A 21-YEAR-old beauty salon owner from Wotton under Edge has won a prestigious salon award.

Grace Guest-Ford’s salon Omorfia, on Long Street scooped the best new salon award at the 2021 UK Hair and Beauty Awards event, which took place yesterday evening.

Grace said: "I am beyond proud to let you all know about my win at the 2021 UK Hair and Beauty Awards.⁣

⁣"Omorfia won first place for the best new salon category and we came runner up in the ‘spotlight salon of the year’ category.⁣

⁣"I’m feeling so blessed, so grateful, so happy, so excited and so much joy right now."

Grace went on to thank all her customers for their support.⁣

⁣"I am so so grateful for every single one of you," she said, "I get to do what I love every single day because of you."⁣

⁣"And thank you so much to the UK HBA for recognising me and my business, it means the world to me."⁣

Omorfia is currently closed in line with government guidelines.

But throughout the pandemic, Grace has devised innovative ways to carry on running her business.

“Keeping the salon going through the pandemic has been a challenge, as a service based business it is very hard to serve your customers when you are unable to open your beauty salon,” she said.

“However, it has just made me more determined to succeed and to continue to grow my business.

“I have taken the pandemic as an opportunity to expand my business by creating my own product line, Omorfia Luxury Products.

“I have also came up with innovative ways of staying in touch with my clients through social media platforms and providing them with self-care items in which gives them a feel of Omorfia pamper sessions from the comfort of their own home until they can get back into the salon.

“The global pandemic in which we have all faced has not been ideal but I’m proud to say that I have continued to grow Omorfia and experience success amid the pandemic.”

Omorfia is set to reopen on April 12, subject to Government guidelines.

For further details see: omorfia.uk/