Three days. Hundreds of experts. Thousands of beauty and wellness pros.
The Be+Well | Beauty and Wellness Show in Las Vegas (formerly International Aesthetics, Cosmetics, and Spa Conference) was packed with fresh ideas, trend forecasts, and practical tips from some of the industry's biggest voices. Here are a few highlights worth bookmarking.
PRESLEY POE
Honesty (and educating) is the best policy.
Class: Cut Curls Like a Pro: Long Shapes to Killer Pixies
Have you had a client tell you they’ve been to stylists all over and they’ve paid $400 for their haircut and "I still don’t like it! So I came to you because I feel like you can do it!"
And I become the one who tells them that I can’t. Why? Because I’m honest.
Then, I empower them and let them know what their hair is capable of doing. I give them the reality of what their hair will and will not do based on the fabric of their hair. What it tells me in response to what three things? – water, heat, and tension.
And we educate them.
JUAN TORRES
Every beauty pro needs community, and live education is a perfect way to build it.
Class: Modern Foil Lightening – A Power Session
I connect with people that think like me so when I don’t feel confident, they remind me why. It’s really important for me to surround myself with like-minded people who are positive … that’s how I overcome challenges.
Looking at students in front of me, I see all the excitement that they have in learning something new. But they’re not going to only walk out with knowing more techniques — they’re also going to walk out with new friends they met here, that are going to cheer them on their journey of becoming the best version of themselves.
KIMBERLY MORFIN
Yes, thin brows can be laminated.
Class: Brow Lamination That Lasts: Safe Techniques for Consistent, Profitable Results
A lot of clients think because they have thin brows that they can’t get laminations. They think laminations are for people with thick brows, and that they don’t have enough brow hair.
Lamination is actually perfect for those clients that have a thinner brow surface area! Especially the combination of thinner brows but thicker hairs. Because we’re able to really comb and manipulate those hairs to give the illusion of volume, and you get great before-and-afters. I think lamination is for everybody.
STEVE GOMEZ
Your business is your most important customer.
Class: Ask a Coach: Profit is the New Wellness
There are four important pillars that make our business foundationally successful that you need to spend time on. That's your sales arm, your marketing arm, your financial arm, and your operational and systematic arm — hiring, recruiting, training, educating.
And you’re a small business so you’ve got be all that.
If you work by yourself in a suite, I want you to get at least a half day a week back to spend on your business. Four hours in an afternoon during your business hours. I don’t want you working on your business late at night; I don't want you working on a Sunday or a Monday.
If you’ve got a brick and mortar and you’ve got a team, you need to get at least one day back a week so you can focus on the business.
I'm telling you that the most important customer you have is the business itself. And you need to draw a line in sand and say, I am no longer a service provider. I am a business owner, supporting people to have the most amazing career they possibly could have — and I sometimes work on clients.
CARL LITTLES
The service isn't done until you've taught the client how to style.
Class: Modern Men’s Cuts: Essential Techniques for Stylists & Barbers
We have to style our clients. If we don't style our clients, we let them leave our chair with no style and no product knowledge whatsoever. If they go to another barber or stylist that does do that? The client is gone.
I like to show our clients how to blow dry their hair. I like to show and educate our clients on different types of products. Pomade, matte finish, we have to show them. That’s how we sell it to them.
The last thing we want our clients to do is leave with the product in their hair and go buy it at Sally’s. Sally’s is just selling product but we're out here educating on the products. So we should always carry product at the salons and shops. Something that we believe in and get real excited about and tell our clients about.
SHERRIE TENNESSEE
Millennials are where it’s at.
Class: Essential Steps for Solo Spa Success
You can’t make yourself recession-proof but you can do things to make yourself recession- resistant. One of them is to appeal to Millennials.
Millennials are driving the industry. Millennials. They will go for beauty before food. They’re not drinking as much as other generations! They’re spending their money on beauty.
So when you think about your menu, your business plan — yes you can go for boomers, you can go for GenX — but your moneymakers, your booty shakers, are the Millennials.
KELL GRACE
Pro Tip: Prep your hands before you work on someone’s hair.
Class: Style Faster, Earn More: The Updo Profit Power Workshop.
This is a cool trick. I like to put an argon oil that’s more of a dry formula, not too sticky or oily, all over my hands, and a little bit of a lightweight styling cream and I put them on my hands like lotion. And then I just work.
It gives my hands a little barrier, and it adds more shine throughout the hair. That’s a little trick that works on straight, wavy, or curly hair and it adds a lot of smoothness as you’re working.
JALIA PETTIS
You don’t have to be born artistic, but you do have to keep practicing.
Class: Modern Editorial Makeup: Trends, Technique & Application
I have not been artistic all my life! The artistic ability came later.
When I started, I didn't even understand what it meant when somebody said a ‘cool-tone blue.’ That's how non-artistic I was. So I really had to dive in. I started playing, I started drawing. I would mess up, play again, mess up, play again. I still use face charts when I practice. I use mannequin heads, I do all of those things. Even before I go on a job, because I want it to be right when I get there. There's nothing like practicing.
JANE “LADY PENG” PHAM
The fastest way to book clients? Get visible on Google (and AI will follow).
Class: Own the Algorithm: How Beauty Pros Can Dominate ChatGPT, Google & AI Search
Why Google? We prioritize Google because people who Google something are ready to buy something.
If you’re Googling something like ‘sexy high heels,’ chances are you’re ready to buy it. If you’re Googling ‘spray tanning in San Francisco,’ you’re ready to book it. You’re ready to part ways with your money. They are called high-intent customers. They don’t need convincing. They’re ready right now. They just need to see you first. That’s why you have to prioritize them.
In case you’re asking what is the connection between Google and AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, it’s this:
The Internet is a giant warehouse full of every piece of information ever published. … All of it is just sitting there. Google helps you dig through that warehouse. It’s a volume and quality game. You type in a question and whoever has the highest amount of trustworthy information out there gets presented.
Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini: they each send their own people into that warehouse. They see everything Google sees. The difference is they’re going to summarize it for you. Both AI and Google are pulling from the same warehouse. They just present the information differently.
So if you’re visible to Google, you’re visible to AI as well.