South Tyneside hairdressers at the cutting edge of style

Feb 15 2010 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

HAIRDRESSER Rebecca Gibson has recently opened her own salon and taken on her first member of staff - at the age of 21.

The former South Tyneside College student completed her apprenticeship in 2008 after working at No Limits in South Shields and then completed further training at Sherlocks hairdressers.

She opened Glamazon in East Boldon and has now taken on her own apprentice Nikkita Riggs aged 19 who is in the second year of her apprenticeship at the same college.

Rebecca said: “I wanted to give somebody the same chances I had, doing an apprenticeship was a great way to learn the skills of becoming a professional hairdresser.

“I am so proud of how the business has taken off, we have lots of regular clients and are attracting lots of new ones, so I am looking to take on another stylist to help with the demand, it’s an exciting time.”

“Hairdressing is extremely hard work, but it’s something I have always wanted to do since I was a child, opening my own salon seemed natural as I already had a large client list that required me to travel to their homes and work late nights, now I have the shop have more time to fit in extra clients.”

Denise Baxter, lecturer in hairdressing at South Tyneside College has worked with both Rebecca and Nikkita, she said: “This is a fantastic achievement; Glamazon has built up a strong client base which just gets bigger by the day. They are both fantastic hardworking girls, we look forward to continuing our working relationship with them.”