Culinary delights and gossip at the hairdressing council lunch

Had a lovely time at the Hairdressing Council lunch - even if the MP who was supposed to be hosting it didn't show! I

 found myself sat between Sassoon creative director Mark Hayes and HOB Salons director Paul Simbler and it was good to have the familiar mix of talking business and gossip.

I'm still often shocked by quite how hard the top names work. Mark had just come back from Australia and is heading out to japan for another show next week - they don't tell kids about those opportunities in careers advice, do they?!

I also picked up some top tips for the perfect Christmas turkey (yes, I know it's only June!) and discussed workplace romances - they're more common than you might think!

When it came to the burning issue of state registration, there was still a little confusion. Everyone was in agreement that something needs to be done to weed out the industry's cowboys, but they're not quite sure what the carrot to encourage hairdressers to register is.

There were really passionate speeches from Andrew Barton and the Hairdressing Council chairman, Dawson Penn, but it seemed to really hit a chord with everyone when Akin Konizi told guests he supported the cause but didn't fully understand what it was trying to achieve. 

There was also much speculation about who the British Hairdresser of the Year nominees would be. Despite my protestations that we haven't heard yet, no one seemed to believe me. I promise you this - they will be up on HJi as soon as I hear anything official. Watch this space...