Mayo salon has two nominees in Irish Hair and Beauty Awards finals

TOP contenders have been short-listed in the Irish Hair and Beauty Awards 2023 - Chapter 3, celebrating favourite stylists and salons at a black-tie ceremony on September 17 at the Clayton Hotel in Galway.

Sharon Ralph from Sharon Ralph’s Hair and Scalp Clinic, Castlebar, has been shortlisted in the Hair and Beauty Salon of the Year category, being the only nominee from Mayo.

Sharon has been hairdressing for 27 years and has run her own successful salon for 15 years.

In July 2018, she graduated from Alfaparaf Milano with a masters degree in chemical colour. In August of the same year, Sharon became a fully qualified scalp and wig specialist, opening her own scalp clinic in the salon.

In May 2019, Sharon Ralph’s Hair Salon and Scalp Clinic were recognised as one of the Top 100 Salons in the Country, out of 4,500 salons, in the HiStyle awards. At the start of 2020, she was back in Dublin, graduating with Kemon with a masters degree as a colour specialist.

Throughout the years, Sharon has been awarded both a Bronze and Silver salon with Great Lengths, and in September of 2019 was a finalist in the Irish Hair and Beauty Awards in the Top 10 Salon of the Year in Connaught.

Kelly Cresham, also from Sharon Ralph’s Hair and Scalp Clinic, has been short-listed in the Junior Stylist of the Year category - the only nominee from Mayo.

Kelly started working in Sharon Ralph’s in 2019 as a Saturday worker. She fell in love with hairdressing and after her Leaving Cert in 2021, started at the Westport campus of Mayo College of Further Education and Training. She received Student of the Year out of 10 students in November 2022.

With the college course, Kelly was able to study in Nîmes, in the south of France, for three weeks. While working abroad, she was nominated for the HiStyle Junior Stylist of the Year in February of this year. She has recently completed the Aileen Maher scalp and wig training.

“When I started working in Sharon Ralph’s, it was my first job. I wanted to do history teaching or nursing. I very quickly fell in love with hairdressing, not only for the job itself, but all the lovely clients that I met when I first started. Sharon has been the best mentor and teacher I could have asked for,” said Kelly.

A spokesperson for The Irish Hair and Beauty Awards 2023 said: “We had an outstanding response from the public who went behind our nomination process and put forward tried and tested beauty professionals that deserve recognition. The number of 60,000 votes received is just incredible and record breaking for us and we would like to thank everyone who contributed to this overwhelming response.

“The awards remark the strength, skill and innovation of those who have shown excellent commitment to customer satisfaction and have changed the industry’s landscape by introducing innovative treatments and services, building extremely close and trusted relationships with their clients.

“We would like to congratulate everyone for being short-listed and we can’t wait to welcome all our guests and deliver an enjoyable event. We wish all finalists the best of luck.”