Former student’s hair and makeup business named the best in the Borders

Former @BordersCollege student Justine Ireland picked up the ‘Best Hair and Beauty Salon in the Scottish Borders’ honour at the Scottish Business Awards, staged at the Philipburn Hotel in Selkirk recently.

Justine, who is 28 and from Jedburgh, studied at the College for four years and achieved levels 1, 2, 3 and HNC Hairdressing and now owns Meraki Hair & Makeup Studio in Melrose, which she opened in January 2020.

Justine commented:

“I’m delighted to have picked up the Best Hair and Beauty Salon at the recent Business Awards. I opened my salon just before the pandemic started and was only open for 10 weeks before having to close temporarily so this has been a real boost.”

Talking about her time at College, Justine said:

“During my studies within the Hairdressing Department, I learnt a lot, benefiting my career. I was given great support throughout my time there by the Tutors. I was lucky enough to win a few awards each year as well, which pushed me to better myself even more when I qualified.”

Justine has now qualified for the Scottish Retail Business Awards Grand Final, taking place in March 2022 in Glasgow, and hopes she can go one step further and win at national level.

Asked about her plans for the future and what advice she would give to students, she added:

“My plans for the future are to keep furthering my career, keeping up with all the latest within hairdressing, as styles and techniques are always changing. Of course, making my business as good as it can be as well.

“Unfortunately, I will be off work for a few months at the beginning of next year as I am going in for life-changing surgery. Hopefully, by the beginning of Spring, I will have recovered fully and will be giving my all again in my salon.

“My advice to future students would be to stick in as much as you can, revise, practice, practice, practice and just simply enjoy your time studying. I certainly did and it benefitted me greatly.”

Hairdressing Lecturer Dianne Kiore, who taught Justine at College, commented: 

“We are all really proud of Justine and her achievements since leaving College. She was always a very natural talented Hairdresser who we named ‘little miss neat’ as she was a very meticulous worker. We wish her every success in her future.”

If you are interested in studying Hairdressing at Borders College, follow this link for the courses available: https://www.borderscollege.ac.uk/course-search