More than 500 combs, thousands of clips and 200 mirrors will all be put to work this weekend to create stunning works of 'hair' art.Swans, snakes, flower arrangements, boats and ships are just some of the 'fantasy' creations previously designed from the flowing locks of patient models for the Organisation Mondial Coiffure European Championships in hair, beauty, nails and bodypainting.
More than 400 hairdressers from countries including Austria, Croatia, Norway, Russia and the US will fly into Dublin for the two-day competition at the RDS this weekend.
Saundra Fabian, president of the Irish Hairdressers Federation, said they had been campaigning for five years to host the event, which has been staged in Berlin, Las Vegas, Milan and Paris. "People will pick up hair and beauty tips. It is a fantastic opportunity for anyone interested in making themselves beautiful," Ms Fabian said.
Around 5,000 hair and beauty enthusiasts are expected to attend the event in the RDS, with tickets costing from €20 a day. Many of the trainee and junior competitions will involve cutting and styling mannequins, which come with real hair attatched .
"Some of the senior stylists also work on mannequins as they don't have to bring live models with them. Even though we argue live models don't eat a lot anyway so it wouldn't be that expensive and mannequin heads are expensive to buy," Ms Fabian joked.
The mannequin heads cost around €100 and are manufactured with real hair, mainly in China or Italy. It may take a stylist up to nine months to create a 'fantasy' creation around a particular hairstyle. Ms Fabian said the current trend in hair fashion involved long hair with curly blow-drys.
- Louise Hogan
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