Meet The Head Girl

If you thought becoming a hairdresser was a dead end job, you’ve not met Rochdale’s Melissa Timperley. She’s a cut above.

- Rochdale’s Melissa

WHAT do you say when your bright-as-a button teenage daughter tells you she wants to quit school and become a hairdresser?

Of course, there’s no shame in joining the trade but you could be forgiven for thinking it’s not a natural home for a 16-year-old who has shown every sign of being a real over-achiever.

That was the dilemma facing Joanne and John Timperley when their eldest daughter Melissa, head girl at Wardle Academy near Rochdale, announced she was not taking A levels and would instead begin a career cutting hair.

‘Melissa was a great student with ten GCSE A grades,’ says Joanne. ‘So yes, we did everything we could to convince her to take her A-Levels and so did her teachers.’

Mothers know best most of the time but, in this case and with the benefit of hindsight, Joanne admits: ‘I stand corrected. It’s not a dead end job and I now realise that British hairdressing is considered to be the best in the world.’

Not only is Melissa, now 24, one of the rising stars of the UK industry but she also has her own flourishing business in one of the coolest parts of Manchester.

She opened the Melissa Timperley Salon in an architecturally striking new building in the Northern Quarter’s Tib Street just before Christmas and word about her talent spread like wildfire across social media. At the time of writing, the salon was just about fully booked for more than a month ahead. Melissa is noted for her precision cutting skills as well as becoming a Wella Master Colourist with a near perfect score of 96pc.