8
Parking = $8
Lunch = $15

We got to the hair show at 10 a.m. The first thing I noticed were the insane amount of girls there that a)looked like they were 16, and b)looked like professional streetwalkers. I wasn't sure if I was at a hair show or a porn show.

We did a loop around the convention center, and I was surprised to find that the "deals" were nonexistant. Paying money to come into this hair show I had expected products to be wholesale at the least, and wasn't prepared to shell out $18 for a bottle of shampoo. I could have stayed in Cincinnati and done that. Everything was selling at retail prices, none of the vendors wanted to bargain, and all the "freebies" had been given out the day before.

On the bright side, I did meet with a wonderful stylist who just launched his own product line (The Hair Architect), so I bought a sample bag of shampoo, conditioner, leave in treatments, shine spray, and conditioning mask. He was super excited about his products, which made me super excited to try them, and then blog about them, which I'll be doing as soon as I give them a go.

I also bought a weaving comb, mostly as a toy and for fun, but also to see how well it works on my clients versus actually doing the weaving by hand. The comb's teeth are positioned to where it automatically separates the hair for you, maybe sparing you 10 extra seconds of work. Seriously?! Yea, I bought one.

All in all the Columbus Hair Show was a big fat DUD, and I sort of wish I hadn't have spent all that money to go. I have learned my lesson for the future and will be sticking to the "real" hair shows in New York and Chicago.