Bonnie Megowan is the CEO of Bonika Shears which is one of the premiere shear companies in the USA. She did not start as a sharpener or a stylist. Bonnie began her career as a high school science teacher. She continues to teach, not science, but in her new arena of shear sharpening, For the last 30 plus years she has sharpened shears in hair salons in the Atlanta, GA area. She has also become proficient in clipper blade sharpening as well. However, her true love is still teaching. She has taught sharpening to hundreds of men and women of all ages. They come from around the world to her private sharpening classes and group classes. In addition to teaching sharpening, she and her husband Gene lecture at various sharpening conventions and cosmetology schools. She writes articles for both stylist and sharpening publications.
The practical DIY know how has come from both experience and sharing with other sharpeners and stylists who have created hacks for overcoming a lack of tools or parts. Many times, as a mobile sharpener, she had to improvise when she didn't have a certain tool or part.
She was forced to do the most improvising in 1996. This was the year that Atlanta hosted the Olympic Games. Bonnie was involved in the recruitment of the stylists and barbers that worked in the Olympic hair salon in the Olympic Village. As a benefit she was able to work as the receptionist / tool repair person in the salon. Athletes had the ability to use the salon for shampoos and haircuts as often as they liked at no charge. Some of the older female marksman athletes from the new former Russian countries came every day. It was a revolving door with 14 hour days with up to a 3 hour wait for athletes to have their hair cut. There were four teams of cosmetologist professionals, all ethnicities, from a multitude of salons and barber shops from across metro-Atlanta. Because of the security, especially after the bombing in Olympic Park, stylists were not able to bring shears in and out of the Olympic village area. Shears dulled quickly when rotated through different stylists cutting the thick healthy hair of athletes of all ethnicities. There were many problems with the shears, clippers and trimmers as they were shared among the different cutters.
The Design Essentials company of Atlanta kept everything running smoothly considering the fast pace and language barriers. Bonnie kept all the tools working like each individual stylist or barber wanted their tool to work. She learned a lot about customizing, innovating and some DIY tricks using what tools and supplies that were on hand. The Olympics was the training ground for the on the job ingenuity that has become the hallmark of Bonnie's career.
Group photo of some of the participants in the 2019 Sharpeners Jam in Atlanta, GA. This was the 21st Sharpeners Jam.
To foster this outside the box thinking in other sharpeners Bonnie began the Sharpeners Jam two years later in 1998. It began with three sharpeners sharing ideas. It has grown to be the oldest and largest sharpening conventions of its kind in the world. Sharpeners compete to see who can share the best ideas used in their sharpening businesses. Many of the hacks and ideas in this book came from this group of sharpeners. Some of the ideas are credited to them. Other ideas were presented so long ago and have been used so many years that she was unable to attribute the hack to the original sharpener. If one of your ideas is copied here, the author apologies to those who have contributed to her knowledge. Most likely more than one person has improvised in the same way. As Solomon said, "There is nothing new under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 1:9b NIV) It is true. All knowledge is built on someone else's idea.
Bonnie continues to sharpen, train and learn. She is considered by many to be one of America's leading experts in the field of shear sharpening. This was evidenced when she became the first woman to receive the top score in an international shear sharpening certification. Her sharpening knowledge has been enhanced by classes with shear factory sharpeners from four countries. She is now in the process of furthering her knowledge with a trip to Solingen, Germany where shear manufacturing originated.
Bonnie has already begun work on her second book on shears. In addition in cooperation with a Spanish sharpener she will co-author a Spanish translation of this book. Please look for upcoming works from this author.
