Dennis Gebhart has dedicated over three decades of his iconic career to helping salon professionals understand and master their craft. Dennis, a protégée of hair color pioneer and legend, Sam Lapin, mastered his craft at an early age. This led Mr. Gebhart to work with industry legends in 17 countries, as well as his work with leading hair color manufactures. Dennis was not only responsible for the education, but also the development of some of the most famous hair color brands in the salon industry today.
Dennis and his wife Sylvia, own a successful salon and spa in southern California. Working behind the chair, allows Dennis to really know and understand the training he offers, while also keeping it real. In addition to his focus of hair color, Dennis expanded his specialty to include training for industry educators and facilitators. Dennis was responsible for several mentor-ship programs with notable figures in the public speaking and leadership training arena. People such as Jim Rohn, Blair Singer and Chris Widener to name a few.
Dennis’s dedicated passion, led him to participate as one of the main architects of Redken’s 5th Avenue educational model. He also served as the senior mentor at the Redken Exchange in NYC for 16 years.
In 2010, Dennis joined Keune Hair Cosmetics as their National Education Training Consultant; and in 2014, he opened his own consulting company "Guru Village, along with his wife Celia "Sylvia" Gebhart..
Dennis an avid fan of Bernice McCarthy, published author of Engage and Hold on You Lost Me, attended 4Mat for learning and graduated as a Certified Instructional Design Trainer in adult learning.
As a widely-requester trainer throughout the professional Salon industry, Dennis’s Mantra is....
Tell me and I forget
Teach me and I remember
Involve me and I learn
This is why his “Whole Brain Learning” style sets him apart from others. It starts with the foundation then goes through conceptualizing, leading to technique & application choices, culminating with the finished results.
Celia "Sylvia" Gebhart has spent more than 3 decades in the beauty profession. She began her career in Chicago Illinois studying at the Mario Tricoci Institute in Elmhurst . She has achieved licensing in both Cosmetology and Barbering.
Her expertise led her to a position with Redken 5th Ave where she was not only an Artist for them for over 23 years. She was one of the original creative design team members and appeared in the World famous Redken International Symposium over 10 times. She has also traveled internationally and taught in both Asia & South America.
She is now the co-owner of Hair Color Guru in Upland, CA along with her husband, Dennis Gebhart and maintains a busy clientele. In addition, she is the Vice President and Chief Mentor for Guru Village specializing in Texture, Design, and Smoothing.
Sylvia’s ability to simplify information, techniques, strategies and behaviors is what sets her apart from other educators in the field. Her style is “learner focused” which enables students to maximize their learning experience.
Anyone will tell you that once you meet Sylvia she is very engaging and has a huge heart which is counter-balanced with pragmatic thought process. She cuts through all the minutia in order to carve out a clear path to your success.
Spend some time with her. You will be glad you did!