Gold medal winner Ingrid Richards and her fellow students, Lucia Durcatova and Kausar Sheikh had to battle it out with 22 other contestants representing 12 London based colleges during the UK Skills Challenge Competition for Hairdressing.

"I was really panicking when I spoke to the other contestant because they were all talking about how long they have worked in the industry and all the places they've worked at, but as soon as I started to work on my piece, I relaxed and felt really confident," says Kausar. Their accompanying tutor, Michelle Edwards, said, "All the students showed complete professionalism and the judges showed great interest in all their work. I thought Ingrid's work was fabulous and she showed such a passion," says Allen Wilson, one of the organisers of the event held at Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College.