We are delighted that College of North West London alum Claire Martin has taken home a prestigious hairdressing award.

Claire won the award for Texture Expert, rewarding stand-out work in textured hair, in this year’s Creative HEAD’s Most Wanted Awards, national awards celebrating inspiring hairdressing talent.

Having been someone who ‘fought her own coils’ in the past, Claire now teaches students that changing someone’s texture should be out of choice, not necessity. She runs a 19-tier module course explaining the ins and outs of caring for all hair textures; and a collaboration with Redken has also taken her How to Cut Textured Hair module to Scotland and Ireland.

Claire completed her Level 2 & 3 NVQ Diploma in Hairdressing at the College of North West London (with extra modules in Afro Hair & Barbering) in 2013, and has gone on to have a hugely successful career, now recognised with this incredible award.

Claire said: “This award symbolises positive recognition of my work from my peers in the industry. It’s created a platform to aid my main agenda which is to help other hairdressers to be empowered to work with textured hair through my online courses and classes at the L’Oréal academy.”

Claire also acknowledged the part her course and staff at the College of North West London played in achieving her success: “The two year course at college equipped me with the knowledge of how to work with hair to achieve different results, and one tutor in particular opened my eyes to see that there is more to hairdressing than just being behind the chair. I will forever be grateful for the impact Angel Ramsey has had on my career.”

Congratulations Claire!