Hidden Gems: Meet Anthony Defalco of Anthonys Salon, AD Professional

Today we’d like to introduce you to Anthony Defalco.

Hi Anthony, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself. 
I’ve been working in the beauty field since 1989; I worked at several salons and kept my eyes on my ever-changing goals over the years with my focus on education, making people feel great and mentoring success. I studied hairdressing, and that led eventually into mortuary science so I could make my customers look beautiful into eternity. 

I worked under some of the best names in the industry with a strong focus on chemistry and color. Eventually, I worked my way up to national educator for Italian based color company called “color design.” 

I’ve had my editorial work featured on the cover of The Colorist magazine and flown all over the world, inspiring and training people to be the best at color and Cezanne smoothing services. 

Along the way always striving to use the best products and supply the best experience. Growing to own 3 salons in Sandiego and Orange County. 

About 3 years ago, I had to make a major change. We went into pandemic, and my newest salon was shut down… I had to come up with a way to support us during this time, so I created DIY home hair color kits. Luck would have it the Chanel 7 news did a feature on my in Friday night at 6 featuring these kits, and the phones began to ring. This saved our Business, but I still had a lot of extra free time, so I decided to pursue my dream of creating my own hair product line. I took an online cosmetic chemistry course and learned how to formulate my own product line, and started AD Professional Inc hair products. I had just a very small start-up revenue of 7000$ and managed to create a shampoo, conditioner, hair mask, and leave-in spray detangler all milk and honey-based products. 

This starter line was well received. 

But I wasn’t done yet. I started to work on a line for curly dry hair that was thirsty and out of control and then a set of toning shampoos and styling line hairspray, texture spray, mousse, gel, two serums, and I’ve named them all after members of my family. 

This focused approached during the closure and after reopening allowed me to move into a larger salon and beauty supply in Orange County (Anthony’s salon) for our headquarters and flagship distribution beauty center. My husband Christian Serna Defalco Takes the lead at Selena’s Estetica in San Ysidro, where our products or sold and distributed from. 

We’ve grown so much over the last 3 years and now in over 112 salons in North America. It’s a product line made by a hairstylist for hairstylists, and it was always my dream. Now it’s come true. The motivating people that have supported me my mother, Marilyn Moreira, dad Gus Defalco of Defalco family wines and foods, and my husband, Christian Serna Flores Defalco who still works here locally in our San Ysidro location Selena’s. 

At 52, I feel like I’m just getting started. But I know I’ve made so many people feel great and successful along the way. 

I’ve continued to give back to the community thru the apprenticeship program, mentoring new students to get their license by working by my side in salon and my continued support of local fundraising businesses like the international imperial court and Emerald Kingdom. 

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The pandemic and forced closures of all of my businesses was heartbreaking, especially while I was watching other professionals in other states allied to keep working. But I gave me the opportunity to find new ways to make things work 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next, you can tell us a bit more about your business.
We specialize in being a full-service beauty center, from skin revision, nail care, hair styling as well as non-surgical hair replacement. We’ve continued to help thousands of people remove scars, do permanent makeup and reconstruction after mastectomies, and all the while providing international hair and skin products to salons all over the world. It all started in-house, and just 4 years ago, I was only a hairstylist, with my husband working in salon as well. Now we’ve grown to multiple locations and over 30 stylists 

What are your plans for the future?
We are looking to continue growing and changing as the times change. With many professional sun the industry moving from salon into personal suites, we have to stay current and change our marketing strategies. Having traditional sales reps doesn’t really work in today marketplace, so we do quite a bit of direct marketing while still providing free local delivery. I am most looking forward to seeing our wet line in hotel showers and spas. 

Contact Info:

• Website: Anthonyshbsalon.com
• Instagram: Anthonys salon
• Facebook: Anthony’s salon