llisahair: ABA Toronto 2012

Last week I attended the Toronto ABA Hair Show. I always try to go but I was so excited that I was able to go both days this year. There is always so much to see one day is not enough.

The main convention area is a huge space with most product lines, distributors and suppliers, trade magazines and almost everything you can think of relating to the spa and salon industry. Most of the main big name companies, and some of the smaller brands have stages with their platform artists showcasing their latest work. There are also many seminars relating to theory, techniques, business that you can attend at the show. The ABA Trade show is also where some of the most prestigious competitions in the country for hair and makeup are held.

My favourite part of the hair show has always been the competitions. I competed back in hair school in 2006, and in 2007 nationally for a student competition with Wella but I have not competed since then. I have always aspired to compete once again, and will definitely be competing once again in 2013. This year I joined the Master Judges Program and I am on my way to becoming a judge for these competitions. I've always wanted to join and what an amazing experience this weekend was. Unfortunately, I was not able to get photos of every competition and some of them may not be so great, but I hope you still enjoy them all.

All of the models from the Elegant Evening Long Hair competition

Second place winner in the Elegant Evening Long Hair

First place winner in the Elegant Evening Long Hair

I unfortunately did not get a good enough picture of third place to post.

My favourite competition is the Technical Creative Blowdry. It is one that requires a great amount of skill and a lot of practice. These styles are done in 20 minutes only by using the blowdrier (and products of course!), no curling irons flat irons etc. There were a lot of amazing blowdries out there this year so here are the top three winners.

Third place winner

Second place winner

First place winner

Unfortunately I did not get any great pictures of the Mens Avant-Garde competition. There were so many contestants and it was the very last competition of the evening so I didn't get a chance to get any great pictures before they were called on stage for the awards. I did manage to get a somewhat decent picture of the First Place winner on stage.

The second day of the show had the competitions for the New Talent Women's Trend Cut & Colour, Women's Trend Cut & Colour, and the National Women's Trend Cut & Colour. The National Women's Cut & Colour features the first place winners from each province in the previous year.

I unfortunately don't have any good pictures of the New Talent, but I did manage to snap a few shots of the First Place winner of the Women's Trend, and the National Trend competition.

First place for the Provincial Women's Trend Cut & Colour competition. This stylist will go on to represent Ontario at the Toronto 2013 ABA in the National competition.

The Maritime provinces took first place this year in the National Women's Trend competition. Absolutely amazing work.

Although most of my time at the hair show was revolving around competitions I did manage to head over to the P&G stage on Monday to see some awesome platform work. My co-worker Fay was doing some incredible work for Sebastian on stage this year so I had to check it out. Here are some shots of Fay and the entire P&G team.