Shear entertainment. (The Roving Eye).

WITH TV monitors looping canned promotions in elevators and supermarket checkout lines, it was only a matter of time before the hair salon was targeted.

Ava DuVernay, founder of the DuVernay Agency public relations firm and originator of the Urban Beauty Collective, aims to market hip brands to a fashion-conscious and temporarily indisposed audience.

"You can only sit for so long and read old issues of Jet magazine," said DuVernay, pointing out that it can take hours to do the braiding and twisting that are popular at African American salons.

It was this realization that led DuVernay, a UCLA graduate, to launch Urban Beauty Collective. DuVernay, who claims to have lined up 10,000 salons nationwide, sells advertising and promotional time on a videotape that member salons will show to customers.

The first tape, mailed in June to 5,000 salons, had spots for DreamWorks' "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas," Baby Phat clothing label and a DMX video from Wamer Bros. New tapes will be mailed every month, at no cost to the salon owner. "It's eye candy while you're in the salon," said DuVernay.

She'd prefer to make DVDs, but a lot more salons own VHS players than DVD players.

Karen Butler, manager of Phaze II in Los Angeles, where DuVernay gets her hair done, said the response has been positive. "When you are a stylist, you have to be a trendsetter, you have to keep up with the latest fashions and music and movies," Butler said. "And after a while, you don't want to listen to the radio anymore."