Martins Ferry Salon Owner Works Fashion Week

photo by: Gage Vota

Cloud 9 Salon and Spa owner Brigette Hardy does Cloud 9 Salon and Spa stylist A.J. Wright’s hair.

Cloud 9 Salon and Spa owner Bridgette Hardy recently had the honor of working at the historic Fashion Weeks in New York and London.

Hardy originally entered to participate in a course for the North American Hairstyling Awards at the beginning of the summer. She ended up being one of only 10 people chosen from across North America to participate. The program was a six-week online course ending with the 10 people meeting in New York City for a photo shoot, which will be submitted to NAHA in November. While Hardy was in New York, she went out to lunch with a few of the other attendees and eventually got onto the topic of Fashion Week and was asked if she’d ever participated. Hardy responded that she’s always wanted to participate in Fashion Week but hasn’t had the opportunity yet. Lisa Housman of Housman Haute Hair told her that if she heard of anyone needing a hairdresser that she would let Hardy know.

“So I got a call from Lisa and she said, ‘Do you remember we were talking about Fashion Week? … Well I have an opening on my team,’” Hardy recounted.

She added that she wasn’t even aware that Housman had a team for Fashion Week. Housman proceeded to tell Hardy that if she was interested in joining her team that she would want her to work at the New York Fashion Week from Sept. 6-11 and also the London Fashion Week from September 13-17. Luckily for Hardy, she was free on those dates so she accepted the position on Housman’s team as a hairstylist.

Hardy is also a Paul Mitchell Systems National Educator, which means she travels across the country to salons to teach coloring and cutting. Once she confirmed that she was going to be working at the London Fashion Week, she contacted Paul Mitchell and informed the company that she would be working in London and asked if there would be any way that they would be able to get her the tools she would need to be able to be plugged into the power adapters that are used in England. She said Paul Mitchell supplied her with all of the tools she would need for her trip free of cost.

“So I had flat irons, curling irons and blow dryers and I just went right in there and plugged in like I lived there. It was absolutely fantastic,” Hardy said.

According to Trip Advisior, plugs in the United Kingdom have a different pin configuration so you need an adapter to plug U.S. appliances into a U.K. plug. The voltage is also higher at 220 volts compared to 110 volts in the United States.

Prior to the fashion weeks, Hardy had to complete an additional two-day training for preparation for the events. She noted that going into the training she had some self doubt about if she was going to be good enough to work at the highest level of hairstyling, but she said that the person training her said that she was one of the best students she’s ever had, which made Hardy extremely proud.

Hardy recalled a fond moment during the London Fashion Week when one of the models told her that they loved the way she did their hair and that they would be back the next day for her to style their hair again. Hardy gave the model her phone so that they could exchange information and follow each other on Instagram and when Hardy got her phone back, she realized that the model was Luana Cavalcante — the current Miss Brazil. She said she also was able to have the opportunity to do Miss India’s hair as well.

“What people see on the runways is what these celebrities end up getting and once the celebrities get it, then it filters down to us. So it starts on the runway and to be a part of what was on the runway and the inspiration for what’s on the runway is amazing,” Hardy said.