E4 reveals 11 stylists all competing to be the big blow out champion

Grab the hairspray and hairdryer as E4 has announced the 11 stylists all competition to be the Big Blow Out champion in their brand-new competition series The Big Blow Out, produced by Love Productions. Hosted by AJ Odudu, this series sees eleven experienced, keen and passionate hairstylists compete in a series of extravagant and jaw dropping hair challenges that will take each stylist’s creative flare and talent and push it to the next level. Across the competition, they’ll stop at nothing as they battle to be the first ever The Big Blow Out champion. But we’ll be seeing no ‘short back and sides’ cuts here, as across each episode the stylists will be thrown in the deep end as they take on two creative challenges that will put their coiffure skills to the test, like never before. Racing against the clock, they’ll be pleasing real business clients with exacting styling demands in the first challenge and unleashing their individual taste and creativity to produce heart-stopping, gravity defying and spectacular creations in the ‘Masterpiece’ challenge. As well as the bangs, blows and hair weaves, it’s not just the clients they have to impress, as the stylists will be judged by legendary hairdresser Sam McKnight and award-winning hairdresser to the stars Lisa Farrall. Along with a weekly guest judge, Sam and Lisa will use their triumphant experience and knowledge as they offer advice and guidance to push these hopefuls to their limits to create eye opening hairstyles that will be sure to ‘dye’ for.

MEET THE STYLISTS

Vicki, 32 Cornwall

Vicki is fun and quirky with an infectious laugh who loves hair and how it makes her clients feel. She is creative and lives in a converted barn on a farm with her wife Laura and their array of animals. Vicki has been in the industry for 16 years since she was 15 years old. She loves beachy, instagrammable hair and describes her hairdressing style as messy and lived in. Vicki is a colour expert and colouring hair is a daily staple of her life. She loves how she can transform a person’s look just by colouring their hair. Born and bred in Cornwall, she grew up on a small holding. Vicki loves farm life and even helps out with the lambing. She enjoys painting and uses vivid hair colouring as another creative outlet. Vicki and her wife have a lot of animals including, an African Grey parrot, 2 Chihuahua’s, a chameleon, and 13 ducks. Abigail, 31 South Wales – Llanharry Abigail has an amazing sense of humour. She is a bridal hair specialist but due to COVID, she took up a second job in the local care home. Abigail has been in the industry for 15 years and felt like hair was her calling from a young age. She works as a senior bridal stylist and is now very busy again after COVID. Abi says she likes to think outside the box and create glam, showstopping looks for her brides. She grew up in a town outside of Cardiff called Llanharry in Ponteclun with her parents and brother. Brooke, 28 Shropshire Award-winning salon owner Brooke is passionate about sustainability and making environmental change ‘cool’ in the industry. Brooke opened her salon at the age of 25, she has six staff members, and the salon has grown into a social hub, which also includes a cocktail bar. Brooke is in her element when she is doing session and editorial work. She has assisted at London Fashion week and was a part of the FAME team 20/21. Brooke loves a challenge and often enters many prestigious hair competitions. She was a finalist in The British Hairdressing Awards in the Avant Garde Category and Best Newcomer. She has won Creative Head Magazine Entrepreneur of the Year and her salon won Best Local Salon at the Salon Business Awards as well making the final list for Best Green Salon. Claire, 33 Clapham South Likeable, smart, and empowering, Londoner Claire’s top priority it to make her clients feel fabulous. “Care for your hair whilst keeping it on trend” is her motto. Claire lives and breathes hair; she started training at 21 when she left her job as a sound engineer. At 23, she qualified and has been working her way up ever since. She has NVQ level 3 in European and Afro & multi-textured hair as well as a barbering qualification. Claire prides herself in being able to work with every type of hair texture and she thinks every hairdresser should be able to. She wants to change the game when it comes to afro and multi-textured hair education and her dream is to make the industry more inclusive. She currently works as a Master Stylist at a salon in Clapham South, she is very creative and relishes new challenges. North London born but now living in South London, Claire has bags of banter and charm. She is of Caribbean heritage; her Mum is Jamaican and her Dad is a mix of both Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados. Claire has a partner and lives in a house share with three housemates. Darren, 30 Leicester Dynamic and chatty Darren fell in love with hairdressing and now he co-owns his own salon. Darren was a late-starter and actually trained initially to be an electrician but decided to change course and start a hairdressing apprentice at aged 21. His dream is to compete in the British Hairdressing Awards and win and also to do the hair on a Vogue Cover. Darren has assisted with a lot of Avant Garde looks and has experience making hair cages and structures. He loves what he is doing now but would love to open another salon to build his empire. He lives in Leicestershire with his partner Richard, a dog called Bambi and 3 silkie chickens called Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercups after The Powerpuff Girls. Darren is a social butterfly and loves to socialise with his friends on occasions. Dylan, 26 London   Strong-minded Dylan is a hard-working, award-winning stylist living in London. In 2017, he was the youngest person to date to win The Clothes Show Young Hairdresser of the Year Award in association with Hairdressers Journal. Dylan wasn’t destined to be a hairdresser, there has always been lawyers and stockbrokers in his family, but he was artistic and always had a fascination with hair. He describes his style as modern, grungy, and pretty. He loves precision and being strict with hair and his speciality is hair ups including bridal hair. Dylan is all about structure with hair which is evident in his Avant Garde experience, for which he is inspired by architecture and museums. In 2019, he was a finalist for Hairdresser of the Year at the British Hairdressing Awards. He often does hair for the cast of Made in Chelsea and has worked on the MOBO awards and Celebrity XFactor. Emma, 28 Surrey Londoner Emma is a super braider with a big personality who loves to chat. Emma’s love for hair came when she started to love herself and acknowledges that taking part in this series would make her younger self proud, she also loves competition. She is versatile and able to work well with all types of hair textures. She has had the good fortune of working on shoots for Vogue Italia and Tommy Hilfiger and working with and assisting Syd Hayes. She is currently doing her vardering qualification in the salon where she works. Emma is from Ealing, London and has 3 siblings. Emma’s heritage is West African, specifically Nigeria and Sierra Leone. She enjoys cooking, mainly African and Caribbean food. Jack, 29 Lymington Salon owner and educator Jack lives in the New Forest with his wife and fellow hairstylist Lydia and their two-year-old daughter. Jack started to hone his technical abilities when he moved to London and eventually got to the top level of Consultant at RUSH London in just 6 months. He is a cutting specialist and runs his own cutting courses which he promotes through his popular Instagram page, this is also a place where he can engage and learn from other stylists. He has had the opportunity to work at London Fashion Week where he has done classic and Avant Garde style looks for different designers. Jack is very creative and not afraid to give anything a go! Part-time model Jack grew up in Cyprus, where he started hairdressing from aged 14 after not doing very well in school. He worked in a Turkish salon where they used cigarette ash to get out hair colour, which actually works. He is cool, warm, and friendly with a great sense of humour. Lily-Rose, 20 Bristol Bristolian Lily-Rose has an infectious laugh, is career-driven,  and always keen to learn. Hairdressing is in Lily’s blood; her Mum is a hairdresser, and her Grandad was a barber. Lily became a Saturday girl in a salon whilst she was still in school, after completing her GCSEs she went straight into training to become a stylist. Before fully qualifying, Lily-Rose was a colour technician and did pretty much every colouring technique during this time. She competed in a competition with Wella where she came first place. Colour correction is one of her favourite things to do as she loves to problem solve. Lily has only been a full stylist running her own column for about a year however, she has just been made Assistant Manager of her salon at 19 years old. Lily-Rose lives in Bristol with her Mum, Stepdad, Brother, and Sister, with her Dad just around the corner. In her spare time, she loves to crochet and go shopping with her friends. Molly, 21 Birmingham Molly has been in the hairdressing industry for over 3 years and is still studying for a degree in Specialist Hair and Media Makeup in Birmingham. She is self-employed but also works in a vintage salon where she often does 40’s, 50’s era hairstyles. In her freelance work, she gets to put her own alternative, gothic style into her work. Molly loves wigs which she has experience with due to her being a drag artist. As a young queer person, Molly really wants to inspire others like her to get into the industry. Raymond, 34 London Chatty Irishman living in London who traded in the law for hair. Raymond is a great all-rounder when it comes to hairdressing and barbering, and he is experienced in both salon and session styling. He has worked a few fashion weeks where he has helped with Avant Garde looks including making hair cages. He enjoys cutting and colouring because he loves the transformations that can happen. Raymond wears his heart on his sleeve and loves to challenge himself. Born and bred on the Northwest Coast of Ireland in the town of Donegal. Raymond originally studied Law in Dublin before transitioning to hairdressing because people said he’d ‘make a good hairdresser’. Will you be watching on the 3rd October?