Amidst a fog of hairspray and the flick of 39 combs, Wairarapa and Whanganui UCOL Hairdressing students will vie for honours in the annual History of Hair competition to be held at the Masterton campus on Wednesday.
Cradling their pre-styled hair mannequins, twenty five students will travel from
Whanganui to join 14 students from
Wairarapa where they will compete for prizes in two categories.
Second year students studying for the New Zealand Certificate in Hairdressing (Emerging Stylist) Level 4 will contest in a Hair-Up Nightwear competition.
As part of their programme, the New Zealand Certificate in Hairdressing (Salon Support) Level 3 students are required to research a culture or era of their choice, produce a portfolio, and depict it in a hair style. The History of Hair competition always delivers a diverse range of styles and eras, through the decades and from across the world.
Wairarapa Hairdressing student Tabitha Ayre has chosen the 1920’s as her era. “It is a Gatsby look with plenty of finger waves,” she says. “It is quite technical but I like a challenge.”
Speaking of challenges, Tabitha says she spent several hours of her own time at home working on her research portfolio – not easy when you have two children under four years.
The 27 year old says she put herself ‘on hold’ to have a family but now it is her time to pursue a career in hairdressing. “I’ve always had an interest in hair. I’m enjoying the programme so much, I’d love to continue on to second year.”
Tabitha says she feels quietly confident about the competition and says being critiqued by the judges is pretty similar to being closely supervised in class.
On competition day, before judging takes place, the students will have ten minutes to tweak the style they have spent many hours creating and perfecting on their mannequins.
The competition is judged by local senior stylists and prizes will be awarded for the top three in each category and the best research portfolio.
Held from 11.30am to 1.00pm in the campus HUB, organizer and Hairdressing Programme Leader Mel Lange says it is the first time the inter-campus competition has been held in Masterton and she is expecting plenty of interest from onlookers and supporters.
When: Wednesday 20 September from 11:30am – 1:00pm
Where: Wairarapa Campus Hub, UCOL, Masterton