Another year at the top: sally brooks shares her highlights of an award-winning year

Winning British Hairdresser of the Year for a second time proved to be just as exciting for Sally Brooks from Brooks & Brooks. Here she looks back at some of the highlights from the past 12 months.

November 2018

The night of the British Hairdressing Awards is always a nerve-filled night when you are up for an award. It’s great to see everyone but you can’t really relax and enjoy the evening until your category is announced. And when you’re a finalist for British Hairdresser of the Year, you know it’s going to be a long night! I’d been at the Grosvenor House hotel since 10am in the morning rehearsing and prepping my model for the nominee show, as well as making sure my parents were OK and not lost somewhere they weren’t meant to be, my team all arrived and my model had eaten something and wasn’t going to faint. As the current winner of the title, I honestly didn’t think my name would be announced. There were some great collections this year and everyone is so different, so when my name was announced I was shocked but thrilled! My dad didn’t think I would win either so it is always nice to see the smile on his face!

December 2018

It was soon back to normality as we hit the busiest month of the year in the salon. I work full time in the salon during this month alongside the team, and while it’s busy, we have a lot of fun too. Me and Jamie dress up as festive elves, we go ice skating with the team and we basically laugh a lot, something all salon hairdressers will relate to – the Christmas atmosphere in the salon is fantastic!

2019

The start of 2019 was dominated by the launch of my documentary, The Journey To My Destination. I’d spent the last 10 months travelling the UK interviewing hairdressers and salon owners with barber and videographer, Gabriel Maciuca. After eight months of editing, re-editing and trying to cut it from seven hours to 90 minutes, we had a screening at the Courthouse Hotel in central London, with some 150 people that were involved in the project. I was about to be judged by my peers and to top it all off, five minutes before the screening we had no film to show. We had downloaded it in the wrong format for the venue! No one will ever know what me and Gabriel went through that day which is why, in this picture, we look like we have been run over by a bus! Gabriel raced across town to get another version, so while the audience were enjoying popcorn, we were running around like headless chickens! But it was worth it, it was a real labour of love for me and we were so proud when everyone loved it as much as we did. I wanted to use my platform as British Hairdresser of the Year to talk about what an incredible career hairdressing can be and that hairdressing is a professional and passionate industry. The documentary has been used around the world in salons and academies for teachers and parents to see what our industry has to offer. In May, I discovered that I had been nominated for British Hairdresser of the Year for the third time. I never take it for granted so was delighted I was on the list. To win it once is a lifetime ambition; to win it twice is overwhelming. Each year I love to do something different to try new things and never stay the same. It was my big 50 this year – blimey! So I took 50 of my friends glamping and had a big party with 100 people – if you ever want a team adventure it’s brilliant fun! We might make it a yearly thing. So far in 2019, we have presented in London, Beijing, Canada and Dublin doing big shows - my team have had an amazing year of educating in India, Taiwan and everywhere in the UK and Ireland. We are just about to launch our own education – my team are flying and as the boss it is the best thing to watch them grow. We’ve filmed for new L’Oreal launches and I’ve judged numerous competitions and awards. We presented the finale show at the L’Oreal Colour Trophy in 2018 and were delighted to present our Emotive Feelings show at the final of the Irish L’Oréal Colour Trophy in Dublin this year. I love these shows as it gives me an opportunity to do something different. I have total respect for anyone who does this type of work, as coming up with an original idea time and time again is exhausting, challenging and exceptionally rewarding. The tribute show for Trevor Sorbie, well what can I say. What an amazing line up of artists to stand on one stage and I was honoured to be asked to be involved. It was an amazing tribute to Trevor that his philosophy and passion is passed not just down to us standing on the stage, but to the people we have taught. As you will all know it was an amazing experience to be involved in but how nervous do you think I was! The master that is Antoinette Beenders opened the show – with the artist that is Tom Connell, then me, then the uniquely amazing Eugene Souleiman and the magician Angelo Seminara – now that’s a line up! This year has been a whirlwind, this is just the key things I have done this year. Alongside so many other events like presenting at the Fantastic Hairdresser event, showing my documentary in schools and colleges, mentoring groups of up and coming hairdressers, teaching seminars and above all running my full column of clients and working alongside my team. I am just preparing for my presentation at this year’s British Hairdressing Awards and the trophy has been cleaned and picked up ready for the next name to be engraved on it. Good luck to all the finalists on the night and always remember – it’s not about winning but it is kind of nice if you do 😉.