By Danielle Kutchel
A Berwick Chisholm hairdressing apprentice has taken out the coveted title of Hairdressing Apprentice of the Year 2019 at the Australian Hairdressing and Fashion Awards.
Jessica Riches, 20, beat the competition with a collection of images taken at her workplace Chumba Concept Salon, in Windsor, that showcased her flair for styling.
Ms Riches said her initial reaction was one of shock.
“I was like, ‘Oh sh*t! Now I have to make a speech!’” she laughs, “I hadn’t prepared anything to say, I hadn’t even considered I was going to win because the other entries and finalists were so amazing; it was really stiff competition.”
Ms Riches says she believes the judges were looking for beautiful, classic images this year rather than anything too “whacky”.
“I really like something classic and really focused on the hair. I wanted something textured, I didn’t do colour or anything, I just wanted it to be style-focused – the braids and the waves,” she says of her winning photoshoot.
“Being my first photoshoot, I wanted to keep it simple, something that I knew I could do beautifully. But colour and cutting and styling all go hand in hand and in future I would like to explore all those.”
It’s been a long journey for the apprentice, who submitted her entry to the competition in November last year. Her award-winning path began when she left school to do a pre-apprenticeship in hairdressing, pursuing her dream of doing something artistic and creative.
“I always wanted to do something in the beauty field, I just didn’t really know what that was. I love that hairdressing is so practical and you can still get so creative. Hairdressing is … a really big industry of people who are all supporting each other and I think that’s something special.”
Ms Riches says she is grateful for the support of her colleagues and her teachers at Chisholm, who have pushed her to develop and grow her skills.
And with roughly six months left of her apprenticeship, she’s not resting on her laurels: taking out Australian Hairdresser of the Year is a possibility for the future, she says.
“That would definitely be good! I think once you start entering these competitions you can only keep going, you can’t just stop – you need to keep going until you reach the top. It’s definitely a good thing to have going forward, a title under my belt.”
