JOHNNY B. HAIR CARE
A F T E R S H AV E S P R AY t
“WE HAVE MORE STYLING PRODUCTS AND TOOLS THAN ANY OTHER BRAND.
WE HAVE A FULL RANGE OF CUTTING TOOLS, CAPES, COMBS, BRUSHES, RAZORS…IT CAN GO ON AND ON. BECAUSE WE WANT THE VERY BEST BARBERS USING OUR PRODUCTS, WE FEEL LIKE IT’S A BRAND EXTENSION FOR US TO PROVIDE TOOLS FOR THEM TO WORK WITH, SO WE CREATE ALMOST A PROFESSIONAL LIFESTYLE FOR THEM.” — ALFONSO ANORGA, Founder and President, Johnny B. Hair Care
Q: How did you come up with the name Johnny B.? Alfonso Anorga: Back then, it was a real 50s kind of time in LA. It’s what was inspiring me…people were smoking cigars, recollecting baseballs from their childhood…so I went off that. The most common name in the 50s was Johnny, so I made the logo and brand with this fictitious character that I named Johnny. Q: And where did the “B.” come from? AA: Be who you want to be—there are no limitations to what you can accomplish. I was trying to inspire those young men I was coaching at the time. I was born and raised here in Los Angeles, and growing up Hispanic, there were not a lot of positive role models. It’s kind of interesting to me that even when there are positive role models like Oscar De La Hoya, kids are almost taught not to like them. So I wanted to change that and create a character that was well taken care of, that was kind of fit—almost like a metrosexual— that would make it cool to take care of yourself. The way I look at life is if you’re really into taking care of yourself, eating right, thinking clearly, you’re not going to be out doing the wrong things. So that was the whole point and the genesis of the brand. 72 |
| FEBRUARY 2015
Q: Did you have any idea that the Original Pomade was going to be the start of something so big? AA: What I share with hairdressers to this day is that my mind was singular in the thought that I just wanted to help and give back to the community. And in return, what I really was getting back from these boys was this multimillion-dollar brand that was really going to change my life. It allowed me to really reach a lot of goals that I had set for myself. But that wasn’t originally my goal; it wasn’t like I sat there and thought I want to own a men’s product line. I was in the beauty business, I had always been in the beauty business, but that wasn’t my goal. I just realized that this was the path that I could take to get to my goal. Q: Describe how the brand grew from a small company to where it is now. AA: I’ve been in the beauty business since I was 12 and I’m an old guy now at 47, so I’ve only done this. I didn’t realize it when I first started, but I’ve had a keen ability to identify what products people are looking for. When I originally launched this pomade, what I found was that the barbers and hairdressers really liked it. Once you like something, all of a sudden
people start asking, “Where’s the gel? Where’s the extra-hold version of this?” so naturally, out of finding that there were those needs in the marketplace, I started creating more and more products. It was a product that became a brand throughout a journey. The journey is the big part of the story. Q: The Original Pomade was your first product. Would you say that has also been your most successful? AA: No, our most successful product is a styling gel called Mode. I named it after my favorite rock band in the 80s, Depeche Mode. It kind of rode the wave of spiking as the world’s most popular hair style came out in the late 90s and even progressed to the 2000s with Jersey Shore. It counts for a good 40 percent of our business. Q: You have a couple other fun names, like Dope, Smash, Fuddy…etc. What inspired those names? AA: Kids are always saying, “That’s dope!” We steer clear of the drug connotation of the word and make sure people know that we’re not trying to use that. If you hashtag the word dope, it’s all positive, not negative. Fuddy, growing up, my mama (who brought me into the beauty business) would always call me