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Competitive Edge – Why competitions are career boosters
Summer 2021 / Competitions competitive edge Why entering competitions is great for your career.
Here at Concept Hair Magazine, we are all about inspiring and motivating the next generation of hairdressing talent — and we believe that competitions are a great way to do this.
We offer three competitions aimed at all levels of trainee hairdresser, from those just dipping their toes in the water at school, to fully-fledged apprentices.
STYLING HAIR UP BARBERING COLOURING AVANT-GARDE
“Competitions are great because they give you a creative outlet early on in your career. They help you to learn what works and what doesn’t, and to see hair as part of a whole look. This gives you a good base to start refining your work and seeing what you really love and then what you don’t like too. Competitions also give you a great platform to meet others within the industry, from your peers who you compete with to the judges at the top of the industry.” "For me, entering competitions has always been a great way to express myself, to show off creativity and to have fun with more extreme looks. However, entering competitions is a great way to educate and evaluate your own skillset. The skills you pick up on the way, whether you win or not, are invaluable to becoming a successful hairdresser. Winning is just a bonus as long as you are learning along the way.”
Jake Unger, head of education, HOB Academy
SCHOOL
spotlight award
This is a brand-new competition for Concept Hair, launched in collaboration with Choose Hair. Like Concept Hair, Choose Hair is an initiative with the mission to show those in education why hairdressing is such a wonderful career to embark on.
The competition is open to all schoolage learners and it's completely free to enter with some fabulous prizes up for grabs. Plus, there’s the prestige of winning a UK competition for both student and school.
This theme for this year’s competition was Prom Hair, and students went above and beyond to impress us and the judging panel with their creative prowess.
This year’s School Spotlight Award is now closed for entries — we’ll be announcing the winners on Instagram on 24 May — but don’t despair if you missed it, we’ll be launching the 2022 Award very soon!
You can read more about this year’s event on our website.
www.concepthairmag.co.uk/ events/#school-spotlight-award
LEARNER OF THE YEAR2021
You can read all about this year’s Learner of the Year competition on pages 8-13, but to sum it up in a few words — Learner of the Year is the ultimate competition for apprentices and FE hairdressing students to showcase their talents and start creating a name for themselves at the very start of their careers.
Because of the Covid situation, this year’s competition was based purely on photographic entries with two rounds of judging whittling the initial 1000plus entries down to 150, and then to 48 finalists.
Turn to page 8 to get the full lowdown on this year’s finalists, winners and the virtual grand final, which took place on 26 April. Every month we offer great prizes to a student hairdresser who impresses us and our expert judges with a look they have created.
The award, which is open to fulltime learners and apprentices, aims to celebrate the amazing work that up-and-coming talent in the industry is producing.
There is a prize, usually worth £100 or more, for the winning hairdresser or barber each month.
Entering couldn’t be easier. Between the 1st and 20th of the month tag us in a new photo of your best work on Instagram – tag @concepthairmag and use #ConceptHairLOTM .
Our expert judging panel will choose their favourite entries and rank them in order.
We will share the top entries on the @concepthairmag Instagram to allow our followers to vote. Public votes will be combined with the judges’ rankings and the winner will be announced!
We can’t wait to see your work – why not start sharing now!
“It’s the ultimate competition for apprentices and FE students” LEARNER OF THE MONTH
“Competition work for young hairstylists is so important as it not only develops your skills, but also puts you out there amongst many iconic and already established hairdressers. Winning Newcomer of the Year at the British Hairdressing Awards has definitely helped my confidence and influenced the development of my own style within hairdressing.”
Kate Drury, Mode Hair, Chipping Campden, British Hairdressing Awards 2020, Newcomer of the Year
“Entering competitions is exciting - it sets you a deadline and a goal for a creative outlet. Not only can you express yourself and learn new skills along the way, it pushes your creative boundaries while developing your eye or attention to detail and motivates you to do your best work to represent yourself and your salon.”
