Monday 5 December 2011

Clothes Show Live for talented young Shrewsbury hairdresser

Hayley Pritchard, known as Terri. from K2 salon in the Darwin Centre, Shrewsbury. A finalist in the Young Hairdresser of the year competition at the Clothes Show Live.

Clothes Show Live for talented young Shrewsbury hairdresser

With pic

Scissor sister Hayley Pritchard will be duelling with some of the best young hairdressers in the country on one of the biggest dates in the UK fashion industry calendar.

Hayley, 21, who works for the highly respected K2 salon, which has branches in Shrewsbury’s Darwin Centre and in Bear Lanes, Newtown, will be showing off her skills at the Clothes Show Live at Birmingham’s NEC next month.

She will be up against 20 other bright young talents all hoping to win the coveted title of Young Hairdresser of the Year in a live final on December 4.

Hayley, known to her clients as Terri, said she was amazed and delighted to hear she had been selected from hundreds of entrants after submitting a picture of the haircut she will have 45 minutes to recreate on stage during the final.

Hayley, from Copthorne, Shrewsbury, said: “I am very excited about it all and I do love doing competition work but this is probably my most important career moment to date.

“I know I am probably going to be a bit nervous but I need to work on controlling those nerves because the last thing I need on the day is shaky hands!”

The final will be judged by six industry experts including celebrity hairdressers, Leo Bancroft, Lee Stafford and Errol Douglas. The winner will receive £1,000 in prize money.

K2 is a Sassoon affiliated saloon and Hayley’s striking hair cut was inspired by the bob which Vidal himself made famous. It is the fifth year running that the salon has had a young hairdresser in the competition.

Hayley, who is big fan of R&B star Rhianna’s hair style, said: “I thought about the different fashions at the moment and I wanted to create a strong shape, something which stood out.

“I was looking to how women are wearing more manly clothes at the moment and strong suits and I wanted to try and create a haircut which reflected this.”

Hayley started at K2 five years ago as a sixth former to earn some money at the weekends.

She said: “I was going to go to university to study graphic design but I realised how much I enjoyed hairdressing and so I started my training and haven’t looked back since.

“I love the creative side of it and doing so many different styles and shapes each day.”

She added: “It would be amazing to win but I know I will be up against some tough competition.

But a win would be terrific for my career and give me a massive confidence boost.”

Russell Hall, operations manager for the Darwin, Pride Hill and Riverside shopping centres, said: “The high standards set by K2 makes the salon a very important part of the Darwin Centre and they are an excellent example of all the terrific names we have here in the Shrewsbury centres.

“I am very pleased for Hayley and wish her every success in the final. She should be incredibly proud of herself even to make it this far.”

Her boss and owner of the K2 salons, Philip Minton, who has been in the industry for more than 40 years, agreed and said: “I think she will do very well, not just at the competition but in her future hairdressing career.

“It is very important for us to keep nurturing the future generation of hairdressers and I suppose you do this by keeping up the enthusiasm yourself and looking together for new ideas all the time. Being younger, they will see things differently to the way you see them and this helps not only take their own careers forward but also the salon too.”

Go to www.k2thesalon.co.uk to book your appointment with Hayley.