Philip Pelusi

It has been a while since we last blogged I am aware. It felt fine taking a back seat to the last post regarding the recent WWD article titled “Who’s On First”. For all you dedicated blog readers, I wanted to let it sit awhile staring us in the face like a movie that upon second and third viewing reveals layers unseen prior. It is there for you to see and to deduce personally. Like art, it is all about perception and if one is art smart it is additionally rich in that it is about the period, the players, and the politics. I hope you found all the meaning possible to you in that small article; yet no small matter emanating from what could be considered the Wall Street Journal of the beauty and fashion world – I almost hate to post in front of it.

In the mean time lest us not forget that the other war is fought at home – on the front lines and behind the chairs with scissors and brushes. And sometimes that calls for a little bit of entertainment to lighten our loads. Soldiers are known to engage in all sorts of activity to make their tour of duty less stressful. We have had two educationals here at Philip Pelusi since the printing of that article; an Image Maker Consultant weekend and a Results Beyond the Salon weekend. The former of which we decided to make one complete day just fun. At first I think many of us had the thought that there could be no time for fun and we all must work work work, but alas as my neighbor the accomplished painter and divorced mother of two young adults, who recently earned her masters degree always says, “God is in the small things”. And boy did we have fun! In short we took a morning boat tour of the rivers and city and in the afternoon we took a guided docent tour of the Carnegie International. In the evening we had a Mexican fiesta. The next day we buckled down to work and video taped presentation skills — all were stalwart speakers who bridled criticism like brave soldiers. One presenter had been so moved by her association with our little battalion at Pelusi she brought tears to a few of our eyes. These were people I already liked for I had spent a good many weekends with them professionally, but by letting up on the work for a day and just spending it entirely casual and unguarded – my already valued salon clients became more real, more human and more valuable to me. I finally feel like I have new friends not just new business associates. I am very grateful Philip agreed to let us have this sort of day for it’s value is priceless. And speaking of new clients, the August, Results Beyond The Salon event brought a number of new salons to us from Boston to Philadelphia to Indiana. I liked them all, but what is not to like about people who are in a business where they must juggle so many balls from cutting and styling to guests services to product knowledge and staff retention, to bookkeeping and number crunching. One must be well-rounded, savvy with media and pr, an amateur psychologist, a respected boss, play hard ball and soft ball, battle goliaths and snakes and do it looking like a million dollars. I toast you now on our new voyage together whilst I break a bottle across your proverbial bow in anticipation of our one year anniversary — for my eyes can see the glory in that shining salon upon a hill. God Bless and see you at the ball. – Private First Class Bloggett