Sunday 24th September saw the hair industry unite for the gala awards ceremony of the Australian Hair Industry Awards 2023 - Business. The much-anticipated event was held at the The Star, Gold Coast with Australia’s leading hairdressers, salons, specialist businesses, educators and professional products taking home each of the 30 awards.

Created by Mocha Group, the AHIA’s were launched due to national demand for a platform to ighlight business achievement and recognise excellence, providing an exciting snapshot of the impressive quality of the industry. The powerful impact of the awards continues to grow year on year with 2023 setting a new record of over 300 entries and 200 finalists across the extensive categories.

Each submission was judged by an independent panel of 32 judges consisting of media, PR and business specialists. Proud sponsors included Timely, Redken, Kitomba, Sustainable Salons, Excellent Edges, Matrix, Schwarzkopf Professional, Goldwell, L’Oreal Professionnel, Revlon Professional, HairBiz, Shortcuts, DNA, KMS, EVY Professional, Comfortel, Wella Professionals, Hi Lift Professional, Haircare Group, Parlux by Dateline Imports, Alfaparf Milano Professional and DeLorenzo.

A highlight of the evening was the opening extravaganza choreographed by the incredible creative talent Adam Williams. This incredible spectacle saw international guest headliners with death defying performances which danced dangerously close to spiralling out of control.

Mocha Group Owner and Founder Linda Woodhead is proud to acknowledge this year’s deserving winners; “There is no better litmus test of the Australian hair industry than the AHIA’s. The fact that we continue to break records with submission numbers is testament to the emphasis which the hair community places on not just meeting quality benchmarks but exceeding them.
Hairdressing is a crucial part of the service industry and these businesses play an integral role within all of our communities, bringing us together, supporting the next-generation of talent and making us feel amazing. For that they deserve to be championed by all of us!”

The Big Winner of the night was Sharlene Lee, Circles for Hair, taking out Best Business Director/Owner of the Year, WA/NT Salon of the year and the ultimate accolade of Australian Salon of the Year.

Amongst the other excited winners, The 2023 Special Recognition award went to Jenny Burns and the Vidal Sassoon Humanitarian Award to Helen Owens, Tigerlamb. On behalf of Helen, as an added surprise, Comfortel donated $10,000 to one of her chosen charities RIZEUP Australia with a giant cheque being presented to founder Nicolle Edwards.