Berkshire's successful hairdressing group zappas were celebrating this week as the company were announced as the winner of the Training Award sponsored by Wella Professionals at this year's exclusive British Hairdressing Business Awards held at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London.

Presented by Hairdressers Journal International, the British Hairdressing Business Awards are now in their ninth year and are designed to specifically recognise and celebrate the commercial success and professionalism of the hairdressing industry. There are 13 categories within the awards, ranging from the Training Award to the Salon of the Year Award and the prestigious Business Director of the Year title, which recognises the entrepreneurial expertise and business skills of the UK's leading hairdressers. To enter the awards, salons or individuals have to fulfil the criteria set down and present this in a dossier, which is judged by a team of industry experts along with the sponsors of the various categories. From these impartial judging sessions, six finalists are chosen and the dossiers then judged by an independent panel of judges.

zappas, who have five luxury salons in Berkshire, competed against five other businesses throughout the UK who had also achieved finalist status for the Training Award at the glittering final of the British Hairdressing Business Awards. The Training Award sponsored by Wella Professionals is regarded as being one of the most exciting categories within the British Hairdressing Business Awards as it highlights those businesses that have the expert training skills and qualities to become a successful salon business within the highly competitive hairdressing industry.

Hosted by ITV's most respected newscaster, Sir Trevor MacDonald, the team from zappas were delighted when Sheila Jackson of Wella Professionals announced their name as the winner of this most prestigious industry award. Salon director Steve Connell was ecstatic with the award and exclaimed; "We have an amazing team at zappas and it is their dedication and professionalism to training that has won this award. We have entered and finalised within the Training Award on several occasions so it is deeply satisfying to win the award this year."

Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Hairdressers Journal International, Jayne Lewis-Orr, commented, "Entries were alive with innovation, enthusiasm and entrepreneurial expertise showing amazing skills across the breadth of business management. The judges had an extremely difficult job as standards were so high - to be chosen as a winner at the British Hairdressing Business Awards is a tremendous testimony to zappas's inspirational business acumen."

Congratulations to our very own Ryan Dowd for successfully being chosen as a nominee in the Southern Regional finals for the British Hairdressing Awards. Ryan will be competing amongst some of the top names in the industry at the British Hairdressing Awards in November.

After an eventful ten years of hairdressing at our salon based in the centre of Wokingham the salon was ready for a new look and a full make-over. This summer the team moved out for five weeks whilst the shop fitters moved in to undertake the extensive works.

Our main aim was to create a comfortable, functional space for our clients to visit. We paid particular attention to the salon lighting ensuring that the best salon environment was available for our clients and for our team to work in. Clean bright lights and soft floods of light over the mirrors gives an excellent lighting for creating beautiful colour and for creative styling.

Some additional areas of mood lighting were introduced to break up the uniform lighting. Over the backwash soft coloured LED down lights and dimmable lighting creating a relaxing area designed to complement the reclining massage chairs for a real pampering experience.

We believe that our clients visit to zappas salons should be more than just a haircut; it should be all about the total salon experience.

The flow of the salon was also very important to the salon design. Our client journey begins in the spacious reception area which also encompasses our retail area with clean smart product displays. Here we are able to supply our clients with everything needed to recreate the zappas salon looks with all the latest designer hair care brands that are available to purchase.

The flow of the salon then leads into the main salon area or quiet consultation area. A centralised coffee bar for clients has been designed to ensure that waiting clients are made to feel part of the salon environment and at the same time are able to watch the salon stylists create the latest looks. A central salon screen means that clients can watch the latest music, fashion and lifestyle programmes adding to the overall salon buzz. Clients can also continue viewing these whist reclining at the backwash area.

We believe that we have created one of the most up to the minute salons in the UK. The simple clean lines and functional elegance have come together to create a chic boutique environment whilst maintaining our welcoming approach unique to the zappas brand.

This year’s Annual General Conference was held at the Crown Plaza in Caversham for both an educational and inspiring day. Guest speaker, Peter Lunn – Business Coach to the industry, inspired us all with his unique ‘take’ on customer service. This year Members of the zappas artistic team took to the stage to demonstrate the latest cutting techniques followed by a catwalk show. The day was then finished off with an Awards Ceremony at our Black & White themed party with DJ Brandon Block & our very own ice bar.

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This may help! All our salons are successfully using a ‘texting’ service. Our system will automatically text clients direct to their mobiles reminding them of their appointments with us and also of any special offers that we are running. Clients are reminded to update our receptionist with their current mobile number. Any clients not wishing to participate with this service also need to notify our reception team.