IBS in New York

Last Sunday I spent my time attending the International Beauty Show in NYC (IBS). This is a trade show that takes place every year in the City. It used to be The Show in the hairdressing sector, but last year it was a total disappointment. Fortunately that was not the case this year; the show was good, and it had a lot of interesting exhibitors. These are some of my notes on
trends in the beauty salons industry:

Nails with art
Nail art is very popular around the world, but in the United States it has not been well received. Perhaps we are very practical people and to deal with fussy nails is not our style. Things seem to be changing, though; a lot of companies are creating more paints and innovative designs -- we saw a lot of them in the show.

More hair extensions

More "natural products"
This means products without parabens, sulfates and other potentially harmful ingredients.

More knives to cut hair
Nick Arrojo, the hairdresser on the TV program "What not to wear" gave a presentation on his signature razor cuts. We saw other presentations from vendors doing haircuts with razors. The haircuts with razors are more popular in England than in the US. These haircuts are more precise and give more volume to the hair. I personally do not like these haircuts on me, because they require more frequent maintenance.

Keratin hair treatments
These originally Brazilian treatments to restore the hair or to straighten it seem to be becoming more common. There were many products using keratin as a main ingredients. Keratin is a hair protein.

Many salons are already offering these services and the results are great. However many salons are also presenting the Brazilian hair straightening as a keratin service when in reality the main ingredient is a high amount of formaldehyde that can be hazardous to health.