A trio of leading men in the beauty industry—Garren, Howard McLaren and Tom Priano—are the R+Co Collective and the brand’s founders. Together, they harness their years of experience and priceless knowledge to pass onto the R+Co Global Artistic Team who, in turn, share it with the salon professional.
“The collective is very involved with education and very hands-on,” says Elizabeth Langkraehr, R+Co general manager. “They want to empower the team members, help them decide what is relevant to the hairdresser and then put it into a teachable format. There is a great deal of back-and-forth.”
Five stylists take the lead, working with Langkraehr, who is a Bumble & bumble alum, and with Kimberly Rodriguez, who organizes education for events and in-salon programs, to create a dialogue with the stylist community and to celebrate the art of hairdressing. They are Jerrod Roberts, Douglas McCoy, Andrean Noir, Sera Sloane, and Robert Vasquez.
“Everyone on our team is a working hairdresser and many are bicoastal. They have been with us since the beginning. Garren, Tom, and Howard, they are tremendous mentors and they really want to take people that have worked for them and help to raise them up.”
Specific educational focuses currently include working with texture and letting curls be curls, becoming masters of executing a bob style, even in men’s cuts, and, always, looking to the past to be inspired for the future.
“We are seeing this need for a return to the classics, for those things you learned in beauty school, like a wet set, but thought you’d never practice, afterwards. We are taking these techniques and sometimes-forgotten tools, like hot rollers, and making them relevant, again.”
R+Co brings their global team members together at least once a year and they cover skill building, how to promote your own brand, how to create the best learning environment, presentation and technical skills. And if someone wants to be part of this head-first movement?
“When we are launching in a new market we ask the distributor to identify their candidates. There is a process of vetting their skills and then we may invite them to a training. They are responsible for adapting the education to what is relevant to their own area and to their clientele.
“When people are interested it’s about getting involved. Most of the people on the team took every R+Co class they could so they had a chance to show off their skill. They put their hand up and they worked very hard to be here.”
THE GLOBAL TEAM LEADS
Andrean Noir: “Andrean has been in education most of her career and she worked directly with Howard at Bumble & bumble. She is an expert in razor cutting, an expert in extensions, and a curly hair specialist. She has been instrumental in the development of our curriculum.”
Robert Vasquez: “While in cosmetology school, Robert got a big break in his professional dance career and pursued it until he decided to ‘retire’ and return to beauty. The day his license arrived in the mail, he went to ask for a job with Garren. His style is very glamorous, very editorial and he is a lead educator on styling.”
Sera Sloane: “Sera is very involved in the world of fashion and editorial. She recently keyed six shows at Miami Swim Week. She’s especially strong in cutting and in passing on her knowledge of the craft.”
Jerrod Roberts: “He is Garren’s full-time first assistant. He moved to New York to pursue a career in fashion and met Garren’s main assistant, at the time, who was getting ready to set off on his own and Jerrod stepped in.”
Douglas McCoy: “Douglas is based in Spokane where he has a salon with a great culture and a wonderful team. He is a fantastic cutter, he loves photography and he has really embraced social media.”
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