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Hilton Bell (Biography).
Hilton Bell's career in hairdressing spans over more than thirty successful years.
He has won numerous awards for competition work and has been a judge in many competitions. He is well known for having staged some of the most lavish Hair Fashion Shows ever seen in Australia, including flying Trevor Sorbie in from London.
Over the years Hilton has built and established several very successful salons
with award winning staff in Australia and developed the unique True Colors color consultation system which was purchased by L'Oreal. He has toured South Africa and the Caribbean giving seminars to salon owners and managers to help implement management systems into their businesses.
Recently settling in Florida, and opening yet another successful salon, he was introduced to Organic Color Systems, an innovative ammonia and ammonia substitute-free hair color. International Hair and Beauty Systems was formed to bring innovative products to the industry and has become the exclusive importer and distributor of Organic Color Systems in the US .
At the young age of fifteen he began his career with a 4 year apprenticeship in the profession training under one of Australia 's top hairstylists Leslie Hill. Having the good fortune to learn from one the most creative and dedicated hairdressers at that time combined with the technically revolutionary Vidal Sassoon Geometric Era, Hilton was influenced heavily by the importance of technical perfection as well as creative expression.
"Ever since I can remember, as far as my hairdressing career is concerned, I have considered that what I do is to create living sculptures."
Hilton opened his first salon at the age of twenty which quickly became the place to get the latest, hottest looks. The growth of the operation attracted some of the best stylists and the most discerning clients in the area. Hilton received a substantial amount of press for his innovative work and the newsworthy looks he was creating. The demand for his services was so high that Hilton was booked at least five weeks in advance.
Over the next several years Hilton opened other salons in Australia and traveled overseas to expand his viewpoints and horizons. During the late Seventies and early Eighties he was exposed to the London scene, a very exciting time in hair and fashion; the likes of the Sassoon operation, Irving Rusk, Toni and Guy, Robert Lobertta, as well as Trevor Sorbie.
The latter turned into a friendship and collaboration that resulted in Trevor traveling to Australia for his first tour. Hilton organized the tour, designed the sets, produced the shows and worked alongside Mr Sorbie on stage.
Hilton has garnered numerous awards and accolades for his creative and technical expertise including the Wella High Fashion Design Award for Australia in 1977, three nominations for Australian Hairdresser of the Year, Trained Apprentice of the Year and Trained Newcomer of the Year.
"I have made it my business to involve myself in as many aspects of the profession as possible; to challenge oneself and stay on the edge is essential for creative expansion".
Hilton was involved with a number of the leading manufacturing companies and worked on the creative teams for Wella, L'Oreal, and Schwarzkopf while in Australia. Although Hilton was an extremely busy hairdresser and always in demand from clients as well as numerous celebrities (one client would fly to Melbourne from Hong Kong every eight weeks for a haircut) he still found the time to research the fundamental laws of color.
In the mid-1980s he developed a system of color consultation coding for hairdressers. L'Oreal Australia bought the rights to Hilton's concept and it was introduced to the profession under the name True Colors.
In 1992 Hilton began a consulting company, Creative Management Systems, to help hairdressers implement management systems into their business. He toured South Africa and the Caribbean advising salon owners and hairdressers on how to balance creative integrity and successful commercial enterprise.
"Hairdressers are artists, and while it's very important to have a thorough understanding of the management and business side of an organization, implementing Creative Management Systems allowed hairdressers to concentrate on what they do best... create!"
In 1998 Hilton decided to move to the United States for a change of scenery and in search of new challenges. Having chosen Florida as a place to reside he opened the Edge salon in Clearwater. The demand grew quickly for his services because of his innovative hairstyles and his mastery of color techniques.
With the constant search for the cutting edge of both technique and product Hilton discovered the Organic Color Systems and the Q Range that was being used in thousands of salons across Europe. The sole purpose of International Hair and Beauty Systems is developing and finding innovative products and new systems to bring to the hair and beauty industry.
International Hair and Beauty Systems was soon the exclusive distributor of Organic Color Systems and the Q Range in the United States .
Hilton is developing a range of products that will soon be on the market. He is driven to help other hairdressers achieve perfection in their creative medium. Watch for the release of HAIRMONICS® in the near future.
"I view hair as fabric and treat it accordingly; that concept is one of the reasons I can make hair perform the way I want it to. Developing a range of products that allows people to get a new level of control and performance from their particular hair type is a natural progression and a new challenge."
He is currently working on a system that will allow hairdressers to gain a whole new level of understanding, along with creative expression, in the field of color work.
"There is a lot of false information floating around about coloring hair. Having spoken to hundreds of hairdressers in recent times, I realized that there is a substantial amount of confusion regarding color theory in relationship to hair color. There is no result that you cannot create, if you know the laws within which you are working. Now that we have a product like Organic Color Systems, with a clear understanding of the fundamentals, a hairdresser can create any result they want. I intend to put these laws into an easily understandable system, which will allow hairdressers to have a new level of understanding and creative expression." |