Kemon celebrated its 50th year anniversary at Kemon Days March 29-30 in Riccione. It was great fun to see over 1000 hairdressers in attendance as Kemon wowed the group with more than 75 models, dancers, acrobats, singers and the Kemon Artistic Team. Even Bruno Moscolo showed up to give tribute to Kemon’s owner, Giuliono Nocentini. 

Afterwards, we went to Kemon’s headquarters situated in lovely San Guistino located in the Tuscany region. The village features a quaint town square where the locals meet for morning espresso and sandwiches while watching the produce truck bring its fresh fare into the village fruit shop.

Only a couple miles outside San Guistino lies Kemon’s sprawling complex of buildings. We visited the main building that housed corporate offices, education center, R&D, and factory. The factory was the highlight.

 Automatic filler for color tubes

Tubes leave filler for boxes

Finished tubes put into boxes

Boxes get ready for shrink wrap

Labels created for boxes

Case of finished goods

Giuliono standing in front of finished pallet of Cramer Color

Research & Development is ongoing

Six scientists and chemists are always working on new formulas

We also saw formulation and packaging of hair products, and the gas chamber used to create aerosol hair spray. One of the most fascinating areas of all was the hair color formulator. Here the master colors were in columns and the computer actually manipulated the selected columns to create the actual color such as 6.0 in the exact formulation.

Overall it was an amazing experience. Kemon is one of the few companies that actually creates, formulates, manufacturers and packages its own products. It’s little wonder they have the best hair color and products–they know first hand what it takes to make the best and maintain consistency.

Of course the story wouldn’t be complete without talking about food. But I’ll save that juicy part for tomorrow.

Happy Monday!

 

 

There are all sorts of ways to make a living. One of them has always fascinated me: Motivational speakers.

These guys get paid thousands to stand up in front of a group for an hour and literally repeat the same message each time. The audience smiles, laughs, does silly stuff like standing on chairs and walks away in a good mood. Then a week later everyone forgets the message.

One of my good friends, Barry Farber, is one of those fascinating people. Not only does he make money speaking, but people actually buy his books. He has penned 11 such books and is working on his next one. Like sporting events, concerts and such, people love to buy something to remember the event.

Now if people only read his books after they bought them! I was on the phone with Barry and after 30 minutes of his typical BS, we talked about diets, hot dogs and high fiber cereal. My reward in all this was that he sent me his list of best foods to eat and avoid. I thought the least I could do was share it with you so here it is.

5 top heart healthy foods:

1. Blueberries

2. Soy/eddemame/tofu

3. Oatmeal

4. Salmon

5. Spinach

Best Food List:

*Fish

Salmon

Shell fish (clams/mussels)

Trout

Sardines

Herring

Crab

Most fish…although tuna and sword fish high in mercury

Eggs

*Grains/Beans/Nuts:

Brown rice

Whole Wheat everything pasta, etc.

Sweet potato

Red skin potato

Quinoa

Wheat germ

Lentils

Peanuts

Cashews

Walnuts

Almonds

Pumpkin seeds

Sunflower seeds

Sesame seeds

Flaxseed

Soy

Lima

Pinto

Chick peas

*fruit

Apricots

Avocados

Green apples

Oranges

Kiwi

Grapes

Tomato

Cantaloupe

Cranberry juice

Grapefruit

Strawberries

Raspberries

Blueberries

Blackberries

Raisins

Figs

Lemon

Limes

Pomegranate juice

*veggies

Broccoli

Bok choy

Squash

Watercress

Arugula

Spinach

Salads

Collard greens

String beans

Peas

Onions

Red peppers

Garlic

Artichokes

Ginger

(Get a variety of colors)

organic is going to limit the pesticides…chemicals..etc

*no sugar

*no dessert

*no meat

*no dairy

I don’t know about you, but I must add sardines to my shopping list! For more enlightening info, visit barryfarber.com.

Happy Thursday!

 

While visiting Kemon in Italy, I was speaking with one of the managers and we were talking about fate, luck, success and so on. He then went on to share a famous quote he heard that success is based on making the right choice at the right time.

I thought about this for a moment and put all the variables together. The right choice at the wrong time is bad. The wrong choice at the right time is bad. And naturally the wrong choice at the wrong time is worse.

Everyday we make hundreds of choices. Sometimes we made decisions impulsively and later on wish we thought longer before acting. Sometimes we make choices unconsciously thinking little of the outcome. And other times, we make choices based on what we think is correct timing, i.e. it’s the perfect time to go on a diet (if you chose the week prior to Thanksgiving, the timing is most likely wrong).

So next time you have to make a decision, think if it’s the right choice at the right time; your chances of success will be much higher.

Happy Thursday!

 

72,000 fans rocked Ford Field last night awaiting the final game of the NCAA tournament that began with 65 teams vying for bragging rights of a national championship.

MSU which was ranked 7th pre-season earned a #2 seed after winning the Big 10 Title. However their loss in the Big 10 Tournament early on to OSU cost them the #1 seed.

But an improbable 5-0 run in the tournament landed them into the big game. In fact, Tom Izzo’s teams have the best record in the past 11 years getting to the final dance.

The crowd was raucous. They knew UNC was the favorite by 71/2 points. But hey, this was home court for MSU and over 75% of the fans were wearing green. The marching band was playing the fight song and the student section was leading the Go White, Go Green chant. Life was good being a Spartan.

Until the game started.

Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh.

That’s how UNC started. Before you sat down to get back to your $6 peanuts and $4 bottle of Aquafina (no kidding), the score was 31-11.

Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh.

Everything went in for them. Everything bounced off for us. They stole the ball relentlessly and MSU had more turnovers in the first half then the Pillsbury doughboy.

Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh.

They made 3-pointers from Cobo Hall. Their D was so good, Lucas and others didn’t know what hit them. Izzo was so upset, he wasn’t upset. He knew early on this game was lost. And so did the crowd of green and white.

Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh.

Before you guzzled your $6.50 Coke, UNC had a 26 point lead and finished the half with the biggest point total in the history of the tournament. Statistics suck when you are on the wrong side of them.

The best State could do was lose by 17. The best team won. Izzo himself stated that they were the best team and if State had a chance at all, it was to prevent them from playing their best game.

Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh.

Of course us Spartans are proud of the team’s accomplishments. They were good for Detroit, Michigan, the Big 10 and MSU. Now tuition will only go up 6.7% instead of 6.9%. But what’s worse than being so close to the end goal and losing? What’s worse than doing your best and losing? And what’s worse than people telling you that you did so good and accomplished so much but. . .

Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh.

MSU didn’t cut down the nets. They shook hands with the victors and rode out of town back to East Lansing this morning for a celebration of sorts. Perhaps Granholm attended. Michigan’s economy and stature in the U.S. wouldn’t of even made it to the NIT let alone the tournament. If we really want to change the face of our state, perhaps Izzo should run for governor. We might not be the #1 state in the country, but #2 doesn’t sound so bad right now.

Swoosh.

Happy Tuesday!