22/05/11
Family affair as Rhondda hairdresser vies to take on the world
Charlotte Button, 20, from Llantrisant, beat off 26 competitors from 12 colleges across the UK to be awarded first place at a prestigious WorldSkills UK heat held at Bridgend College. She is now hoping to take part in the UK final in a bid to go through to the international 2013 WorldSkills competition in Leipzig, Germany; an event which would see over 1,000 of the most skilled young workers from more than 50 countries battle it out over four days, before an audience of 150,000 people.
Charlotte, who comes from a long line of hairdressing prowess as her mother, auntie and grandmother were once all successful stylists in the area, impressed judges with her outstanding scissor skills, colour creativity and savvy styling.
Now an apprentice hairdresser at the Fich & Ramous salon in Cowbridge, Charlotte caught the hairdressing bug at an early age while helping her family in the salon outside school hours.
Since completing her GCSEs, Charlotte has become an apprentice hairdresser and is now six weeks away from finishing her level 3 NVQ in hairdressing and becoming a fully-fledged stylist.
Ambitious Charlotte is also planning to become a hairdressing assessor enabling her to mentor other aspiring stylists.
Held at Bridgend College, the WorldSkills UK advanced level competition was open to those currently working towards an NVQ level 3 in hairdressing and was designed to test competitors on the challenges they would face while working in a busy salon.
Charlotte and the other competitors were asked to perform tasks including a cut, colour and blow-dry for both a male and female, as well as having to prepare a women’s up-do. They were judged on their use of tools, colour combinations, creativity, complexity and the contemporary style of their finished hair designs.
Speaking of her success Charlotte said: “I am thrilled to have won. It was a great day and a real experience to test myself against fellow trainee hairdressers. Winning a skills competition is a great accolade to add to my CV.
“The competition gave me a good chance to pick up some tips from my fellow competitors and to share my tips with them, all while testing myself in a competition environment.
“I’m really excited at the prospect of taking part in the UK-wide final later this year and testing myself against the best in the country to see how I compare.”
Quick to praise the help of her mentors, Charlotte added: “I want to thank everyone at the salon for their help and support both on the day but throughout my time there. They have really helped me to get where I am now.”
Following on from her success at WorldSkills UK, Charlotte has gone on to claim third place in the ISA Salon Cymru competition. Competing in the silver screen category, she was tasked with creating a ladies hair style to pay homage to vintage Hollywood.
The hairdressing competition is part of a network of competitions that are facilitated by the Welsh Government with the support of the European Social Fund to promote the importance of developing adults and young people with strong vocational skills ready for the workplace.
WorldSkills UK and skillscompetition Wales aims to find Wales’ most talented trainees and newly-qualified vocational and trades people in a wide range of sectors from hairdressing and construction to marine engineering and IT. This event is one of a wider programme of competitions being held between now and the end of July.
Barry Liles, Principal of Coleg Sir Gâr, is Wales' official WorldSkills Champion. He said: "These competitions provide an excellent opportunity for our skilled Welsh talent to show that they can be world beaters. They can put Wales, as a small nation, on the map by demonstrating the quality of their own work and showcasing the calibre of the Welsh workforce generally.
“skillscompetition Wales and WorldSkills UK programmes present individuals with an exciting opportunity to showcase their trade and vocational skills so that these skills may be recognised and developed to meet the needs of Welsh employers."
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