Hairdressing

Overview

Hairdressing is at the cutting edge of fashion.

As a hairdresser you need to have exceptional technical knowledge of colouring, styling and cutting, and be able to work with all styles and textures of hair.

Hairdressers also require exceptional customer service skills and self-promotion via social media channels as well as an awareness of Fashion trends.

This competition assesses all the skills and abilities of competitors entering the field of Hairdressing.

How competing has helped Ellie develop her skills and excel at work.

The skills you need to demonstrate

Customer Service Skills
Health and Safety Knowledge
Creativity
Attention to Detail
Team working
Innovation
Time management
Interpreting customer requirements

Useful resources

Prepare for competition success

Enhance learner preparation for competition with pressure tests (part of our benchmarking resources) to help master their technical skills, and mindset masterclasses to build personal skills.

access on the learning lab

Contact details

Richard.howell@loreal.com

Entry criteria

This is an individual competition.
There is no limit to the number of competitors permitted to enter the competition from any organisation.
Competitors must be familiar with the core competencies (these can be found in the National Standard of Excellence in the ‘Useful resources’ section) and must not have more than 5 years’ industry experience.
Competitors must be working towards or have completed a relevant Level 2 or Level 3 qualification or equivalent in the last 12 months.

How it works

1. Register

Registrations open at 9am on Monday 3 March and will close midnight Friday 28 March.

2. Entry Stage

Entry Stage will be released between Monday 3 March with a final deadline of 2 May, 2025 (Exact dates will vary by competition).

3. National Qualifiers

Qualifier dates:

10 June: North East Region – Middlesbrough College, Middlesbrough, TS2 1AD
11 June: Northern Region – Kirklees College, Huddersfield, HD1 3LD
12 June: North West & North Wales region – West Lancashire College, Skelmersdale, WN8 6DX
16 June: Eastern Region – Suffolk New College, Ipswich, IP4 1LT
17 June: Midlands Region – Stoke on Trent College, Stoke on Trent, ST4 2DG
18 June: South West & South Wales region – Weston College, Weston Super Mare, BS23 2AL
23 June: Northern Irish Region, Belfast Metropolitan College, Belfast, BT3 9DL
25 June: Southern Region – Kingston College, Kingston upon Thames KT1 2AQ

4. Training and Development

To help finalists prepare ahead of the UK Final, we will provide relevant technical training and share mindset development techniques, to support them to remain focused on achieving success.

Prepare students and apprentices by engaging with our benchmarking resources to master their skills and mindset masterclasses to build confidence and resilience on the WorldSkills UK Learning Lab.

5. National Finals

The National Finals are scheduled to take place in Wales during the week beginning 24 November, 2025.

6. Squad UK

Competitors who are age eligible and have achieved the benchmark score will be invited to opt into Squad UK during December 2024 for the WorldSkills 2026 Cycle, subject to the skill progressing to the international competition cycle.