Lauren Heggie has been studying hairdressing at Inverness College since August. On November 15th she took part in a competition within the college and was placed 3^rd. This qualified her to take part in a competition for the North of Scotland which was held at the Beach Ballroom in Aberdeen on November 25^th.

The competition was in a large hall along with other competitions such as “beauty,” “make-up” and “nails.” Lauren’s first reaction on seeing the scale of the event was, “I can’t do this!” She was given 45 minutes to work on her “block,” a mannequin with real hair attached. She had brought all of her own tools and sprays with her.

She had previously come up with her own hair design in college and had practised working on it nearly every night before the event. Despite the preparations Lauren couldn’t help feeling nervous as the event was bigger than she had expected: “I was really panicky, as there were 5 judges walking up and down the row, which put me under pressure.” Lauren was not placed in the competition by the judges but enjoyed the experience and would like to do more competitions. “This experience has confirmed that I would certainly like to become a professional hairdresser in the future.”