Award winning Mansfield hairdresser celebrates 40 years in the business

Known for her stunning photographic collections, which have won her two places in the British Hairdressing Awards Hall of Fame, Terri Kay has scooped both the British Hairdressing Awards’ Eastern category and the Men’s Hairdresser of the Year category an incredible three times each.

Terri’s career began at Mansfield salon, John Hawley, four decades ago, when she was 16-years-old as part of a YTS training scheme.

Terri went on to manage a number of salons in the local area and also worked as a freelance hairdresser while her son was young.

It was while on the hairdressing competition circuit though, that a chance encounter with former colleague Mark Leeson would play a significant part in Terri’s future career.

Having bought the John Hawley salon where they had both trained, Mark was now a salon owner in his own right and was keen to expand his team.

Mark offered Terri a job at the salon with the promise that there would also be opportunities to work outside of the salon doing more creative projects such as stage work and assisting on collections.

Terri said: “Going to work for Mark was definitely a major career move for me.

“I’ve done hair shows across the world and worked on so many award-winning collections.”

Terri’s many highlights in her career since joining the Mark Leeson team include her own British Hairdressing Awards wins, but also working on the Art Team and travelling internationally to work on shows, shoots and seminars.

But Terri believes it’s vital for anyone wanting to enjoy a long and successful career like hers, to be aware that you never know everything.

She said: “My main advice is to keep learning and don’t let it become mundane. The best thing about our job is making a suggestion to a client about how they can make changes and the client trusting you and going with it.

"When I was 21, it was perms, highlights and blow-dries. The great thing about today is that everyone is different. It has definitely changed for the better.”