The Fellowship took its annual Fellowship Awards to an outside studio last month with a handful of socially distanced guests for a night of fun and celebration.

Fellowship president Ken Picton and chancellor Ashleigh Hodges hosted the evening. Ken said: “We all know this has been a diffi cult year for our industry. From salon owners and our staff to session stylists, the list goes on. But we’ve stayed strong as a community and come together more than ever. Out of diffi cult situations come fresh perspectives, new ideas and most importantly, creativity – which is exactly what we’re celebrating tonight.” 

The 2020 Fellow with Honours was presented to Cos Sakkas, Karoliina Saunders, Clive Silver and Anne Veck. The Fellow with Distinction was presented to Jo Martin. The Step Up and Shine Scholarship was given to Anita Patkos (Farah Naz Hairdressing) and the Sassoon Scholarship was given to Kim Nicole Jones. Kay Binnersley was named the Fellowship Member of the Year.

THE 2020 FELLOWSHIP AWARD WINNERS:

SNAPSHOT IMAGE OF THE YEAR 
Nestor Sanchez, HOB Academy

LOCKDOWN LOOK 
Sylvestre Finold, Metropolis Hairdressing

MEN’S IMAGE OF THE YEAR 
Robert Masciave, Metropolis Hairdressing

COLOUR IMAGE OF THE YEAR 
Francesco Fontana, TONI&GUY

FELLOWSHIP IMAGE OF THE YEAR 
Errol Douglas MBE

INDIVIDUAL SALON OF THE YEAR 
Melissa Salons

GROUP SALON OF THE YEAR 
TONI&GUY

PRESIDENT’S AWARD 
National Hair and Beauty Federation (NHBF)

FELLOWSHIP HAIRDRESSER OF THE YEAR
Hooker & Young

Pantone has revealed Illuminating Yellow and Ultimate Gray are set to be the top colour picks for 2021. We spoke to some hairdressers to find out their thoughts on how these two new Pantone Colors of the Year will translate behind the chair...

“Now we can officially say yellow is a good thing!”
Karen Perry, Room 97 Creative 

“It’s great to see such a vibrant colour chosen as the shade for 2021.”
Dan Spiller, JOICO colour ambassador for the UK, Europe and Ireland 

“More clients are embracing natural grey and we must make it look expensive!”
Martin Crean, MODE Hair 

“I’m already a fan as I’ve been wearing Canary Yellow for seven years!”
Sophia Hilton, Crazy Color ambassador and Not Another Salon owner 

Hairstylist Dionne Smith has launched Ebony, a new Afro doll head with 4A hair to help hairdressers train and build on their Afro hair skills.

“With the natural hair movement continuing to grow, so many of our clients are embracing their natural hair texture. I wanted to make life easier for those who are in the early stages of their hairdressing journey to practise with Afro hair,” she said.

The Kao Salon Virtual Experience was available on-demand for HJ’s readers until 4 January. The event featured stunning live shows from global ambassadors such as Shane Bennett (pictured), M&P, Mario Krankl, Hare & Bone, J7 and Icono. Plus, the Gala show presented the world premiere of the Goldwell 2021 Couture Collection and included Angelo Seminara’s Goldwell Collection – Glance.

“The response from the Kao Salon Virtual Experience event was so overwhelmingly positive and we had so many requests to re-watch it that we decided to make it available to the Kao Salon Family and HJ’s readers! Our goal is to bring inspiration to stylists globally and to show that creativity never stops,” explained John Moroney, vice president creative & communication – Kao Salon Global.

VTCT and iTEC have appointed a new chair and vice-chair for their board of trustees. The new chair is Jenny Sworder, who was the previous vice-chair and has served seven years as a trustee on the board. The new vice-chair is Isabel Sutcliffe, who has been on the board since February 2016.

Jenny has been actively involved in the beauty and retail industry for over 20 years, most recently as a board director and managing director at a number of Fenwick stores. She has also served in a voluntary capacity as chair of the Fragrance Foundation UK, and deputy chair of Cosmetics Executive Women UK. 

She takes over from Professor Dr Chris Laws. Chris, who is an honorary life vice-president of the European Union of Physical Education and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Royal Society of Medicine, is retiring after 10 years voluntary service as a VTCT trustee and chair.

The digital Davines World Wide Hair Tour (WWHT) in the cloud brought together the global hair community. Regeneration was the main theme of the event and the brand announced it would continue with this theme for its next event, which will be held in Lisbon later this year.

The World Wide Hair Tour has always given the industry the opportunity to meet creative global hairdressers, exchange trends, ideas and projects within the framework of an event dedicated to hairdressing. In this digital edition, Davines‘ master hairstylists presented to a live audience and exchanged messages of strength and encouragement. It was also a chance to preview the shows that will take place in Lisbon.

The regeneration theme was carried out by all the hairstylists, each bringing their own personal interpretation of how it can be used to promote positivity to clients and professional hairdressers over the coming months.

An expert panel shared their advice for salons reopening after the second lockdown at Wella Professionals’ virtual Business Network Live event.

The panel included Jackie Lang (Regis & Supercuts managing director), Sophie Laidlaw & Liam Wickham (Wonderland, Scotland), Lara Johnson and Dom Capel (Lara Johnson Lifestyle, Wales) and Patrick Gildea (Patrick Gildea, Ireland). They shared advice on motivating teams, staff retention and retailing successfully as we head into 2021.