This year has been tough on us all and the beauty industry has suffered greatly. But even in the darkest times, there is light. The hairdressing community is resilient and there are some people in the industry that deserve special recognition for their efforts at using their platforms to help others.

Our Special Jury Prize awards are dedicated to them and the work they do.

It isn’t just our editors and judging panel whose opinions matter. We wanted to know which one product our readers deemed their number one beauty cupboard must-have.

Special Jury Prize

Winner: L’Oréal Professionnel

To support salons and hairdressers across the UK during the pandemic, L’Oreal Professionnel Paris was quick to act. It created Salon Support Guides that outlined the Government’s ever-changing guidelines in a digestible way. It offered extra guidance and education on hygiene and safety. It gave courses on how better to use social media platforms to help raise awareness, build up profiles and speak directly to clients. These are just some of the amazing ways that L’Oreal Professionnel Paris has ensured that its community didn’t lose hope in such a challenging time. 

Special Jury Prize

Winner: Millie Kendal MBE

The beauty industry contributes £28bn annually to the UK’s GDP, it employs 600,000 people and 88% of its workforce is female workforce. The pandemic has hit it hard and there is one woman who has been repeating these figures at the top of her voice from the moment the salon doors closed. Millie Kendall has been championing for everyone in beauty, including hair stylists, colourists and salon-owners. She has been the voice in a crowd urging the government to support an industry that offers apprenticeships and entry level jobs for young people, supports the nation’s wellbeing and brings people together. She was also the first beauty industry leader to have a seat at the prime ministers table recently. 

Special Jury Prize

Winner: Stewart Roberts & Haircuts4Homeless

We all know that getting a haircut can give us a real boost of confidence, it has the power to make us feel better about ourselves. That power is the DNA that runs through the work of Stewart Roberts and his 600-strong team of volunteers. Haircuts4Homeless offers those living on the streets a moment to feel good about themselves, to be seen and heard. The team works right across the UK with various homeless shelters and centres giving free haircuts and head massages. As Stewart so perfectly puts it, ‘It may be ‘just a haircut’, but it’s the kindness shown that makes a homeless person know that people really care.’

Special Jury Prize

Winner: Tom Chapman and The Lions Barber Collective

When women visit the hair salon, they open up and have a good natter with their stylist. When Tom Chapman lost a friend to suicide, he realised that perhaps the barber’s chair could offer the same support to men. Uncovering the awful fact that 75% of all suicides in the UK are male and then finding out that it’s often because men find they don’t have anyone to talk to, he launched the Lions Barber Collective. The charity trains barbers to recognise the symptoms, ask the right questions, listen with empathy and help signpost men to local safe spaces. He wants to create a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

Marie Claire Reader Vote

Winner: Olaplex No.0 Intensive Bond Building Treatment, £26

A front-runner from very early on in our reader vote, Olaplex’s No.0 Intensive Bond Building Hair Treatment was the clear winner. And with very good reason. Made with the brand’s special patented active ingredient, which repairs broken hair, this treatment specifically targets damaged lengths that have come under stress from colour and heat. Use as a pre-shampoo treatment, the longer you leave it the better the results. And what are those results? Smooth, shiny, manageable hair that’s back to its former glory.

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