16 October 2020

WorldSkills entry showcases a creative cut and burst of colour

Melanie Gates

Melanie Gates enters her original work into the renowned WorldSkills competition

We’re halfway through Love Our Colleges Week 2020, and we’ve enjoyed sharing and celebrating the wonderful work of our students and staff, both at college and in the wider community.

It’s been a challenging year, where our usual routine has been thrown out and we’ve adapted to a new normal. Next year, the WorldSkills competition makes a welcome return, albeit in a virtual setting. The competition and closing ceremony of this ‘skills olympics’ is a big deal when it airs from the competition's host country. We may not know how this will look in the next competition, but we are excited to see our students entering and creating exemplary work for the competition.

Melanie Gates, 40, from Seaford, studied Level 3 Hairdressing in Eastbourne and is one of this year’s entrants in the WorldSkills Shanghai 2021 competition. The talented hairstylist has secured a job in a Willingdon salon since finishing college this summer, and the busy mum (of twins no less!) has set her sights on the WorldSkills competition.

Her work is a response to the competition brief for a commercial cut and colour. Melanie loves asymmetric cuts, and her straight style showcases this perfectly, with a bob cut that’s longer on one side and has a deep side parting.

“The look took about 10 hours to create,” says Melanie, as she puts the finishing touches to her entry in the Eastbourne salon. The rest of the salon is empty and Melanie works in a mask, meticulously going over every strand of hair before its photoshoot. “It took this long as there was a lot of bleaching to lift the hair so the colours would take.”

“It looks great,” says Paula Rego, Melanie’s Hairdressing tutor from the course. “Melanie has worked so hard on her entry.”

“I look at it now and I see things that I might do differently,” Malanie says. “But that’s just me. I think you can always improve on something.”

Melanie worked hard at college, studying Level 2 Hairdressing before progressing to Level 3. And before that? Well, it;s a long story. “How long do you have?” Melanie asks with a grin. “I was working in catering, in small luxury hotels here in the UK and France. I also studied Engineering... I’ve dabbled in everything!”

So what led her on the path to returning to education and choosing Hairdressing at East Sussex College Eastbourne?

“I was pregnant with my twins and I was made redundant,” Melanie explains. “I tried to go back to work but childcare was impossible so I waited until they were school age and decided to try something else. I’ve always been interested in hair so I looked at courses and applied here. I was a bit nervous going back to learning at my age. And I was also nervous as it’s one thing to do your own hair but to do hair every day but what if I didn;t enjoy it asa career… but actually I realised I love it!”

Melanie is competitive by nature, so it’s no surprise she’s worked tirelessly on her WorldSkills entry. “I like to be goal oriented so I always like to be pushed as much as I can and the tutors were happy to do that,” she says about her time on the course. “They are also caring and really support you in your work.”

During her time at college, Melanie won the avant garde hair competition, making her a natural selection for the WorldSkills competition. “I enjoy the competitions as I like the idea of being set work that lets us rein free. As you can see from my WorldSkills creation! It was really fun.”

Melanie’s next goal is to build her own clientele in the salon where she’s just started to work. What else does she enjoy that’s enough of a compelling challenge? “I like styling bridal hair,” Melanie responds. When we comment how hard bridal hairstyles must be, Melanie smiles, “It’s not the hair that’s hard, it’s the brides.” Bridezillas aside, Melanie looks forward to developing her craft. “My biggest challenge right now is working in a mask, because I wear glasses, they keep steaming up and I can’t see anything! So if anyone finds a good brand of mask that this doesn’t happen with, please let me know!”

Mask problems aside, this competitive and creative alumni has proved that you can find the right vocation, whatever point in your life you return to college, and in doing so, it can open up exciting new opportunities.

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Melanie follows in the footsteps of ESC alumni, Rebecca West and Kaiya Swain.

Beauty Therapist Kaiya entered WorldSkills and made it to the finals in Abu Dhabi in the 2017 competition. Kaiya won the gold medal for Team GB, earning her the title of World’s Best Young Beauty Therapist! History was made again in the WorldSkills Finals in Russia 2019, when Beauty Therapist Rebecca West brought home the gold for Team UK once again, seeing her crowned the World’s Best Young Beauty Therapist. East Sussex College hopes for the winning streak to continue in Shanghai.