A Colourful Triumph For Yorkshire Hair Salon

Leading Yorkshire salon group West Row Hairdressing is today celebrating their team’s triumphant win at last night’s Northern Regional Finals of the L’Oreal Colour Trophy, putting them one step closer to winning the prestigious Award and a once-in-a-lifetime prize that could see them jetting over to New York to produce a photo spread for fashion bible Vogue.

22-year-old Nicola Hulatt and team mate Gemma Merton, from West Row Wetherby, qualified for the regional heat after submitting the above image of gorgeous copper curls with heavy fringe (cut by Nicola, colour by Gemma). Last night saw them present a total look on their model, who then took to the catwalk in front of over 300 people for judging.

The Colour Trophy is hugely competitive with an incredibly high standard of entrants, and the girls were thrilled to make it to the Grand Final. “Everyone was absolutely gobsmacked,” says Nicola of the salon’s winning moment. “Many of our other salons had come down to support us, so a great roar went up from the crowd as our number was announced. Even standing on stage it was hard to believe. To have an opportunity to compete at an event as prestigious as the Grand Final is amazing – we feel proud to have made it so far.”

Nicola has enjoyed competition success before and was crowned Northen Regional Winner of Wella’s Trend Vision heats in 2006, going on to compete in the UK finals. She’s an active member of West Row’s own art team, and is also a L’Oreal id artist – L’Oreal’s hugely prestigious art team comprising the crème de la crème of the UK’s young talent.

The teams had just thirty minutes to create a winning look under the brief ‘hair inspired by fashion’. Using the Autumn/Winter 07 catwalk collections as a starting point, they had to demonstrate an acute understanding of hair and fashion trends.

Nicola and Gemma explain the thinking behind their striking image: “We started by scouting for inspiration at London Fashion Week and surfing catwalking.com. We were struck by the smart tailoring associated with the ‘boy-meets-girl’ trend, particularly high-waisted wide trousers. Inspired by the clothes, we gave our model a boyish crop but retained femininity with autumnal colouring and flowing movement throughout the hair.”

The star-studded Colour Trophy Grand Final takes place at Earl’s Court 2, London on Monday, May 21, hosted by a celebrity TV personality (name currently under wraps) and judged by a panel of the hairdressing industry elite.

West Row Hairdressing currently has salons in the following locations:

West Row West Park, 253 Otley Road, West Park, Leeds
West Row Leeds, 4-6 Thornton’s Arcade, Leeds
West Row Leeds, 18 Thornton’s Arcade, Leeds
West Row Wetherby, 28a Market Place, Wetherby
West Row Ilkley, 3 Station Road, Ilkley
West Row Harrogate, 81 Station Parade, Harrogate
West Row York, 31 High Petergate, York

For more information, visit Westrow-hair.com.