Schwarzkopf hits the top spot at the eurovision song contest

With a global audience of more than 100 million viewers, Eurovision Song Contest is one of the world's most popular TV programmes - and has a huge following around Europe. This year's music competition, renowned for its cheesy music and over-the-top costumes, was held in Germany's fashion capital Dusseldorf and its main sponsor Schwarzkopf supplied a team of experts to ensure the acts made the headlines for all the right reasons. Thirty six international hairdressers worked backstage at the week-long music-fest, with acts taking part in two live semi-finals before the main event. Charlie Taylor and Steven Goldsworthy flew the flag for the UK, and worked with more than 250 singers, musicians and dancers to create a look that complemented their song. "Many of the acts knew what type of look they wanted," Steven said. "It wasn't a trend-focused show, but was about creating something they could work with on stage." As well as dressing rooms, there was also a shoemaker, costume and make-up room, with artists dashing from one to another. "There were two hairdressing teams working backstage," added Charlie. "One team created the looks in the dressing room and one team made the final tweaks backstage before the acts went on stage. We were working 14-hour days but the buzz amongst the crew and artists was something I've never experienced - it was amazing." One of the most challenging parts of working with an international team was the language barrier - while most hairdressers and artists spoke English, there were some where the only language they shared was the language of hair. The dressing room was run with military precision by Schwarzkopf creative art director Simon Ellis, who drew up spreadsheets of hairdressers, artists and timings. "We had to be very organised as there were different languages and people's nerves to deal with and strict timings that had to be met," said Steven. "We had to take into consideration what the acts were doing on stage; many of the dancing was energetic so we had to ensure styles stayed in place, and hair looked good from all camera angles," Charlie explains. "We created a lot of quiffs on the boys and long, glamorous curls on the girls." The UK entry was boy band Blue - Simon Webbe, Duncan James, Antony Costa and Lee Ryan - who took their own hairdressing and styling team, and Irish entry Jedward styled their own infamous quiffs, stealing Schwarzkopf Professional Silhouette hairspray from the dressing rooms to keep their sky-high styles in place. To celebrate Eurovision Song Contest Schwarzkopf collaborated with German designer Karl Lagerfeld to create a place of innovation and inspiration for visitors to the city. The Lightbox pop-up salon was situated in the heart of Dusseldorf and as well as retailing products, had a working salon for cuts and colour. The illuminated storefront and parts of the 'Temple of Hair's' inside were adorned with photographs from an exclusive collection shot by Karl Lagerfeld. "The challenge was to design a concept store that really reflects all the brand's facets, while being thoroughly modern. We have created a mobile work of art, that is unlike anything else you have ever seen," said Karl Lagerfeld of the project. International top models including Coco Rocha, Charlott Cordes and his muse Baptiste were specially booked by Schwarzkopf for this project. The 10m high lightbox was decorated with silhouettes of the models, alongside Karl Lagerfeld and the legendary Schwarzkopf head.