Alterna´s Global Creative Director
by Michael Shaun Corby
Michael Shaun Corby has been an innovator within the professional hair care industry for the past eighteen years. His professional experience within the entertainment industry along with his extensive training at such renowned salons as Jose Eber and Umberto´s, both of Beverly Hills, make him an invaluable asset to the Alterna Educational Program.
You are currently the Global Creative Director at Alterna Professional Haircare. What do you enjoy most about this position?I love product development. We have an amazing creative team that works together to invent the most innovative products on the market and being a part of that process is fascinating. Alterna uses “the science of skincare for hair”, so we are in the labs mixing the latest and greatest ingredients, creating something that has never been done before. The process of an idea developing into an actual product is a very unique, valuable experience.
Your career takes you all over the world and enables you to meet the famous and the not-so-famous. How do you feel this has impacted your work?
I am fortunate to work with such a celebrity.loved brand like Alterna. By working with such trendy A.listers, I am able to find out about upcoming trends before they hit the streets and then bring them to my other clients.
You are constantly seeking the “next big thing” in the industry. How do you know it when you see it?
We stay on top of the trends each season, by watching what´s on the runway, in the trend books and magazines, and what we see on the streets. This allows us to keep track of what people want and like, and if it´s something that Alterna can be a part of. People are becoming much more health conscious when it comes to hair, which is new, as it used to be all about healthy, youthful skin. We saw that trend coming, and created the very first anti.aging hair care line on the market, our Caviar Anti-Aging collection, which is very successful. By staying on top of the trends, Alterna has become known for its cutting.edge innovation in the hair care industry.
What trends do you see in the summer 2007?
For years, the trend has been stick straight, flat ironed hair. I see a transition into something much more natural, like soft waves. It won´t be perfect, red-carpet waves, but a much more natural texture. 2007 will be about healthy, natural, voluminous hair that looks like Europe and around Miami and is one of Alterna´s key hairstyles for the upcoming season.