A HAIRDRESSING entrepreneur with a salon in Kidderminster has scooped two national awards.

Lisa Shepherd, who has a shop in Mill Street and lives just outside the Wyre Forest town, took home the title of Innovation of the Year at both the British Hairdressing Business Awards 2014 and the Most Wanted Awards this month.

The accolades recognised her savvy new business idea – the Redken Express Color Bar - which delivers colour services to time-pressed clients on tight budgets in less than an hour.

In eights months the concept has generated £26,000 of extra revenue for the company and has been rolled out in 340 salons nationwide.

Ms Shepherd said: “I was a busy mum with roots and a pending meeting and needed some cleverly placed foils, and Express Color Bar was born.

“This is exactly what innovation is about – new ideas that satisfy customer demand in unexpected ways.

“I’m honestly ecstatic. So much hard work, dedication and devotion has gone into the Express Color Bar. Winning these two awards just goes to show what can happen if you truly believe in something.

“It’s all about the client for us and we do everything with genuine love. To be recognised by the most important people in the industry is incredible.”

The Lisa Shepherd brand, which has salons in Birmingham and Wombourne alongside its Wyre Forest store, made it a hat-trick of awards when stylist Olivia Butt-Freer picked up the Rising Star prize as part of Creative Head Magazine’s IT List.

She was selected for her front-of-house skills, community work and the organisation of a VIP-filled launch party for the Express Color Bar initiative.

Miss Butt-Freer said receiving the award was “absolutely fantastic” and a result of her love for the job, while Ms Shepherd praised her employee’s “enthusiastic, hard-working and fast-improving” approach.

Both women received their awards on Monday, September 1 at the Most Wanted grand final, which was hosted by top comedian Jack Whitehall at the Tate Modern, London, in front of an audience of more than 700 experts from the worlds of hair, fashion and the media.

Ms Shepherd also collected her Innovation of the Year accolade at the 16th annual British Hairdressing Business Awards on Monday, September 8 at the Lancaster Hotel in London from TV presenter Stephen Mulhern.