Erin Shebaugh, Ashley Collins, Jack Ray

May 14-16, 2009 (RALEIGH, NC) – With their immense collective talent Samuel Cole Salon and Salon Moxie stylists performed stunning hair transformations on the 150+ models at Raleigh Fashion Week.  The salons were selected again this year as the official salons for the event after their exclusive involvement in Strut ’08 last year.  “It was my honor to select Samuel Cole Salon and Salon Moxie as the official salons for Raleigh Fashion Week.  Their involvement elevated this event beyond my expectations.  The entire team is dedicated, passionate, and professional at all times and was an absolute pleasure to work with.  It still amazes me that they created unique runway hair designs for over 150 models with some of these models walking several times during one show which required extremely tight turnaround times on hair design changes,” said Brian Williams, Raleigh Fashion Week producer.

The salons’ stylists delivered hair designs ranging from conservative formal updos to over-the-top, high fashion avante-guarde hair.  “These types of events give our stylists a chance to grow as runway artists.  They blew me away with their creativity.  After working the 9:00-2:30 shift each of the show days in the salons, they would arrive backstage at 3:00 ready, willing, and able to work their magic until midnight each night, not to mention all of the hours they spent preparing.  Now that’s dedication and passion.  I couldn’t be prouder of our teams,” said Joelle Ray, co-owner of Samuel Cole Salon and Salon Moxie along with her husband and Master Stylist, Jack Ray.

One of the greatest highlights of the event was the “live” hair makeover performed on center stage by Samuel Cole Salon’s own, Jack Ray, Ashley Collins, and Erin Shebaugh at the grand finale, Strut ’09.  With the audience and teams from both salons cheering them on, these extremely talented stylists flawlessly executed a 6 minute hair transformation on the model whose waist-length hair was cut into a chic, angled bob.  Salon Moxie Director, Maria Lemons delivered a makeup makeover while the cut was in-progress.  The model’s 12 inches of hair was generously donated to Wigs for Kids. “I was so proud to watch Jack, Ashley, Erin and Maria shine up on stage doing what they love to do,” commented Nicole Williamson, one of the Managers at the salons.

Samuel Cole Salon, located on Newton Road, is an award-winning, full-service hair salon which has been featured in national and international publications such as Estetica (Italy), American Salon, and Salon Today.  It captured First Runner Up in Salon Today’s annual “Salons of the Year” décor competition.  It also continues to be recognized as one of “The Best Of” for Hair Salons and Color & Highlights in Citysearch’s Best in the Triangle readers’ poll.  Salon Moxie is an artsy, hip salon located on Falls of the Neuse Road. It also has been recognized by Citysearch’s Best in the Triangle readers’ poll as “The Best Of” for Hair Salons. In addition, it has captured Nickelodeon’s Parents Choice Award for “Best Teen Haircut”.  For more information visit www.samuelcole.com and www.salon-moxie.com.