Award for Senior Stylist Lucie

Stylist Lucie Ainge at the K2 Salon in Shrewsbury’s Darwin Centre.

A talented hair stylist has picked up a top award in a major competition.

Lucie Ainge, from Copthorne, Shrewsbury, took bronze in an Avant Garde Hair-styling competition run by Wolverhampton College.

The 20-year-old who works at the K2 Salon in Shrewsbury’s busy Darwin Shopping Centre, was competing against stylist from salons across the West Midlands.

Lucie, who has been with K2 for four years, started as a Saturday girl while still in school at Meole Brace Science College.

K2 was launched by former Bond Street stylist Philip Minton in December 1971 and  is officially a Vidal Sassoon support salon and over the years his staff have had access to top training with day long work experience with some of Sassoon’s top stylists.

She said: “I’ve always wanted to be a hair stylist and I really enjoyed the competition, it was a chance to be really creative.

“I enjoy cutting and colouring. It’s nice to do something different all the time.”

Lucie, who has qualified at Level Three, used friend Sophie Farrington, also 20, as a model for the competition and she added: “Avant garde is a very creative style so I did a bow at the back with her hair up.

“Sophie really liked it and she has asked me to do it like that again for a special occasion.

“K2 is a really good place to work because there is such a good atmosphere here and there is so much expertise and they are very focused on training so I would just like to carry on learning.”

K2 Stylists George & Terri threw themselves literary into fundraising and out of a plane to raise money for Breast Cancer.

Wella Regional Finalist 2012 - Terri Pritchard

above stylist Terri (aka Hayley) Pritchard with her Trend Vision Model

A Shrewsbury hair stylist is ‘Well-a’ on the way to winning a top award.
Terri Pritchard, 21, who works at both the Shrewsbury Darwin Centre’s K2 Salon as well as the company’s second outlet in Newtown, is into the regional final of the Wella Trend Vision Awards.
And the former Shrewsbury Priory School pupil is now practicing hard ahead of the glittering regional final at Manchester’s Hilton Hotel on Wednesday, May 16.
Hayley, who started her hairdressing career as a 16-year-old Saturday girl at Pride Hill’s Cameo Salon which was also owned by K2, says she is delighted to have made the final.
She said: “It’s amazing, I found the qualifying heat nerve-wracking but good fun. I had to style my model’s hair for a photo-shoot and then send the pictures in.
“Only 20 stylists make the finals so to be chosen as a finalist is an honour in itself. On the day I will have to do my model’s hair before presenting the style to the judges and talk about what I have done.”
And this isn’t the first competition Hayley has entered after she was short-listed for Young Hair Dresser of the Year at Birmingham’s NEC Arena last year.
She said: “It was an amazing experience. I want to work hard and win a few competitions before perhaps having my own salon in the future.
“However, that’s a long time off. At the present time I really enjoy working for Phillip Minton at K2. We have such fantastic regular clients at both the Newtown and Darwin Centre salons.
“My customers are more like friends than clients, you really get to know people well and what they like. To be honest I am at home styling both men’s and women’s hair and enjoy the variety.”
Hayley says she also goes under the styling name of Terri to avoid confusion with the salon’s customers.
She said: “When I first came to K2 there was already a Hayley working as a stylist so to avoid confusion I took the name Terri. I call it my stylist name but I suppose I prefer Hayley.
“The problem is many of my regular clients got used to me as Terri so I suppose I am stuck with the name now!”
And as this is the sixth consecutive year the salon has reached the Wella Trend Vision Award regional finals and K2 owner Phillip Minton, who learned his craft in London’s Bond Street in the Swinging Sixties and last year celebrated 40 years in business, says he is thrilled.
He said: “It’s a brilliant achievement and one Hayley richly deserves. She has worked incredibly hard to reach the level she has since joining us as a 16-year-old Saturday girl.
“She has always wanted to learn and work hard at her craft and she is certainly incredibly popular with our regular customers.”
Kevin Lockwood, Manager of the Darwin, Pride Hill and Riverside Centres, said: “The K2 salon is always busy and always buzzing and still as cutting edge as it was back in the day.
“It’s also been a fantastic learning ground for young stylists and is an important part of the varied offer we have here in the Darwin Centre.”

Friends ready to take the plunge for brave Kim

Terri & George are currently raising funds for a skydive in July. All donations welcome :).

Friends ready to take the plunge for brave Kim

When a brave mum’s charity skydive was scuppered by a car crash two work colleagues stepped in to take the plunge.

Kim Allman had planned to throw herself from a plane in aid of Breast Cancer Awareness but two months ago she was seriously hurt in a car accident near her home in Baschurch, near Shrewsbury.

Kim, 50, Art Director at the K2 hair and beauty salon in Shrewsbury’s busy Darwin Shopping Centre, suffered a broken ankle, hip and kneecap and severe internal bruising in the crash two months ago.

She said: “I was driving home and there’s a bad bend in the road and it happened there.

“I still ache and I’ve only just been able to start physio so I couldn’t skydive which is a shame.

“My son, Joe Goddard, has done a lot for cancer research himself and I really wanted to do something different and this was my own adventure.”

She spent several days in the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and is still in pain from her injuries and isn’t able to skydive so her place is being taken by two of K2’s stylists, Hayley (Terri) Pritchard and Georgina Hughes.

Hayley, 21, said: “It was really important to Kim and when she wasn’t able to do it we decided to step in and it is such a worthy cause.

“My aunt has had breast cancer and come through it so it is important to me. Phillip Minton, the owner of K2, used to make wigs for her when she had had chemotherapy.

“Thankfully she is better now and her hair is back but that shows how vital it is to support the charity and we do a lot here for cancer charities.”

Kim has lost two friends to breast cancer and she said: “They were very good friends and one of them died 20 years ago when she was very young and the other was only last year.

“I’ve worked for Phillip Minton at K2 for 32 years now and we used to cut and style the wigs for people who had had cancer. It’s really important for their confidence to look good and I used to enjoy doing that for them.

“This was really important too and I’m just disappointed I can’t do it but so pleased that Hayley and Georgina are going to take my place.”

Hayley, from Copthorne, Shrewsbury, who works in K2’s Newtown salon, admitted: “I’m not really looking forward to it but it will be an experience and something I can say I’ve done.

“We do need to raise some money for the flight first so Georgina and I are going to be doing some charity hair-cuts at the Bull In The Barn in Shrewsbury.”

Georgina, also 21, of Castlefields, Shrewsbury, is certainly up for it: “I go skiing and up on the ski lift so I’m not bothered about heights,” she said.

“I’ve seen sky-diving on the telly and it looks really good fun and it’s something that’s got to be done so the sooner the better. I definitely want to do it.

“Cancer is an awful disease but you can survive it and by doing this we could even help change some people’s lives.”

Russell Hall, Operations Manager for Darwin, Pride Hill and Riverside Shopping Centre, said: “We hope Kim is soon fully recovered but it’s brilliant that Hayley and Georgina have taken her place and it’s brave of them too.

“It’s a fantastic charity because breast cancer is something that touches so many people’s lives and so many of the people who work here in the Shrewsbury Shopping Centres give their time and effort to raise money for cancer charities.”

Philip, Georgina, Terri & Lucie at Manchester Photoshoot

Philip, Terri, Georgina, Lucie & Models visit the Wella Studios in Manchester for a photo shoot with photographer Jim Crone.

Top salon praised for apprentice scheme

Top salon praised for apprentice scheme

A top Shropshire hair salon has been praised for its thriving apprenticeship scheme which has been running for over 40 years.

The K2 Salon in Shrewsbury’s busy Darw

in Centre has produced over 200 qualified hair stylists in that time and owner Philip Minton’s conveyor belt of talent shows no signs of running out.

K2 have been given a seal of approval by Wolverhampton College which works with the salon on their training programme for young stylists.

College lecturer Marion Towland said: “Our partnership with K2 works very well and the apprentices benefit from the programme and from the experience of working alongside high quality professionals.

“They get individual attention and K2 have their own team of assessors whom we also monitor. We have been working with them for seven years and it’s a good model of delivery and has been very successful.”

It has certainly worked well for Philip Minton, a Bond Street stylist in the London of the Swinging Sixties, who set up the business in 1971

Philip, 62, of Weston Lullingfields, who has a second salon in Newtown, reckosn he has trained over 200 stylists since then and while many salons have given up offering apprenticeships, he is still a firm believer in them.

He said: “From our point of view and most importantly from our customers’ point of view we need to know that our stylists will cut hair the way we want them to but we work with Vidal Sassoon’s artistic team to ensure the cutting is precise.

“We also have a very good partnership Wolverhampton College who come in every week – lots of people train hairdressers to pass the exams but we want them to learn to do the job and the College work that way as well.

“What is important is to get people who want to do hairdressing not just as a job but as a career because the demands are always changing as fashions and techniques change.

“I do remember the moment I wanted to be a hairdresser. I was watching TV and Vidal Sassoon came on one of these Saturday night programmes with two lovely girls on each arm and these two women just stood there and shook the beautiful bobs he had created for them.

“After I had finished my apprenticeship I went to a Bond Street company and they retrained me to do it their way. That’s what the major salons do and that’s what we do too.”

Lucy Sumner, 16, from Springfield, Shrewsbury, started her apprenticeship at K2 in September after working as a Saturday girl at the Darwin Centre salon and she said: “It’s going really well and I’ve learned so much since I’ve been here.

“Since I was young I’ve always wanted to be a hairdresser and it all just fell into place when I got a Saturday job here and they offered me an apprenticeship.”

Hannah Stead-Jones, 18, from Newtown, divides her time between the salon in her home town and the Darwin Centre and she said: “I was in sixth form and was thinking about university but that’s not a guaranteed job although it is a guaranteed debt.

“I’ve always been creative and felt I had a flair for hair and I decided to look for an apprenticeship because it’s a skill and career for life and K2 are the best.

“The course can take two years but if you want to work at it you can and I hope to be qualified this summer.

“We get one on one tuition and the support here at K2 and from the college is fantastic and the staff at K2 are really good so you learn so much from being around them.”

Kevin Lockwood, Manager of the Darwin, Pride Hill and Riverside Shopping Centres, said: “Phillip’s salon is always busy and always buzzing and still as cutting edge as it was back in the day.

“It’s a fantastic learning ground for young stylists and is an important part of the varied offer we have here in the Darwin Centre.”

Congratulations Jo

Congratulations to Jo on birth of Jasmine Alice, new addition to the team. :)

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.

Rolling Back the Years - Magazine Feature HJi

Hairdresser Philip Minton is celebrating the 40^th anniversary of his first salon by rolling his price list back to the 1970s. The Shropshire salon owner started his career on London’s Bond Street in the Swinging sixties, after being inspired by the work of Vidal Sassoon. At the age of 22, he opened his first salon, Cameo in Shrewsbury and now has a second salon K2, in Newtown, Powys.

After discovering an original price list from the early days of his business, Philip decided to celebrate his landmark anniversary by offering clients retro prices – with a restyle on offer for less that £5, or a shampoo and set for £1.50.

Philip 62, of Weston Lullingfields, says. “ Hairdressing is always changing and you cannot stand still on either business or creative side. It is so much more than just a job.”

Young Hairdresser of the Year 2011 Finalist - Terri Pritchard

After much deliberation by an esteemed panel of judges, 20 finalists have been announced for the Clothes Show Live Young Hairdresser of the Year, sponsored by HJi and held in association with Your Hair.

Now in its fifth year, the nationwide competition aims to recognise up-and-coming British talent in the hairdressing industry.

The finalists will now take part in a live final at the Clothes Show Live at the NEC Birmingham on 4 December, where they will be given 45 minutes to recreate their look on stage in front of an audience and panel of industry experts.

The Young Hairdresser of the Year 2011 finalists are:

http://www.hji.co.uk/blogs/2011/11/young-hairdresser-of-the-year-9.html

http://www.hji.co.uk/blogs/2011/11/young-hairdresser-of-the-year-9.html

BBC Radio Shropshire : Raising Money for Local Cancer Charity

Anna Clinton talks to Adam and Vicky (BBC Radio Shropshire) about raising money for Lingen Davies Cancer Fund at the Shrewsbury Flower Show August 12th and 13th 2011

BBC Breakfast Radio Clip

Philip Minton, Kim Allman and Lou talk about the benefits of in salon training to BBC Radio Shropshire Breakfast Show with Eric Smith and Clare Ashford.

Shrewsbury Flower Show

Top stylists from a leading salon will be cutting hair in a good cause at the Shrewsbury Flower Show this weekend.

Anna Clinton and Georgina Hughes, of the K2 salon in Shrewsbury’s Darwin Shopping Centre, will be at the Show on Friday and Saturday cutting hair in aid of the Lingen Davies Cancer Charity Appeal – and for Anna it’s personal.

The 29-year-old lost her grandmother, popular former pub landlady Joan Clinton, to cancer this year and Anna said: “I really miss my nanna so it will be special to raise money for the charity.

“We did it last year at the show and we raised over £650 in the two days. Georgina and I must have been cutting 30 people’s hair a day – out hands were almost dropping off at the end.

“We had them queuing up and a couple of times we had to ask people to come back later because we were so busy and there were so many waiting but it’s such a good cause.”

The two stylists will set up in the Shrewsbury Shopping Marquee at the Shrewsbury Flower Show where the K2 salon has a stand and although they won’t charge for their services they will ask for a donation to the charity.

Nicholas Pitt, Centre Director of the Darwin, Pride Hill and Riverside Shopping Centres and one of the show’s main sponsors, said: “Anna and Georgina were at the marquee last year and they did a brilliant job.

“The Lingen Davies Appeal is a really important local charity which has done so much to help cancer patients from Shropshire and Mid Wales and it is especially significant for Anna as she lost her grandmother to cancer this year.

“Their efforts proved very popular last year and I’m sure they will again because Anna and Georgina are very talented and it’s a great opportunity to have your hair styled by two of the very best local hairdressers.”

Anna, from Greenfield Gardens, Shrewsbury, added: “My nana used to own the Springfield pub in the town and was very well known but a number of the staff jere at K2 have also had family and friends affected by cancer and that’s why we’re keen to do something to raise money for the appeal.

“We give them goodie bags and they can come along and have their hair cut and styled and all just for a donation to the appeal.”

Anna has appeared on the Clothes Show and was a finalist in the Young Hairdresser of the Year in Birmingham three years in a row while Georgina is just back from a course in advanced colouring and cutting techniques at the Sassoon Academy in London.

Georgina said: “It was mad last year, it was well busy and everyone was watching but it was fuin as well.

“We were so shocked by how many people came and the tent just got so full.

“We both did about 30 cuts each day which takes some doing.”

The Lingen Davies Cancer Relief Fund has recently reached its target of £3.2 million to build a new Cancer Treatment Centre at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and work is starting this month. The appeal’s fund-raising efforts are continuing to equip and run the new centre which is expected to be completed by autumn 2012.

Shrewsbury Shopping are a major sponsor of the Flower Show and their marquee will also feature stands from AT Computers and Currys Digital from the Darwin Centre as well as La Senza.

The Shrewsbury Flower Show – this year is the 124th – is the longest running horticultural show in the world and this year will also feature celebrity chef Gino D’Acampo and BBC gardening guru Chris Beardshaw.

There will also be a host of national and local exhibitors as well as entertainment from the Royal Artillery Motorcycle Display Team and medieval jousters The Knights of the Damned.

For more information visit www.shrewsburyflowershow.org.

Back to the 70s at salon to celebrate anniversary

Publish Post

Prices rolled back to celebrate anniversary

A Shropshire hairdresser has found a fun way to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of his first salon – a return to 1970s prices.

Philip Minton, a Bond Street stylist in the swinging 60s and owner of K2 hair salon in the Darwin Shopping Centre, Shrewsbury, is giving his tariffs a quick trim on special offer days to roll back the years.

He has found original price list frm the opening of Cameo, in the towns castle street, back in Decmeber 1971, when Ted Heath was Prime Minister, Sir Alf Ramsey was manager of England and Bennie Hills Ernie, the fastest Milkman in the west was number one in the charts.

Customers who visit his website and sign up could find they are entitled to a restyle at 1970’s prices,

Mr Minton, 62, of Weston Lullingfields, who also has a salon in Newtown, said he wanted to share the anniversary with his loyal customers. His career started when he was only 15 and was inspired by Vidal Sassoon, the inventor of the bob.

He said: “I do remember the moment I wantedto be a hairdresser. I was watching TV and Vidal Sassoon came on one of those Saturday night programmes with two lovely girls on each arm and these women just stood there and shook the beautiful bobs he had created for them.”

Mr Minton who is married with three children, said: “when we opened our second salon in Newtown 12 years ago, Elaine Nations, Vidal Sassoons first wife, decided to come in and give us a try because she was interested I think to support the new local salon.”

K2 is a Sassoon partner salon which means staff have day- long work experience with some of sassoons top stylists.

By Carl Jones

Shropshire Star

A hair–raising offer for salon’s anniversary

A hair – raising offer for salon’s anniversary

A shrewbsury hairdresser at the top of his profession has found a unique way to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of opening his first salon

Philip Minton, a Bond Street stylist in the swinging sixties and owner of K2 hair Salon in the Darwin Shopping Centre, is giving his prices a quick trim on special offer days to roll back the years to the 70s.

He has found an orginal price list from the days when he opened his first salon, Cameo, on the towns castle street back in Dcember 1971 – back in the days when Ted heath was Prime Minister , Sir Alf Ramsey was manager of England and Bennie Hills “Ernie, The Fastest Milkman in the west was keeping T Rexs “Jeepster off the number one spot in the charts.

Customer who visit his website and sign up could find they are entitled to a restyle and blowdry for under £5 or a shampoo and set for £1.50.

Philip, 62, of Weston Lullingfields who has a second salon in Newtown said he wanted to share the special anniversary with his loyal customer and think back over his career which started when he was only 15 and was inspired by Vidal Sassoon, the inventor of the bob.

He said: “ Ido remember the moment I wanted to be a hairdresser. I was watching TV andsassoon came on one of these Saturday night programmes with two lovely girls on each arm and these two women just stood there and shook the beautiful bobs he had for them.

“I just loved the way he was selling himself and his company and i thought to myself, I would like to do that.”

By te=he age of 22, Philip, who is married with three children, was opening his first salon and four years later he was in the Christmas edition of Vogue magazine.

But little did he know that the former wife of the man who inspired him to get into hairdressing would later become a customer.

He said: “ when we opened our salon in Newtown 12 years ago, Elaine Nations, vidal sassoons first wife came in to support the salon.”

“she is a nice lady and we have had some fascinating conversations with her over the years....

K2 Stylist is finalist of Avant Garde Competition.

STYLIST Casey Reynolds, of K2 The Salon, Bear Lanes, Newtown, with her model when she reached the finals of a huge regional hairdressing competition in Wolverhampton this month.

The competition was judged by the renowned celebrity hairdresser Patrick Cameron. Casey competed with many other hairdressers from all over the midlands. She had to style and present her model to Patrick and the other judges with a mood board, ready for the catwalk later in the evening! Casey really enjoyed showing her hairdressing skills off to a different audience and being able to style the hair in a more advent – garde fashion for the catwalk competition

Terri & George at the "Advanced Sassoon Colouring and Cutting" course

Senior Stylists Terri & George post their mobile snaps of the Advanced Sassoon Colouring and cutting course and seminar in London they attended on Sunday July 31st 2011

We are currently recruiting...

We are looking for a hair stylist with at least 5 years salon experience. Must have a passion & flair for hair fashion; motivated & committed to their work.

Shrewsbury, Shropshire, Midlands / Newtown, Powys, Mid Wales

careers@k2thesalon.co.uk

01743 363 492

Prices cut for the 1970s flash back

"Staff at K2 the Salon in Shrewsbury turned back the clocks last week to celebrate 40 years in business, while raising money for our Lingen Davies appeal.

As part of the celebrations staff donned 1970s gear and changed 1970s prices for hair treatments. These include a cut and blow dry for £2.50.

Pictured are Jo Stephens, Kim Allman and Amy Owen "

The K2 team do a Reverse Bungee for chairty

WELL DONE to Stacey and Shani (pictured below) for recently doing a reverse bungee and in the process helping raise money for Lingen Davies Cancer Relief