On Monday 26th October students from West College Scotland’s Paisley campus competed at the Glynhill Hotel, Renfrew, and three of our students came away with medals. The National Hairdressers' Federation is the UK’s largest trade association for hairdressing, barbering and beauty salon owners. Their Pride of Scotland championships are run by each region, but open across the UK, with Paisley students facing competitors from Belfast to Burnley.
Kieran Boswell is a Modern Apprentice with the College, and Elements Salon in Largs. Carol McNess completed a level 2 NC this year, and has successfully found employment with Hairline Salon in Johnstone. Both competed in the Ladies Mannequin Freestyle category, with Carol winning Bronze, and Kieran winning Silver.
Kieran said “the competition was great, but as soon as we got ready to compete it was tense! It was hard-work from then on but it paid off."
"It was great to win Silver - everyone back at the Salon was mega-chuffed!”
Carol’s employers were really happy with her performance, and with the good publicity.
“My boss was really pleased, it went straight on Facebook - it’s a great thing to have on my CV, and to tell customers. This was my first competition, and it was a bit scary, but it must have gone well!”
Also competing was HNC Fashion Make-Up student Katarzyna Grzeszczuk, who studies at Paisley after gaining an NQ in Media Make-Up at our Greenock campus. Kat competed in the Fantasy Total Look category, winning silver.
Kat and her winning entry (Courtesy of DMC Photographs)
This is one of a range of events held across the UK by the NHF, but according to President Paul Curry, the standard at this competition was “breath-taking”.
“This year’s ‘Pride of Scotland’ Open & National Championships has been an intense, passionate demonstration of the skills and artistry of Scottish hairdressing and barbering. My heartfelt congratulations to all this year’s winners – the standard was breath-taking, and showcases the sheer depth of talent within Scottish hairdressing. Well done to everyone.”
The College is very proud of the hard work of all its students, and this is just one of the many successes of the department. This external recognition shows the quality of our teaching, and the real talent of our students.