Let me begin with a question for you all. When you look at the current state of the beauty world, what do you see?
Thanks to the evolution of the Internet and social networks, information now spreads much further and much more quickly than it ever could before.
As hairdressers, we now have to compete with peers across the entire world.
Design breadth, cut quality, personal requests, customer service and hospitality…
The hairdressers of today have two or three times as many things to learn than the hairdressers of yesterday, and that number only continues to increase.
As a result of all this, I wonder if the required curriculum for assistants hasn’t expanded in turn, and thus, whether the time before they can begin making their own cuts has significantly increased.
Even if that is the case, as things stand now, salons are unable to clearly differentiate their offerings and must resort to competing for customers on price.
As a result, our value as hairdressers goes down, and we are stuck in a downward spiral with no way out.

In order to escape from the dangers our modern times pose, we need to increase our value as hairdressers.
This is why I have decided to unveil the Step Bone Cut to the world: in the hopes that it will lead to better cuts for our customers and better rates for us.

I have already introduced part of the Step Bone Cut to the country via industry magazines and one-day seminars.
But the Step Bone Cut is a system I worked on for over 5 years of my life to create. Naturally it is impossible to convey it all in those two mediums alone.
Unfortunately, this has not stopped others from mimicking the parts that I have unveiled and using them on their own customers, with mixed results at best.
“Japanese hairdressers are highly skilled technicians who can take hard-to-work-with Asian bone structures and create Western designs that look good on them with nothing but a single pair of scissors.”
This is what I want hairdressers around the world to say, and these are the techniques I am unveiling in order to make that happen.
There are many people who are willing to give up their vacation days and come from far away in order to attend my seminars and learn these techniques.
If we value ourselves as hairdressers, then we have a duty to protect and nurture those who are earnestly attempting to better themselves.

From this point forward, it is my sincere hope that we can build a glorious future for Japan’s hairdressers.
To that end, I, and the Step Bone Cut Association, will do our part to support them.
We do this not only by teaching them the Step Bone Cut’s techniques, but also by means of branding, training, and consulting in management and business.
On behalf of the Step Bone Cut Association, I humbly ask for your help and cooperation in training our fellow hairdressers and employees and in building a better future for all of us.

If we keep on lowering and lowering our prices, there is no way for us to make our employees truly rich.
Rather than competing on price, we should be most concerned with how to raise the value of everyone that works for us.
Will you join me in thinking long and hard about the future of our salons?
If, like me, you are proud of your chosen profession and proud of your fellow hairdressers, and if you truly wish for a better future for all of us, I hope you will.

Create the future of the Asian beauty world.
Raise the value of hairdressers and enrich their lives.

We will work to promote the Contoured Face-Slimming Haircut and the Step Bone Cut, pass them on to future generations, support salons with management and promotional
aid, raise the value of all hairdressers, and work to better ourselves everyday.

• Make Asian women the most beautiful in the world by using the Contoured Face-Slimming Haircut.
• Pass on our indomitable spirit and our unsurpassed techniques to the next generation.
• Stop world-class premium haircut prices from falling, and increase the value of high-quality haircut techniques.
• Increase the value of all stylists and enrich their lives.

• Operate the Step Bone Cut Academy.
• Sell the special lotion, “PUT ON MAGIC”, specifically designed for the Contoured Face-Slimming Haircut and the Step Bone Cut.
• Sell special scissors specifically designed for the Contoured Face-Slimming Haircut and the Step Bone Cut.
• The advancement and teaching of beautification techniques.
• Supporting members’ own efforts to sell and promote themselves.

• Promote the Step Bone Cut, a new kind of haircut technique designed for Asian bone structures.
• Continue to research and improve on the Step Bone Cut, a new kind of haircut technique designed for Asian bone structures.
• Provide general training and guidance for beautification techniques.

• A Step Bone Cut Basic Course graduate who agrees with our corporate goals.
• A stylist that uses Contoured Face-Slimming Haircut techniques under the condition that they do so while using our special scissors and lotion.
• A salon owner or manager who can announce that their salon uses Contoured Face-Slimming Haircut techniques on our website.
• Corporate members who own or operate salons must have at least one employee at that salon.

• Authorized use of the Contoured Face-Slimming Haircut trade name, trademark, promotional goods, etc.
• Branding support by virtue of being a Contoured Face-Slimming Haircut certified salon
• Recruiting support by virtue of being a Contoured Face-Slimming Haircut certified salon
• Regular updates and information. All other benefits listed below

Membership lasts for one year and is renewed in April

Name: Step Bone Cut Association
HQ: 3 Kitanagasa-dōri, 12-10 Loop Torwest Building 2F, Chūō-ku, Hyōgo-ken
TEL: 078-334-0075
FAX: 078-334-7228
E-Mail: [email protected]
Founded: July 2nd, 2012

Chairperson SAYURI
Vice-Chairperson Takashi Masunari
Director Takako Katō
Auditor Kōichi Kanagae

Q: Please tell us how you heard about the Step Bone Cut.
A: Right around the time when we were internally discussing how to bring our organization together and how difficult it was to pass our knowledge on to the next generation, I started looking for something new to learn.
When I first found out about the Step Bone Cut website and read their introduction, I thought “We need this!!” Soon afterwards I attended my first seminar along with a few of my store managers, and from there we knew we had to adopt this new method for ourselves.

Q: What was it that inspired you so much?
A: While it’s easy to make our young customers look good, we have many older women among our clientele as well.
I’ve been feeling for quite some time that we needed to change something about the way we cut their hair in order to satisfy them.
I attended lots of different haircutting courses, but nothing was taught that I could sufficiently explain to our customers.
But with the Step Bone Cut, I was able to easily tell my customers how I would handle their wrinkles and sags. Not only that, it was easy to explain to my younger stylists how to compensate for bone structure, and the quality of their haircuts improved rapidly as a result.
Basically, this made it easy to show our customers the value of our techniques and to explain to them how these new haircuts were unlike any other they’d had before.
Now, even when I don’t cut their hair myself and let my younger stylists work on our older customers, they compliment me on how well my staff treats them, despite the age difference.
Above all else, my young stylists now have the confidence that they can handle anyone that comes through our door no matter what their age may be.

Q: How do you feel about the current state of the beauty world?
A: I can’t help but feel that the industry will fail to advance if we don’t increase our productivity.
Other salons may be competing with each other on price, but for me, I’m building up our reserves so that we can continue to maintain our aggressive position.
The Step Bone Cut provides us with many opportunities. I firmly believe that it can help us become the top salon in our area.

Q: So you’ve tried using the Step Bone Cut on your customers?
A: I have, and the results have been amazing. My customers are absolutely thrilled!!
These techniques make me want to get out and learn more and more about haircuts. I don’t think I’ve felt this way since I was 19 at best. I feel good that I was able to pick such a winner 🙂

Q: Last question, Mr. Shimada. Please tell us what you see as your final destination.
A: When I’m 50, I want to own a company with 10,000 employees. I want to open salons not just in Japan, but in the rest of the world too.
I have other things I want to do outside the beauty world as well, which is why I want to have 10,000 employees.
I truly believe that the Step Bone Cut has the potential to be the next Vidal Sassoon; the next worldwide sensation in haircut technique.
There are so many people in the world who could benefit from bone structure compensation.
Even if it takes time to realize, I’m sure that they’ll be thrilled when they see the results it can give them.

Total Beauty Passion Executive Director and Vice-President Kazuaki Shimada
Executive Director and Vice-President of Total Beauty Passion, a salon with 9 branches in Ibaraki, Osaka. After transitioning from a corporate career to a hairdresser, he was appointed manger of his salon at the age of 20.
At 21 he was managing 100 people across several different salons.
At 25 he was named an executive director, and at 27 he added the title of vice-president.
He has overseen a variety of events and promotions, including the Paris Collection, the International Collection, and magazines.
He is the first chairperson of the Ishin-Kai, and serves as the managing director of the JCBA Osaka area.
He is currently actively involved in a variety of fields, including nursing homes.