A Weekend Celebrating Our Incredible Industry

July 04, 2025 Lorna Evans

What an amazing weekend it has been, filled with learning, inspiration, and celebration of everything we love about hairdressing.

AHC Industry Day

We kicked off the weekend at the AHC Industry Day, where Lorna Evans Education was proud to be a sponsor. The event brought together passionate educators, RTOs, and industry leaders from hairdressing and barbering across Australia and New Zealand.

The focus of the day was on how we can improve apprenticeship completion rates and keep our young stylists engaged throughout their training. We heard from salon owners about the positive changes they’re making to support their apprentices – from offering small financial incentives for things like upselling treatments at the basin, to encouraging social media posts to build confidence and salon brand awareness.

This event also marked a special milestone for us – five years of our exclusive school program. We are so proud to have helped hundreds of apprentices in their Certificate II and III complete their ‘Create Classic Hair Up’ and ‘Braiding’ units. There’s nothing better than seeing students light up when they receive their toolkits – it really gives them a buzz and gets them excited to get their hands in hair.

👉 You can watch our program video here.

Hair Festival

Next up was Hair Festival – congratulations to the organisers on such a fantastic event. The atmosphere was electric, with stylists from all over Australia coming together to learn, shop, and connect.

Although we didn’t have a stand this year, it was so heart-warming to see our tools in action on stage and in demos throughout the festival. We spent the day chatting with so many stylists who came up to say hello and share their love for our tools. There’s truly no better feeling than knowing we’re making styling easier and faster for so many professionals.

A special highlight was catching up with the amazing team at the Hair Aid stand. Hair Aid is an Australian-based charity that empowers individuals living in poverty by teaching them basic hair-cutting skills. Through their international projects, they provide five-day training programs, enabling participants to start micro-businesses and support their families. Domestically, their Hair Aid Community Cuts initiative offers free haircuts to those in need across over 85 locations in Australia, restoring dignity and confidence through the power of a simple haircut.

Our Holly has been volunteering with Hair Aid, working in homeless shelters and at the Royal Children’s Hospital, and we couldn’t be prouder to support an organisation making such a difference.

AHIA Awards by Mocha Group

To top off the weekend, we had a very proud Mum moment at the AHIA Awards. Our fabulous daughter Holly took out Emerging Stylist of the Year! 🏆✨

Holly worked SO hard on her very first collection. Honestly, our house looked like a craft shop in the lead-up, with every surface covered in hairpieces, fabrics, and sketches. She did everything herself – from concept development to her stunning colour and cut work. On shoot day, my job was just to pass up food and pins – she was determined to own it, and she absolutely did.

A huge thank you also to Amazing Hair Australia for sponsoring Holly. The night was extra special with my Mum, Alice, joining us – she’s also a hairdresser, so there we were, three generations of hairdressers in one room celebrating together.

If you love Vidid colour work follow Holly on instagram @hair_by_hollyevans

Another huge highlight of the night was seeing Bernadette Beswick take out Australian Hairdresser of the Year.

It was such an honour to be mentioned in her thank you speech. Fun fact – over 20 years ago, Bernadette was actually a client of mine. At the time, she was working as a nurse, but she had been a hairdresser years prior and wanted to get back into the industry. I invited her to shadow me in the salon, and she loved it so much that she decided to return to study. Bernadette went on to work for us for a few years, and wow – she was amazing.

She worked tirelessly to build her skills, and seeing her achieve this incredible recognition fills me with so much pride. Congratulations Bernadette!