MORE fabulous! Part 2 with Marco Pelusi

Bonus material with Marco Pelusi...celebrity dish, current trends, products, and White Lotus? YES!

Don't forget to visit www.marcopelusi.com for 15% off your order of his incredible products!


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Transcript

[00:12] Sam: Welcome back to the bonus episode with Marco Pelosi. How are you, Marco?

[00:17] Marco: Great. How about you, Sam?

[00:19] Sam: Good, good. So I have a couple quick fun questions I always like to do in my bonus episodes with my guests. And then I want to talk about some hunts that you are seeing. So my first question, we talked in the main episode about self care. This is a little fluffier than self care. What are you currently binging or watching on TV?

[00:42] Marco: Oh, thank you for asking me that. I am so excited to share about the White Lotus.

[00:50] Sam: I love that show.

[00:51] Marco: And I'll name drop a little bit because my friend is the creator of the show, Mike White.

[00:57] Sam: Oh, my gosh.

[00:58] Marco: This guy is so freaking amazing. Did you see the first season, Sam?

[01:03] Sam: Yes. I am totally caught up. I am obsessed with this show. I have a couple of college girlfriends. We text each other Sunday nights and Monday mornings with our thoughts.

[01:13] Marco: 100% obsessed. Now, the first series, the first season he arranged. He's so brilliant. He lives in Hawaii, so the first season he did in Hawaii, and it was during COVID pre vaccine. So they lived in a bubble at the Four Seasons, I think, in Maui and created that whole first season there. I mean, just brilliant. And they avoided COVID. And now that it's in Sicily, I'm obsessed. I've got my family watching. Now. I'm a little worried that I got my family watching because there's some pretty racy scenes in there.

[01:47] Sam: They sure are.

[01:48] Marco: I was like, dad, I don't know if you want to keep watching, but the Sicily part is really cool. I'm obsessed with it.

[01:56] Sam: For anyone listening, this coming Sunday is the last episode of Second. I know, I am too. I went back after watching it and a couple of little big Easter eggs that were out there and went back and rewatched the first episode again. And it's fascinating to go back and rewatch it because our girl Tanya 100% knew. Do you remember this?

[02:32] Marco: No, but I'm kind of knowing what you're saying. Yeah.

[02:35] Sam: So she says to Greg, they're in the middle of whatever, and she freaks out. And he goes, what the hell? And she says, I must have dissociated. You were there. I saw you. And it was a room full of men with really feminine hair. There were all these men and it's kind of blurry. And you were there and you had shark eyes.

[03:00] Marco: And now she's exactly.

[03:04] Sam: Yes. I am curious to see if she actually, when this all comes out, if she realizes she kind of has some sight with that. And we're just kind of all arguing about daphne said she's talking about watching Dateline and she says husbands always kill their wives on vacation. So I'm really curious to see who it is. And is there more than one? Because they mentioned there's the body in the water. But also we've had killings, plural. The police say that. So I am excited to watch it on Sunday. It's such a good show.

[03:46] Marco: I'm going to have to go through a state of withdrawal after it's over because I'm obsessed with it. I can't get enough. Yeah.

[03:55] Sam: So good. Favorite music to listen to? I know the answer to this, but the people listening don't.

[04:01] Marco: Oh, well, 80s music. Yeah, sure. We love our 80s music. I send to you all the time. I'm like, once in a while I'll text you with a YouTube link and it just makes me feel so good because those were the fun times. Even with all the struggles and the stuff that we had as kids, it was such a cool time to be a kid.

[04:25] Sam: Absolutely. It was bad enough to try to, like, be maybe a little uncool without social media.

[04:33] Marco: Yeah.

[04:35] Sam: We can choose your tribe, right? You could choose yes, exactly.

[04:40] Marco: No, it's documented. And now everybody's documented. We were undocumented.

[04:46] Sam: For real. And your coolest celebrity experience.

[04:51] Marco: Oh, my gosh. I would probably have to say meeting Barbara Streisand, although I have not worked on her hair because we were invited. This is a really cool experience she did, apparently. I hope it's not, but I think it probably was her last series of performances probably five or six years ago. And one of them was here in La. And it was at the Staples Center. And we were invited to the friends and family dress rehearsal night. Oh, my God. And then we got to go backstage and all of these amazing celebrities are whizzing by. I was able to stand near her and watch all these celebrities go by and meet her and Rob Lowe. I mean, so many people discussing and we kind of hung out with her for a while. And then she even said to us, she said, do you think I should get rid of that? It wasn't totally directed at me. It was directed at a few of us that I was lucky enough to be in the room saying this and should I get rid of those disco songs like Stony? And I chimed in because I had no problem speaking up. I said, no, Barb, you can keep those because you've got your gay audience out there. And I think they like those 70s disco songs and did keep them in. That was probably my coolest experience. I've never worked on her hair. I only work on her husband.

[06:08] Sam: But that's really cool. That is really cool. Okay, so let's talk a little bit about your products because you know I love them. I started using marcos products. Oh, gosh. Probably. I know it was pre pandemic. I had gone through this phase of my hair was getting really dried out. I kept cutting it shorter and shorter because it was just getting really brittle. And I thought, I'm going to try this. I'm going to try using his product. And then I probably was using it for about a year before the pandemic. And then the pandemic happened, and no one could actually get their hair cut. And when we finally emerged from the fog and started seeing people, everyone's like, what the hell happened to your hair? Because my hair grew several inches and it was, like, thicker. And the color is amazing, and I just cannot say enough great things. And a friend of mine. You donated a gift basket for a charity auction of ours recently. And my friend started using the product, and I immediately saw a difference in her hair. Her hair is like much shinier looks thicker.

[07:22] Marco: Wow.

[07:22] Sam: How did you go through the process of developing this? And why is it so special?

[07:28] Marco: Thanks, Sam. Yeah. This is something I'm really particularly passionate about, as you know, and I worked in house at Manufacturers, so having that love for hair color and then working in the hair color manufacturing world gave me that structure, that education of the knowhow of how to put products together. And I spent so much time in my 20s helping companies and learning how to create products for color treated hair that by the time I opened a salon, I said, I don't want to do an opening order with anybody else's products. I love you all. But I want to create my own and have my own product at my own salon. And I'm a colorist. And my mantra has always been and always will be to maintain the quality, the integrity and the condition of the hair while coloring or just in general, to keep the integrity. Because you can have beautiful color, but if your hair is falling off, you want to have the hair on the head as long as you can. So my mantra is to keep the quality and the integrity of the hair. And so I worked with a chemist, and I said, I want to create a product system for color treated hair to maintain color, but also to make the hair feel good and to feel restored. And some of the products that we were working with together, testing had collagen in them. And I said, can we do a form of collagen in each and every product? And he said, sure, just about. And what the collagen does is when you color treat the hair, or if you live in the world and have wind or blow dryer, whatever, you get little holes in the hair all the time. And that's what makes frizzy hair, and it's what makes color fade. The collagen goes in just like potholes on a road and it smooths out. It fills in the holes. So that's why everybody's hair looks so good after using it. Sometimes even after using one or two of the products is because the hair is absorbing that collagen and the collagen is in our skin. Anyway. So collagen is protein. So you're just basically putting protein back in the hair. And it's actually a protein that fits in the hair. Sometimes people that use protein in their hair, they say, oh, my hair feels weird. This is a good sized protein. So the hair just feels great after you use it. And that's what I want. I want your hair to feel better after you're in my chair or to feel better after you use my products.

[09:50] Sam: And if anyone who's listening is a dyed redhead, this stuff is an absolute must because I come home and watch color. I mean, that's just the nature of being a dyed redhead. You watch it go down the drain as you wash it. I keep my color longer, and it's also great. Your product is really great because I don't like to wash my hair too much. I know I shouldn't wash my hair too much, but I feel like it's super clean, still conditioned, but it doesn't get re dirty quickly either. I feel like I'm using less product. I don't know if you intended that as a thing, but I use less product in my hair, so I don't need to wash as often, and I don't end up with, like, an oily scalp in today. It's really the best products I've used on my hair my whole life. I really can't say enough about it.

[10:42] Marco: Thanks, Sam. Yeah, I do think the funny thing is that you don't need a lot of it sometimes. I know people feel like they have to use a lot of product to get and it's more about the type of product that you're using rather than the quantity, quality over quantity.

[10:57] Sam: And for anyone listening, I will be putting in the program notes where you can shop for Marcos product.

[11:03] Marco: Thank you.

[11:04] Sam: And try it out for yourself. Finally, what are some of the trends in color and style that you are seeing winter this year?

[11:14] Marco: Well, I think as far as I just wanted to share a couple of quick styling tips, and I think a lot of times we talked about self care earlier. It's really hard for a woman, especially if she's got kids or if she's working, which is most women today, or a version of that, to figure out what she's going to do. She isn't always going to go to the salon and get an updo, so what is she going to do? What are you going to do when you go home? And I think there's a couple of quick things to do, especially if you have a certain amount of length. It doesn't have to be super long. But if you do have longer hair, like even the length you have right now, Sam, even a nice just slicking it all back and pulling the ponytail. Not in a ponytail. Directly. Back, but for some reason slicking the whole thing back and putting the ponytail off to the side. A little bit aside, Pony looks really cool. So I'm just going to make a recommendation right now. If you have zero time and you haven't done your hair and you haven't even washed your hair, and you have to go to an event, get it all slicked back in a ponytail and pull the ponytail off to the side. And then if you're photographed, you'll see this ponytail coming off to the side in the photograph, and it's a cool look.

[12:29] Sam: Yeah, I like that. Asymmetrical with a bun or a pony myself, that's for some reason, if it's.

[12:36] Marco: Just not quite in the center, it just looks cool. I don't know why that has become. And a little bit of hairspray helps. And I do have a nice, lightweight hold hairspray because you don't want to work with something that's super firm something. And then another one that I wanted to mention is barrett, and just having some fun with a half pullback, because a lot of times you get home and your hair looks like a mess. And if you have your length or even shoulder, I think shoulder length or even shorter, just taking part, even just part of the hair and sticking it back, and you can take have you ever seen this sam where pretty barrettes? You can put a whole bunch in, and it just looks really kind of ornamental and kind of pretty, and silver is kind of nice, or gold. I think you can go a little bit gaudy with it, too. It's just kind of cool. And then just let the rest of the hair come down. But sometimes if you don't have time for a blowdry, you can just kind of, like, put half your hair up or even just side up and then put some barrettes in it and spray.

[13:37] Sam: It and go, that's a great idea. It's super easy. And it's hard to get into the salons this time of year if you end up with, like, a last minute event that you need to go to and you may not have the option someplace.

[13:53] Marco: It literally happened to me before we got on the Zoom this morning, if someone wanted to command it for a blow dry today, and I was like, no, I just can't do it. It's hard last minute. The other one that I wanted to mention, too, before I forget, is if you have longish hair and you don't have time to blow it dry, but you go home from your day and you have to go out to an event, is to get one of those big, fat curling irons like the big chunky ones. I'm sure. Do you have one of those, Sam?

[14:23] Sam: I do, yeah. That's what I use every day.

[14:25] Marco: Yeah. If you just do even a few of those, it doesn't have to be perfect. Like grabbing a section and then doing a light mist of hairspray, preferably Marco hairspray, and then a little bit prior to just a few of those waves, and then you just kind of finger through your hair and it almost looks acceptable just even just with a couple of those.

[14:47] Sam: One of the biggest things with that large barrel curling iron, and I want to throw this in because I was the person who didn't know about this until someone told me, don't put the ends in. Let them stick out. And keep about an inch or two off the end and kind of bend it through the middle. And that gives it a much more natural look because I would always like to take it all the way to the end and curl it up. And I was ending up with these sausage curls on my head.

[15:14] Marco: Well, the funny thing is the van, you're really hip without even trying, because it's like when it's not a perfect curl, looks better today is kind of what you were just saying. And so it's even easier to be a little more casual, I think, today, especially since COVID and then color wise, too, I think that's a trend, too. Kind of leads me into that is we're still seeing highlights. Especially if you're a brunette. Not necessarily if you're a blonde, because when you're a blonde, you want to be blonde. But with the brunette especially. And I think a lot of women in America are brunettes. And even if you're doing your own touch up with your color, or if you go to a stylist, either one, highlighting away from the scalp, leaving it further away from the scalp is better. Do you know what I mean by that? In other words, not getting highlights that are, like, right here. So this kind of casual look that we were describing with the curls and not being perfect, it's kind of the same still with highlights. So if you want to go get a few highlights, get them a little further away from the scalp. It just looks cooler for some reason, we're still in that.

[16:25] Sam: I think it makes it look like if you put a little bronzer on your cheeks, it makes it look like you've had a great day at the beach, a couple of beach waves and some sunkissed ends to your hair.

[16:37] Marco: That's it.

[16:38] Sam: It's a relaxed but really lovely look to put together.

[16:43] Marco: Yeah. And then some of the people listening, I bet some of you guys do your own base color. Some of you, I'm sure, go to salons. But even if you do your own base color, maybe you might at this time of year if you plan a little in advance. Still a couple of weeks book with a hairstylist maybe just to do a few of the highlights. And then you can keep up your own base color at home and then order good products to keep it healthy.

[17:09] Sam: So for the person who would do base color at home, which I know is a scary prospect for a lot of people, but what brands do you recommend?

[17:19] Marco: Oh, my goodness.

[17:24] Sam: Let's picture it this way, you have a client who does her own base color. What are you not going to freak out that she's done to her hair when she shows up to get her hair done?

[17:37] Marco: Well, I guess I would want her to stay away from the products that have a lot of ammonia in them. Okay, so that's my number one. And there are beauty supply stores that sell my products to the public that also sell hair color products to the public to put on their hair. So maybe that might be a good rule of thumb, is to go to Sally's Beauty Supply. Is that still around?

[18:06] Sam: Yes, it is.

[18:07] Marco: Sally's could be a good option. Something like Sally's Beauty where you go in and the person behind the counter may not be a licensed stylist, but they have some idea. And if you say, I want a medium brown or a dark brown, they're going to guide you in the right direction. And if you say, you want a medium brown or a dark brown that does not have a lot of ammonia yeah, and I think you can even smell it when you get the when you open up. It's like if you can stay away from the ammonia and try to get somebody to help guide you. And that doesn't have to be a stylist. I guess the bottom line is not to go to the drugstore. No offense to the drug stores out there, but that can be a little scary when you just randomly pick something up off the shelf. So if you want to do your own color, go to a beauty supply store and ask the person and say, I want a product that does not have a lot of ammonia. And this is really mainly for the brunette. Maybe for a redhead, too, possibly, but it's hard to do your own blonde highlighting at home. That's one thing I don't recommend, is trying to highlight your own hair with bleach. That needs to be left to the professionals. Yeah.

[19:14] Sam: Back in college, I used to put a cap on my head and with that, like, crochet hook thing, it's like dreadful. But, yeah, I've done it. I'm not going to say I'm proud of it, but I did it.

[19:26] Marco: Well, some people can do it and it's okay. And then when you're a kid, it doesn't really matter, but when we get to a certain age, we want to make sure the hair is still there.

[19:36] Sam: Exactly. Well, thank you so much.

[19:39] Marco: This is fun.

[19:40] Sam: You're going to have all the listeners looking beautiful this holiday and inspired in our previous conversation. And thank you so much.

[19:51] Marco: If anybody has questions about anything, feel free to reach out too.

[19:56] Sam: Absolutely. I will direct them your way. Thank you.

[19:59] Marco: Thanks, Sam.

[20:01] Sam: Okay, squad, I hope you are enjoying this fun and informative introduction to my friend Marco, but I need to take a hot minute to tell you about his incredible line of hair care. I started using Marco's Collagen Color Guard line a few years ago because my hair was brittle and losing the shine of some very pricey professional color way too quickly. His shampoo conditioner and mostly the Collagen reconstructor has strengthened my hair while also leaving it super shiny. This combo supported my goal of growing my hair really long without any damage. And the best part, it helps me hold my color longer. A constant battle for dyed redheads especially. Visit the show notes to link to Marco's website and earn 15% off your first order. You won't regret it. That's www.marcopaluci.com.

[20:57] Sam: Thanks again to my dear friend Marco Pelosi. He was such fun to have on Meant for Moxie. Please visit Marco's salon and product website@www.marcopalusi.com to grab your 15% off his amazing products that we talked about in this episode. Meant for Moxie is the companion podcast to Moximama by Sam Ditka. More information can be found at www dot moximama TV My Music the Energy courtesy of Abhishe Music and can be found on itunes.

[21:52] Marco: Thank you.