Charlotte Musson of Beau Hair Creations has won third place in the East Midlands for Best New Talent at the Hair & Beauty Awards!
Charlotte has been studying with SMB College Group since September 2021 and has just finished her final assessments and exams for Level 3 Hairdressing.
We sat down with Charlotte to talk about her career, her experience at the College, her exciting win and her plans for the future.
Why did you choose hairdressing as a career path?
I have always enjoyed playing with hair and being creative, so choosing to take up hairdressing seemed to be the obvious choice. It took some years for me to realise it, but having started out in bridal hair and hair extensions 5 years ago, it made sense to go full swing and study full hairdressing.
As a mature student it would be great to know a bit more about why you chose to re-train and come back to college?
I studied media make-up and hair in my late teenage years, but with circumstances at the time, I didn’t complete my course. I did however keep my kit and make use of it in the years after I left the course, and loved trying out creative styles on my friends and family.
By the time I turned 21, I secured myself an apprenticeship in social media and marketing for business, and have continued to work in the digital industry since. However, I began to miss my creative and hands-on side so I decided to dive back into hair, starting out with bridal styling, and then moving into the world of hair extensions.
Roll on 2021, I wanted to take things further with hair and learn about cutting and colouring. This is when I came across SMB College Group’s Stephenson Campus, which offered a hairdressing course 2 evenings a week - this was my perfect opportunity to learn hairdressing whilst still being able to work and study around my family.
How have you found your experience of the college and the course so far?
I have loved my experience of hairdressing at Stephenson Campus. In both my level 2 and level 3, the atmosphere has always been good and my tutors across both years have been brilliant! With their knowledge and support, I have been able to learn and become confident in hairdressing.
What was your experience of entering the Hair & Beauty awards and winning?
I have never entered a hair competition before, but having been proud of the work I had been producing at college, I decided to go for it and enter the Hair and Beauty Awards UK. I had to submit 3 pieces of work which I had created, one that was a challenge, one I loved creating, and one I was proud of. All of my submissions were hair creations I had done at college.
I then found out I had made it as a finalist! This alone was a proud moment considering it was the first competition I had entered.
My work was then sent to a panel of judges across the UK for them to decide if I would make the final stages of the competition. A week before the event, I received an email to say I had reached the final 10 in my district!
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend the live event itself, but I did however have a friend who was there and keeping me updated of the live results. As the night went on, I thought my chances to win had come to an end, until I suddenly got a text saying ‘Your name has come up!! You came 3rd!’
I couldn’t believe it until she sent me the photo - Third Place in the East Midlands for Best New Talent ‘Charlotte Musson’. I couldn’t believe it! I was smiling like a Cheshire Cat.
What are your hopes for the future?
I now have my own little home salon room and have already started to build a great client base. Hopefully this will continue to grow and my little business, ‘Beau Hair Creations’, will become bigger and better in the future as I continue to learn more and more about the trends and techniques used within the industry.
Charlotte’s Leicestershire-based hairdressing salon, Beau Hair Creations, specialises in hair extensions, hair styling and cuts and colouring services. You can check her out at https://beauhaircreations.co.uk!
There’s still time to apply for Hairdressing at SMB College Group this September! Visit the college website to register for a Stephenson Campus Open Day or to make your application today! https://www.smbcollegegroup.ac.uk/