Paul Mitchell held its Signature Gathering recently at The Venetian in Las Vegas, and I was overwhelmed by all the enthusiasm and support hairdressers showed the brand. They love Paul Mitchell! One of the reasons for the fan base is that founder John Paul DeJoria is a true philanthropist, whose motto is "Unshared success is failure." But these aren't just idle words. John Paul lends his support to countless different organizations and causes in order to make the world a better place.

The more things change, the more things stay the same, and that's especially true when it comes to diversion and the ongoing struggle to eradicate it for good. Despite the best intentions of many in the industry, sales of professional products in unauthorized outlets, which first began in the early 1980s, have snowballed to epic proportions in the last couple of years. In fact, BusinessWeek reported in December 2004 that nearly $800 million of the beauty industry's $29 billion annual revenue from the sale of professional products may be diverted or counterfeit.

Readers often tell us that one of their favorite columns is "Big Fish, Small Pond," which is our way of recognizing the achievements of small salons all across the country. Let's face it, it's usually the big, beautiful salons in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, New York or Miami that get all the press. The truth is, it's salons like the ones we feature in "Big Fish" that are the lifeblood of this industry. A few months ago I went back East to visit my mother, who still lives in Warren, OH, the town I grew up in. Warren is about as small-town as you can get. The population for you "Big Fish" fans is 46,832. Located about 14 miles from Youngstown and 15 miles from the Pennsylvania border, Warren gained a modicum of fame recently when it was reported that Rex Lee, who plays Ari Gold's put-upon assistant Lloyd in HBO's Entourage, hails from Warren.

I was interviewed recently for a story that appeared in min's b2b, an online business-to-business publication that provides news, analysis and strategies for trade magazines like American Salon, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. Using data supplied by IMS/The Auditor, min's b2b looked at its list of the top 25 books ranked by ad pages, and we were ranked first by percent ad page gain with an increase of 38.81 percent in 2007. With more than 13,000 titles in the trade arena, that's quite an honor.

U.S. spending on pet services—everything from doggie day care to pet massages—has doubled to $2.5 billion in the last five years. When Harrods in London held its fifth annual Pet-a-Porter Dog Show recently, top dogs strutted down the catwalk (pun intended) wearing Vivienne Westwood. Meanwhile, the Jentle Pet Spa from MTI Whirlpools features five-point massage jets, hot and cold temperature controls and shelves for shampoo. I don't even have a dog and I'm thinking of ordering one.

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With award season in jeopardy due to the writer's strike in Hollywood (as we went to press the Golden Globes had been cancelled), I've been thinking a lot about the movies and how hair can define a character.

As publisher of this magazine I'm often asked, "What's new?" This year at American Salon, the answer is plenty.