On 7 June, ten hairdressers from different parts of Malta will have the chance of a lifetime as they will be given the chance to style the hair of famous Italian personalities during La Kore – Oscar della Moda which will be transmitted live from Taormina on Rai Uno.

These hairdressers are members of The Freestyle Club, an international hairdressing association which has had a Malta branch for the last three years. The club is run by Claire Sicortino, Sales Manager for Collis Williams Importers and technical expert Alfred Martin, and is open to all hairdressers who wish to attend. The club brings over expert stylists to give talks and to offer additional training to its members while giving them one-to-one attention.

The ten hairdressers were carefully chosen for their competence and artistic skills by Alfred Martin together with the Italian founder of Freestyle Club Antheo Geminiani.

“Malta’s participation in the Oscar della Moda is a great honour for us, because finally, Maltese hairstylists will receive due recognition for their work,” explained Claire.

At this prestigious show, Italian, Maltese and Portugese competitors will be briefed beforehand and will be asked to style the hair of over 50 models, as well that of the presenters, who this year are Valeria Marini and Luisa Corna (pictured right). Modelling designs by Pierre Cardin, Versace and Moschino, they will be changing hairstyles every 30 minutes, going from one stylist to the next which means each stylist will have to come up with six different hairstyles. The show will also feature singers such as Mango, Sara Jane Morris and Dolcenera.

Through the untiring efforts of the Freestyle club, Malta’s participation in Oscar della Moda is guaranteed for 2007 and 2008 as well.

Alfred Martin pointed out that, “not only will this serve to give Maltese hairdressers the prominence they deserve, but it is another way of promoting Maltese culture and initative.”

Speaking to the hairdressers themselves, their sense of excitement is palpable. Most of them already have their own salon, and are obviously completely dedicated to their profession.

Despite being just 19 years of age, Melissa Lapira has already had her own Valletta salon for two years. “I’ve always wanted to be a hairdresser but I never dreamt I would get this far so soon. I’m really looking forward to this great opportunity, even though I’m a bit nervous at meeting all those famous people. The time limit doesn’t bother me because we’re used to working under pressure.”

Sandy Borg is 23 and has been working in the field for two years. She describes the Oscar della Moda experience as something she will probably carry with her forever.

Lorraine Mizzi, 24, has just opened her own salon in San Gwann and has been a hairdresser for nine years.

“When they told me I was chosen it was a shock! But then when they told me who I was going to be working with and who I was going to meet, I realised this was a fantastic opportunity.”

Joseph Zahra, 22, who was trained abroad, began working at the age of 14 with Pierre Camille and has had his own salon in Luqa for a few years. “I always knew I wanted to be a hairdresser, and once I started, I couldn’t do without it. If I’m away from the salon for a few days I go crazy.”

Jacqueline Scicluna Rizzo, 33, who has been a hairdresser for 17 years, started out with Alfie, and later Mr James. She now has her own salon. “I think I was chosen because for me, work comes first, and I’m very dedicated. I accommodate people at their convenience, at any time of the day and try to please them as much as possible. I’m used to doing hair shows, my experience with Alfie in that respect has helped me.”

At 42, Ramon Vella is the eldest, and has been in this field for 25 years. He began with the then very popular Village Gossip, then moved to Charlot’s and now has his own salon in Sliema.

“I’ve tried to stay in the same area to make it easy for my faithful clients – because people do tend to follow the hairdresser when he moves. It’s an amazing chance for us to learn a lot because hairdressing is a vast field. You are learning every minute: when you watch TV or look at the papers. You learn from your clients and what they want, you even learn from the weather and how it affects the hair!”

Joseph Buttigieg, whose hairdressing salon is also being extended into an complete beauty spa, pointed out that this upcoming experience is going to help them as hairdressers in more ways than one.

“Apart from what I’m going to learn myself, I will come back and teach my staff as well. Every season you have to keep abreast of new trends. Since we joined the Freestyle Club, it has helped us a lot to become more confident in our work and with our clients. They have always brought over the very best of Italian stylists to teach us.”

Having so many hairdressers in one place provided me with the perfect opportunity to ask some nagging questions.

How can it be that so many hairdressings salons continue to open and thrive? These hair stylists told me that the desire to look well-groomed has increased enormously both among women and men.

“All of us have clients who have weekly and even twice weekly appointments which they keep without fail – of course, it’s even better for us if they come twice a week!” they joked.

Image, they pointed out, has become very important.

“When you’re hiring someone, the first thing you notice is their appearance. But even housewives are determined to look good and don’t want to let themselves go. The influence of the media has directly affected the importance which people give to their hair. People bring us photos of foreign and even local personalities to show us how they would like their hair.”

Many women visit their hairdressers to give themselves a psychological boost because they enjoy that feeling of being pampered and doing something for themselves. And let’s not forget that age-old habit of what makes many women rush to their hairdressers: the Bad Break-Up.

As Joseph Buttigieg says, “When you have a client who comes in, first thing in the morning asking for a drastic change after you have been trying to get her to cut her hair for ten years, then you know she must have ended a relationship!”