Hairdressing apprentices have the skills factor

Hairdressing apprentices from across the country have been showing off their skills and staking their claim for a place on the stage at Salon International 2009 as part of the Habia Skills Team.

The hairdressing apprentices aged between 16 and 25, took the first steps to showing that they are hairdressing stars of the future by entering The Skills Factor competition.

In true TV-talent-contest style, step one was a 'boot camp' where the budding young stars demonstrated their abilities in front of Habia's panel of discerning judges.

Seven finalists were then selected to present a style live on stage in front of audiences of over 100 employers and training providers at Habia shows in Birmingham and Manchester during Apprenticeship Week.

The Habia Skills Factor finalists were:

 Louise Booth, 21, Doncaster

Kylie Wood, 20, Barnsley

Joanne Muscroft, 21, Rotherham

Ellenora Dean, 22, Swadlincote, Derbyshire

Jade Rodger, 17, Fareham, Hampshire

Emma Louise Dingwall, 20, Portsmouth

Bethany Barrett, 21, Weston-Super-Mare

All seven will now attend a training session in London with the Habia Skills Team before facing a final interview selection process that will decide who will become part of the team that appears at Salon International 2009.

The lucky few who pass the final training and interviews will make their first appearance as part of the team at Salon International 2009.

Erik Lander, Habia Skills Team Manager said, "We were really impressed by the standard of all theapprentices we saw, in particular the seven who made it through.

"We were pretty tough on them as judges, and getting up on stage in front of over a hundred people isn't easy if you have never done it before, so they truly deserve all the plaudits and congratulations they get.

"They have a great future ahead of them, especially when you consider they are all in their early twenties and one is still in her

teens."