Natalie Palmowski: The Yorkshire hair stylist named as the best in the country

Ms Palmowski, 32, who opened her own salon last year, first won the award in 2022 when she was still renting a chair at a beauty salon.

Speaking to The Yorkshire Post, she said her life has completely changed in the last 12 months.

Ms Palmowski was offered the chance to take over the beauty salon where she rented a chair and has now refurbished the space and turned it into her own hair salon where she employs two members of staff.

Ms Palmowski said: "The salon’s really busy now so the next step for me is to build a bigger team and make a success of what I’ve got.”

When asked what made her stand out to the awards judges, she said: “I’d like to think it’s my colour work. I think that sets me apart. I specialise in colour and I do a lot of colour correction. I’ve invested a lot of money into my training.”

She added: "I have a lot of people who come in for consultations, think they can get it done cheaper elsewhere and then come back to me later when it’s gone wrong and say they wish they’d come to me in the first place. I seem to put a lot of disasters right.”

The biggest disaster, she said, was a customer who had tried to dye her black hair blonde but the bleach had bled onto the scalp, leaving bright orange patches at the back of her head.

"Her hair was like chewing gum. We had to change it in stages and now she’s white blonde after three sessions," Ms Palmowski said.

She added: “Hair condition to me is the most important thing to me. I won’t do anything if it’s going to jeopardise the condition of the hair.

"You can offer me as much money as you like but if your hair’s going to feel like straw at the end, there’s no point.”

Ms Palmowski said her biggest inspiration is Heather Mackenzie, an award-winning colour specialist who is also based in South Yorkshire.

"She tends to do a lot of vivid colours. It’s something I wanted to get into but didn’t have much knowledge about.

"She came to the salon to train me in a one-to-one session and showed me how to bleach properly and do proper colour corrections.”

She added: “A lot of people will look up to celebrity stylists but when you see someone local who started off the way you did, and has become really successful, it’s very inspiring.”

Ms Palmowski said she works hard to set her salon apart from the competition.

"Some salons can make people feel judged when they walk in. I don’t allow any of that,” she said.

"Everyone’s welcome here. I get a lot of feedback how the environment here is completely different.”

As well as winning her own category, Ms Palmowski’s former apprentice – now stylist – Holly Oldfield won Apprentice of the Year in the regional heats and came third in the finals.

"I wanted Holly to come with me to the awards and I thought it would be nice for her to enter too,” she said. "She was a bit reluctant at first because she’d only been in the industry for a year but when she won that was very rewarding for me, I was quite emotional.”