Hairstylist wins photo competition

Innovative, artful hair designs win big for Yarmouth hairstylist

Hair is a blank canvas for Heidi Kenney, whose hair artistry goes beyond your regular hair styling.

The hairstylist owns and operates Heidi Kenney Hair Studio and Spa in Yarmouth, where she also works in other areas as well, including education and hair photo competitions.

The latter category is an industry that Kenney says most people outside of the competition world know nothing about. For her, it's a major part of her love of hair and also the driving factor behind her creativity.

“I find it highly addictive,” she says. “This work is more artistic, creative and avantgarde. It's a whole secret culture that many people don't know about.”

“AN ADRENALINE RUSH”

Kenney's most recent win happened this summer, when efe Magazine's inaugural

VZN Awards named Kenney its top Eastern Canada Stylist. The win was in recognition of a collection of hairstyle photos she shot two years ago, inspired by geometric hair shapes.

Kenney says her collections are always created as if they'll end up on a magazine cover. Her designs are not what you'd call a typical hairdo and are instead more synonymous with abtract hair art.

“With this collection, I made round, triangular and square shapes in bob mullets, which the shapes were based on,” she says.

The award was not her first win and is likely not her last, as she is already gearing up for her next photoshoot in August, this time for a fall competition for Salon Magazine. For Kenney, each competition is exciting because the prospect of winning always excites her.

“I'm always living with a little adrenaline rush. Competition gives me something to do that pushes me outside my box,” she says. “It's always exciting and always nice to have your work recognized.”

LOVE OF HAIR

Winning is never Kenney's sole objective when she enters these competitions, but rather using the opportunity to push herself creatively.

“I'm very competitive but, honestly, I create the work for my own growth and creativity. This work is my creativity, it's not what pays my mortgage,” she laughs.

She's been back in the salon since June, when things reopened as COVID-19 case numbers decreased, and will be continuing to educate hair stylists at Matrix Canada – where she is a national colour master – through a six-month long mentorship program.

She's been styling hair since 1985 and says the career has treated her well ever since, being a space that values unique and creative visions.

Kenney says competitions such as the VZN Awards have helped further the respect people now have for hairstylists and that the field has become an even more rewarding one to work in. With inspiration around every corner, she says she's got no intention of stopping yet.

“Hair styling, really, is an essential service. You change the way someone feels about themselves in an hour,” she says. “It has been a very rewarding career for me – I've loved it every single day.”