New Business Adventure

New Year... New Look...

www.melissa-salons.com

My beautiful client in my new Salon

People promise to make a change for the new year,  well 2017 is a year of new adventures for me! I have taken a massive leap of faith and started my own business in Manchester's thriving Northern Quarter. 

There are already lots of stories to share which I will cover in my future blogs, but for now take a sneak peak at my new website made by my fab friend Jeanette from Ascensor.

We've had fun creating it together and I really hope you can see how much work has gone into the website. 

Any comments from my friends and family are most welcome, I really appreciate any feedback.

My new blogs will now be about the highs and lows of running a business and how to get through it alive!

www.melissa-salons.com

Instagram: @melissasalons

Facebook: @melissaTsalons

Twitter: @melissasalons

The End and New Beginnings

Our year as F.A.M.E. Team 16 has come to an end and I am now starting an exciting new adventure - find out more below...

We ended our year with a beautiful dinner at the Dorchester Hotel and of course an after party!

The F.A.M.E. Team has been the best year of my life.  A year of opportunities and inspiration by our industry greats.  It has been a once in a life time opportunity to gain experience and knowledge which I know will help my future career. 

I feel so lucky and privileged to have become such good friends with Rosie, Jamie, Zoe and Antony, we've supported each other throughout the year and I know we will carry on supporting each other in our next adventures. 

Speaking of next adventures, I have some exciting news... I have resigned from Sassoon and will be taking on a new challenge of running my own salon in Manchester's Northern Quarter.  I am so excited to see where this can take me and I can't wait to share it with all of my friends and family.

F.A.M.E. Team Final Workshop and British Hairdressing Awards

Well we have had our final F.A.M.E. Team 16 day... I feel emotional but we don't officially give up our title until the 5th December. Definitely milking it until the last day!


Our final day was with Akin Konizi at the Hob Academy.  I was really excited to have a 'cutting' workshop day- it's always interesting to see how other companies work and educate their own cutting techniques.  Akin has won many hairdressing awards so it was a great experience to meet the man himself.

The big event of the month was a trip to the glamorous Grosvenor Hotel for the British Hairdressing Awards otherwise known as the 'Oscars of Hairdressing'. I have never been before and was absolutely blown away by the whole event. Myself and my friend (also my genius photographer) Sarah Brown were finalists for Newcomer of the Year category and although we didn't win the title we had a great evening and enjoyed every second.

Congratulations to all the winners! The collections were very inspiring and we can't wait to start shooting for our next year's entry.

I will be doing one final F.A.M.E. Team blog post after the 5th December to show our final pictures as a team so please keep supporting me in reading my blog.

Our Newcomer of the Year Collection.

Just a final thank you to everyone who has helped make this possible.
PHOTOGRAPHER Sarah Brown
MUA Sophie King and Yasmin Schwitzer
DESIGNER Melissa Obika
STYLIST Lara McGrath and Sara Peacock
and the fantastic models - Lara McGrath, Isabel Hibbert, Gracie Lockheart, Chloe Bell, Sydney Lawson and Sarah Bramley.
Thank you to Balmain Hair for the beautiful hair extensions.

F.A.M.E. Team 16 at Salon International

October was a very busy month for us hairdressers!

The biggest hairdressing event of the year takes place on the 15th, 16th and 17th October at Excel in London.  Salon International is where hairdressers' showcase their salon, new collections and education on stage to a packed audience.  The best of the best hairdressers and product brands are there to show what they can do.

Stage shot of the four of us

Our FANTASTIC models!

 We had an action packed schedule as F.A.M.E. Team 16 did 6 shows in total! (which didn't come without a lot of preparation and practice prior to the event).  Our show consisted of 7 fantastic models where one particular model Lara McGrath was our muse and morphed into different looks live on stage using wigs made from Balmain hair.

Lara wearing the wig made with Balmain Hair

Backstage Prep on the beautiful Isabel

We had great responses from the audience that our shows were a success.  It was an emotional weekend as that was the last time the four of us will appear together onstage as part of F.A.M.E. Team 16. A huge thanks to all of the models for being there supporting us in our final show. Especially Lara, Martha and Isabel who were my beautiful models. 

Our models rocking the show

Lara, Isabel and Martha I can't thank you enough!

Whilst at Salon International the finals for the next F.A.M.E. Team took place.  We watched in the audience remembering how we all felt when that was us this time last year! The finalists get announced when we hand over on the 5th December at the Fellowship Luncheon.  Massive good luck to all of the finalists, it will be the best year of your life!

It is almost coming to a close my time on the F.A.M.E. Team, we have couple more dates left for November but that's it! This year has seriously flown by...

F.A.M.E. Team 16 September

F.A.M.E. Team Blog September

What a year we have had so far as part of F.A.M.E. Team 16! I can't believe it will soon be drawing to a close in December. It has been a life changing year for me and I still have a few months to take in everything I can and learn from the best in our industry.

F.A.M.E. Team 16 at Salon North

Since arriving back from our International show in South Africa (see previous blog) our feet haven't touched the floor in preparation for our big show in Manchester - Salon North. We also had the opportunity to attend a glamorous dinner at the Guildhall for Creative Head Magazine Awards where myself and Rosie Binns were up for an award called IT GIRL.  The rest of the F.A.M.E. Team had come to support us and although we didn't win we had a brilliant night just being in and amongst the hair legends.

We were representing the Fellowship at Salon North and we presented six models inspired by our collection Curvette and the soon to be released Elysium.  Our models' hair was a mixture of precision haircuts and editorial hair - ups. I really enjoyed having a show in Manchester and showing the rest of the F.A.M.E. Team what up North is all about.

We have one final big show in October called Salon International and then that will be almost it for F.A.M.E. Team 16.  The Finals for next year's team take place at Salon International  - Good Luck to the 8 finalists we know how you must be feeling and we will be there cheering you on.

A huge thank you to Yasmin Schwitzer for the fantastic makeup at Salon North and for putting up with the crazy team!

We are practicing for our final show in October at Salon International so we will keep you updated with our progress. Thank you for your support and for reading my blog.

F.A.M.E. Team 16 Blog August

August has been a whirlwind of excitement and preparation for F.A.M.E. Team’s big international show Salon Africa in Johannesburg.  After not sleeping at all on the 11 hour flight we landed safely and were taken for a delicious breakfast by Commercial Director at Professional Beauty - Phil Woods.  Our first day consisted of a successful model call followed by a relaxing afternoon by the pool.  Although we did look eager sunbathing in bikinis when it is the South African winter!

Once the models had been chosen we got to work on our different hair looks totalling 10 models per show.  Jamie and Rosie showed off their skill of dressing hair on stage and Zoe and I did 2 dramatic haircuts.  Balmain had very generously provided us with the most fantastic hair pieces which matched the models hair perfectly and were used in the dressing models to enhance the looks.  We were on stage for an hour – which I was really nervous about as it is the longest I have ever been on stage for.

The shows were a great success and we were proud of our models and what we had achieved as a team.  We were really looked after during our stay in Johannesburg and each night we were taken out for dinner.  The food was literally incredible (not to mention the wine).  One night we were privileged to be invited to the South African beauty awards with Mark Maloney.  We had such a great night especially after Jamie got everyone on the dancefloor!

After our final show we flew straight to Cape Town which was perfect to have some down time with the team. Camps bay was absolutely beautiful however the sea was very cold; Antony and Jamie were the only ones brave enough to run in.  I really feel so lucky to have got to spend the whole experience with this bunch of talented, crazy people.  This wouldn’t be possible without the Fellowship, our generous hosts Mark Maloney and Phil Woods and Antony Licata for putting up with us for a whole week!

F.A.M.E. Team Blog - July

F.A.M.E. Team Blog - July

We are over half way now on our incredible F.A.M.E. Team Journey. Each mentor day has been something totally different, and I have learned so many useful inside tricks and skills.  The mentors that we have had are the Best of the Best and I am truly grateful to be part of such an inspiring journey. 

Our first workshop at the beginning of July was a day I had been really looking forward to.  It was with Patrick Cameron who is the king of 'Long Hair Dressings'.  I have actually paid on several occasions to watch him on stage, so for me to have one to one tuition with him was priceless.  Patrick taught us some really interesting techniques and made everything look so easy! My sisters are going to be my Guinea Pigs to practice these new skills out.

My looks from Patrick Cameron workshop

Our final F.A.M.E. Team day in July was a shoot that we had been preparing for with photographer Kai Wan. I absolutely love being on set and working in the buzz of a shoot and this one exceeded all expectations.  Maddie Austin, a highly accomplished makeup artist, brought the shoot to life with metallic makeup dripped over the models' body.  I can't share too much about the shoot but keep a look out for it in the magazines! 

My gorgeous model Lara McGrath

Team Shot

July has also been a very exciting month for me as I am a finalist for 'The British Hairdressing Awards - Newcomer of the Year' I had such a fantastic team behind me - with special thanks to Sarah Brown, Sophie King, Melissa Obika and my incredible models Lara Mcgrath, Isabel Hibbert, Chloe Bell, Brogan Harker and Sarah Bramley.  Thank you for believing in me and supporting me. 

On a personal note, July has also been a month to remember for me as I am now ENGAGED to my boyfriend and best friend James! It happened in the Grand Canyon on a once in a lifetime holiday. It still feels like a dream and I am still floating on air..

August has got a lot to live up to, but with our F.A.M.E. Team trip to South Africa I'm sure it won't disappoint.