Student hairstylist from northwestern, Ont. reaches top 5 in Canada

Raised in a small town in northwestern Ontario, Laura Metansininenever dreamed she would be named as one of the top five studenthairstylistsin Canada.

The national Contessa Awards, presented by Salon magazine,were handed out November 12 in Toronto, and although Metansinine didn't take home the number one prize, her name and creative up-dos made itonto the top 5 listin the Student Apprentice Hairstylist category.

"I'm still super overwhelmed, it's kind of surreal and I'm not sure when it's ever going to everfeel real," Metansininesays.

She grew up in in Marathon, Ont., on the north shore of Lake Superior, butMetansininenow works, lives and learns from her mentor at Maria Bikas Salon in London, Ont.

Metansinine said she's passionate about being ahairstylist because "you can be creative in making people feel great about themselves."

During the summer, Metansininesaid she did a photo shoot for three different, but cohesive, hairstyles and submittedthem for the awards.

In September, Metansinine'ssurpassed her own expectations when she madethe top 10 list. Then, in October, was even more surprised and excited to learn that she had been named as one of the five finalists.

"My goal from the beginning was...just to be there," Metansininesaid, "even if you are attending the awards, the motivation and inspiration you get from everybodyelse, is so incredible."

For her first year entering the national competition, Metansinine said she made many sketches and played with many different ideas, but said she couldn't have done it without the support from her mentor as well as the hair models.

In one case, "we just had to lighten up her ends and put the fun colours on like a temporary dye," Metansinine said.

"We actually went old school with an old perm wrap andshe was an amazing model, she stuck through and slept with the wrap in her head."

If that wasn't enough, Metansinine also did the models makeup herself with the help of her mentor, because she "knew what shewanted and shetrusted her gut."

Although Metansinine no longer lives in Marathon, she said she's blown away by all the support she's received thus far.

"I haven't worked back home, but I have a lot of demand anda lot of people are always begging me to come back," Metansinine said happily.

You can hear more from Laura Metansinine here