Pinup Jordan's Mermaid Lounge

Night 3 live nominations are a wrap! But let’s quickly chat about the Night 2 noms!

So far everything has gone super smoothly, but there are learning moments every year since none of this came with a training manual. 🫠 As The Rainbow Convention grows, we’re constantly learning where our rules and category descriptions need more clarity. I’ve always worried about over-explaining because there are people who don’t read the little stuff, let alone the long stuff. 😅 But after sorting through THOUSANDS of entries, we’ve learned that sometimes more clarification is necessary.

TRCA is a CREATIVE COLOR competition. Unless specifically stated otherwise, every category should include fashion color that does NOT naturally occur as human hair color. There are slight exceptions for black color as it appears in creative color lines.

For TRCA purposes, blonde, brunette, black, white, gray, and natural copper/red tones are considered “natural colors”, regardless of whether the product used is oxidative, non-oxidative, or comes from a “vivid” color line. We’re looking for LITERAL COLORS 🌈

We also caught some issues with the Hair Tattoo category during Night 2. Part of that was due to language in our own category description that needed updating. That’s on us! We’re reassessing that category and will re-announce Hair Tattoo tonight. ❤️ We have already been in contact with anyone effected to make any necessary changes.

I know reading is boring, but rules are important in life, and they’re important in a competition. PLEASE read the rules and category descriptions! As much as I’ve tried to avoid making them novels, next year they’re getting even more specific. 😂 With thousands of entries, our team simply can’t spend the entire entry period correcting submissions that don’t meet eligibility requirements.

Mistakes happen. Accountability matters. We’ll own ours, fix them, and keep improving as we grow. Thank you for your patience and support while we learn the ropes together. 💕

Join us TONIGHT from 7–9 PM ET for our FINAL night of live nominations! Replays will be available on YouTube, and tickets are still available on o

Omg tonight was SOOOO MUCH FUNNNN! Thank you to everyone who joined us for night ONE of FOUR nights of The Rainbow Convention Awards nominations LIVE on Instagram and YouTube! 🌈

Jordan Yanatos will be announcing 7 categories a night for four nights LIVE so we can celebrate your accomplishments as a community! Set your alarms for 7-9 pm eastern time from 8/10-8/12 so you don’t miss another live party with us!

Tonight we announced the top ten nominees in:

1.) HOLOGRAPHIC/PRISMS
2.) NEONS
3.) MOODY VIVIDS
4.) BALAYAGE & VIVIDS
5.) BLONDES & VIVIDS
6.) PLATINUM
7.) PASTELS

It was so exciting to share them with you in real time, but just in case you missed it, you can head on over to The Rainbow Convention on YouTube for the replay! If you watch the whole thing, you might even find a coupon code for your TRC ticket in there 👀 NOMINEES! You will be getting a special discount code in your emails, so hang tight if you haven’t bought your ticket for that code! 🥰 Of course we will be scattering the nomination slides here on IG over the next 24 hours, as well as on our website, for you to share for our public voting period from 8/15-8/17.

Tune in with us again from 7-9 pm eastern on Monday 8/10 to announce:

1.) PLACEMENT
2.) FACE FRAME/FRINGE
3.) LONG ALT HAIRCUT
4.) SHORT ALT HAIRCUT
5.) CURLS & TEXTURE
6.) HAIR TATTOO
7.) SALON/STUDIO DECOR

Thank you again to everyone who took the time out of their Sunday to hang with us, and congratulations to our night one nominees!!! Go get your tickets and let’s partyyyyyyy!!!

Delegation is so important so I can spend more time doing the fun parts of The Rainbow Convention 😌 My favorite thing to tinker away at all year is our show merch, and it’s a labor of love. I hand pick vintage flannels and heat press our logo on each one. This year we added a reverse tie dye process to the flannels to really customize them and to encourage you to wear them to work because if you get color on it, no one would even know. 🤭

My assistant, my arthritic hands and I have cranked through about 175 of these bad boys, and we have about 250 of them total to bring to the show. Flannies are one-of-one so no two are alike, and they are first come first served! Our VIP attendees get first dibs day one! If there are any flannels left after the show, they will be available for purchase in person at Pinup Jordan’s Mermaid Lounge / UPSTATE NY HAIR SALON new location in Rotterdam, NY! Thank you to ✨ emily cee ✨ for our Albany coded flannel design!

It’s been a stressful month to put it lightly, but when I take a moment to realize how lucky I am to even be stressed over the things I’m stressed over, it’s hard to not just feel blessed AF. My track record has proven that any problem is just a puzzle, and any ruined plan is really just a redirection towards something better. 🥰 Honestly, there’s just something about aging that has taught me to have more trust and patience with the universe.

And speaking of aging, I have a birthday this weekend, my 7 year alcohol free anniversary coming up, plus The Rainbow Convention in October & Pinup Jordan’s Mermaid Lounge / UPSTATE NY HAIR SALON expansion in November! I’m never one to do things simple, slow or small, so we’re choosing to practice gratitude and embrace the chaos over here. 😌