Salon de Coiffure strikes gold again!

A small hairdressing salon in the South West town of Donnybrook has proved it is a cut above the rest, producing yet another WorldSkills Australia competition winner.

In a tight contest, Sarah Tassone took home a gold medal in the WorldSkills Australia South West regional hairdressing competition this week.

She completed five tasks in the one-day competition – a ladies’ fashion haircut, oxidation hair colour, men’s fashion cut, blow dry and a creative long hair design.

The 19-year-old is completing her apprenticeship at Salon De Coiffure, which also produced Alexis Scott and Jessamy Mooney, who both progressed to the international level of the WorldSkills competition.

Alexis competed in regional events in 2007 and 2009, and scooped the gold at the nationals in 2010, before being selected to represent Australia in London, 2011. She won a bronze medal, the first ever Australian competitor to win a medal in hairdressing.

Jessamy won a bronze at regional level in 2011, and bronze in the Sydney 2012 national competition. She was offered a place with the Skillaroos in 2013 and competed in Leipzig, winning a medallion of excellence.

WorldSkills WA State and Regional Manager Fiona Johnson said hairdressing was a popular category at all levels.

“Alexis has gone on to become a regional and national judge for WorldSkills,” she said. “She also helped to train competitors for the recent international competition in Brazil.”

All three of Salon de Coiffure’s winners carried out their training through South West Institute of Technology (SWIT). Head of Program and lecturer Anita Host said SWIT had produced the last five regional WorldSkills Australia winners in hairdressing.

“Last year’s national competitor, Nathan Sandford from Bunbury also trained with SWIT,” she said. “He won gold at the regionals in 2013.”

Anita said the secret of success was the passion of students, trainers and employers for their chosen profession.

“To do well at WorldSkills you need dedicated lecturers and supportive employers, and they, in turn, employ dedicated people,” she said.

“We also find that some students from salons that have previously done well want to succeed because someone before them has shown them the way. They know what can be achieved and have been more exposed to the competition.

“The standard across the board for this regional hairdressing competition was amazing and I am so proud of all of them. We had five independent judges who commented that the results were very close between some competitors.”