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Meet the Isle of Wight County Press Hairdresser of the Year

Chelsea Askey, who is County Press Hairdresser of the Year, based in East Cowes. <i>(Image: Isle of Wight County Press.)</i>
Chelsea Askey, who is County Press Hairdresser of the Year, based in East Cowes. (Image: Isle of Wight County Press.)

Isle of Wight salon, Revive Hair and Beauty, has been named the County Press Hairdresser of the Year, after public nominations and a vote.

Run by Chelsea Askey, Revive is based in College Way, East Cowes, in a purpose-built premises in her back garden.

Chelsea has been in hairdressing for around two decades, qualifying aged just 17 years old and training in academies in London and Southampton.

She went self-employed after moving the Isle of Wight, where she runs her home-from-home salon, in a building specially made for her by her husband, Jak.

Isle of Wight County Press: Chelsea's husband, Jak, built her purpose-built salon in their garden.
Isle of Wight County Press: Chelsea's husband, Jak, built her purpose-built salon in their garden.

Chelsea's husband, Jak, built her purpose-built salon in their garden. (Image: Isle of Wight County Press.)

She used to have a more conventional shop-front but when Covid-19 plunged businesses into lockdown, Chelsea decided to take an imaginative approach.

As well as setting up in her garden, she used her time to train as a teacher.

Now, she visits other Isle of Wight salons to help students.

"My clients are the ones who push me forward and say they want me to be recognised," she told the County Press.

"It's different emotions! One minute I've had tears, then the giggles.

"It's lovely. You build a massive relationship with your clients."

Isle of Wight County Press:
Isle of Wight County Press:

Some of her clients have been visiting Chelsea for more than a decade.

She is no stranger to winning awards.

In December, she was named the gold winner of Hair Stylist of the Year, at The British Hair and Beauty Talent Awards 2022 and she had previously won bronze and silver.

Chelsea has been named County Press Hairdresser of the Year after a public vote, via forms in the County Press.

She was one of ten hairdressers shortlisted.

The runners-up were Bethany Jones Salon, Shanklin; Guys and Dolls, Sandown; Mesut Barber, Cowes; Guilty Pleasures, Northwood; Style Sisters, Carisbrooke; Allsorts Hair and Beauty, Newport; Robert Lee, Ryde; Do Hair, Ryde; and Franki's in East Cowes, which ran in tribute to its owner, Franki Phillips, who died suddenly on New Year's Day.