For beauty business news, beauty store owners turn to Beauty Store Business. Beauty business trends, beauty business profiles and more!
Issue link: http://beautystorebusiness.epubxp.com/i/735648
beautystorebusiness.com | November 2016 35 A FOUNDATION OF LEGACY BRANDS Founded in 2006, BlueCo Brands car- ries several well-known legacy brands, including Barbicide, Clippercide, Ship- Shape and Dy-Zoff, as well as King Talc, Lucky Tiger and Triple Lanolin. Murphy explains that the company began with a group of investors looking to expand the investment portfolio of high-performing, established legacy brands. BlueCo made its first acquisition in 2006 with King Research, the company that created Barbicide in 1947. "Maurice King was a high school chemistry professor that— legend has it—had a phobia for going to the barber, so he created Barbicide!" Murphy explains. The King Research acquisition also included Clippercide, a 5-in-1 formula designed to disinfect and maintain the integrity of metal hair clippers and implements; Ship-Shape cleaning products; Dy-Zoff for haircolor stain removal from the skin and King Talc, a soothing post-shave talcum pow- der. These strategic acquisitions firmly planted BlueCo as the leader in salon sanitation and disinfectant products, and with King Talc, opened the door to the men's market. Building its men's offerings, BlueCo purchased the iconic vintage men's grooming brand Lucky Tiger in 2012, gaining a bonafide seat at the men's market table. Originating in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1935, Lucky Tiger became "Maurice King was a high school chemistry professor that— legend has it— had a phobia for going to the barber, so he created Barbicide!" —Alan Murphy, president, BlueCo Brands BARBICIDE: SANITATION EDUCATION AND LEADERSHIP BlueCo Brands flagship product, Barbicide, which began in 1947, has made the company a leader in salon and barber shop sanitation and disinfection. Building on that success, the company launched a free education program in 2013 called the Barbicide Certification Program. The program is available online and in personal trainings for cosmetology schools, salons, spas and barber shops. Its aim is to make sanitation and disinfection a mandatory component of the school curriculum (as well as a standard practice in the industry) so that customers know their stylists are certified and make client health and safety a priority. BlueCo Brands has also introduced the Sapphire Awards to recognize schools and salons for their outstanding commitment to sanitation education. Roughly 238 schools worldwide have been registered so far with more joining all the time. "Our goal is [to ensure] that this next group of cosmetology and barber students is taking sanitation and disinfection much more seriously than in years past," says president of BlueCo Brands, Alan Murphy. Since the online program and personal trainings were first launched, more than 200,000 people have become Barbicide Certified. Of course, this type of education not only helps to keep clients and professionals safe from physical harm, it also protects businesses. If a client becomes ill after receiving a service from a salon or barber shop, bad feedback can result and spread like wildfire via social media, negatively impacting a business' reputation. Murphy explains the impetus for the program lies in the industry, while also noting that many new infectious diseases, such as MRSA, caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, have made sanitation a greater priority. "It used to just be in the healthcare environment, but now it has spread—it's part of everyday life and it's important to take sanitation and disinfection seriously," Murphy emphasizes. "It really says to our industry that this is serious. We're not talking about blue juice in a jug. There's a lot of research, science and testing behind Barbicide. It's the brand you can trust." Indeed, after extensive testing and validation, healthcare giant Siemen's Medical named Barbicide as the exclusive disinfectant for several models of its hospital laboratory equipment, expanding Barbicide's reach beyond the boundaries of the cosmetology and barbering industry. "Barbicide is a hospital- grade disinfectant and we have always treated it as such," Murphy says. Images courtesy of BlueCoBrands, photo of Alan Murphy by Armando Sanchez Continued on page 38