Belinda Keeley wins 2010 Hair Expo People’s Choice Award

Belinda Keeley from Chumba Concept Salon has won the 2010 People’s Choice Award, as part of the Schwarzkopf Professional Hair Expo Hairdressing Awards. This category was introduced for 2010 and was decided by the exhibition’s visitors over the Hair Expo weekend. Judged solely on the photographic collection displayed in the Awards Gallery Lounge, Belinda beat all other finalists to take the award.

Colleen Standford makes the Australian FAME Team

Wow what a Hair Expo 2010! Colleen and Peter from Windsor found out a week before that they were one of eight finalists for the Australian FAME Team. Frantic preparation followed. And... congratulations to Colleen for becoming one of the four team members! The FAME Team travels to Los Angeles, New York and London in early October on their global tour. They'll preform on stage at Salon International in London. Shoot and study with the industries legends such as Antoinette Benders. And tour Australia. And finish their year by performing at Hair Expo 2011. What an amazing year ahead for Colleen - well done!

Carl Keeley wins AHFA Victorian Hairdresser of the Year 2010

Congratulations to the Chumba Concept Salon's Artistic Director -Carl Keeley for winning the title of Victorian Hairdresser of the Year 2010 at the Australian Hair Fashion Awards. Obviously moments such as this are years in the making and the combined result of sheer hard work. Special thanks to the amazing Chumba Creative Team. Without a team you are alone - together we are winners.

'Clarity' Collection - Behind the Scenes

Check out Belinda Keeley's latest Hair Collection with this behind the scenes footage of the photoshoot

Belinda Keeley - Finalist Hair Expo Colourist of the Year 2010

She's done it again! Belinda Keeley, Chumba's colour maestro has been named in the top four colourist from Australia and New Zealand in this year's Hair Expo Hairdresser of the Year Awards in the Colourist category. This is the first time Belinda has made the Hair Expo finals. Added to her AHFA results she has made the finals in the last three Australian national hair awards, firmly placing Belinda as one of Australia's leading colourists. Well done and what a stunning collection!

Chumba Concept Salon - Warragul.

Can anyone believe a salon from Warragul is one of the four best salons in Australia or New Zealand? We're still pinching ourselves. It's a rare if not once only occasion that sees a regional Salon Team named in the final four for the Hair Expo Salon Team of the Year. But it's happened now! Congratulations to our Warragul Salon Team for reaching the Hair Expo finals. Thank you to the whole team for the years and years of hard toil that's lead to this honour. You're all amazing and deserve to be proud!

Carl Keeley - Finalist Hair Expo Entrepreneur of the Year 2010

No sooner had we gotten used to the AHFA finalist success we had to quickly changed gear for the Australian Hair Expo Awards. First off the rank was Carl Keeley wearing his 'other hat' of businessman to be named in the final list of Entrepreneur of the Year 2010. Significantly our other web site www.prohairstylist.com.au was a major part of the entry submission. Held in Sydney on Queens Birthday weekend Hair Expo is a jammed packed Hairdressing conference culminating in a star studded night of awards honouring the best of the best in our industry.

Peter Koizel- Judges Commendation, Hair Expo Apprentice of the Year 2010

Backing up from his break through in the AHFA Awards, Peter Koizel from our Windsor Salon has finished in the top ten for the Australian Hair Expo Apprentice of the Year Awards. Great effort Peter and a great collection to add to your fast growing portfolio.

Carl Keeley Finalist in the AHFA's Victorian Hairdresser of the Year

Rounding out the day was one final phone call from the judging panel at the Australian Hairdresser of the Year Awards informing us that Carl Keeley had been named as one of four finalists in the Victorian Hairdresser of the Year 2010 category. What a day for Chumba - four finalists in the AHFA's!

Barely There Collection - behind the scenes.

See how the Chumba Concept Salon team puts together their hair collections - enjoy!

Belinda Keeley Finalist in the AHFA's Creative Colourist

Belinda Keeley, Chumba Concept Salon's Technical Director and all around Queen of Colour has been named for the second consecutive year as a finalist in the AHFA Creative Colourist of the Year 2010 category. She is one of six finalists nation wide. Belinda's collection along with the other finalists can be seen here.

Chumba AHFA Creative Team of the Year Finalist 2010

Congratulations to the Chumba Creative Team for being named as a Finalist for the Australian Hair Fashion Awards 2010 Artistic Team of the Year category. The team is lead by Carl and Belinda Keeley. The team includes Marcus Alvarado (Windsor), Tania Davis (Pakenham) and Christopher Gratton (Warragul). Go team Chumba! See Team Chumba's entry along with the other finalists.

Peter - AHFA Apprentice of the Year Finalist 2010

Congratulations to the Chumba apprentice Peter Koziell of our Windsor Salon for being named as a finalist in the Australian Hair Fashion Awards Apprentice of the Year category. You did Pete! See Peter's Collection along with the other Finalists.

Merry Christmas to you.

The madness is hair! Christmas is upon us and for the final day of training we love to dress up in our Christmas best. Have a Merry and safe Christmas everybody. See you in 2010.

Creative Training Day

At Chumba Concept Salon we cherish the days where we can all get together as a group and have time to develop our Hairdressing skills. Especially our Creative skills. Under the watchful eyes of the Chumba Creative Team we had such a day in December at the Ozdare Academy, Melbourne. A schedule of creative challenges were set out by colour queen Belinda Keeley and Chumba's Education Director Chris Gratton. Think 'Iron Chef' but with hair colour! Also on the agenda was a lesson from Hairdressing Legend Edward Beale. Edward shared his career story and insights into the industry that few others could. Thank you Edward. And thank you team for a great day!

Gipps-TAFE Apprentice Competitions

Congratulations to the Chumba apprentices for another great showing at the Gippsland TAFE Hairdressing Competitions. A full compliment of our next generation hairstylist took part in almost every event of the day. A fun time displaying their skills was had by all. Congratulations to the winners and we'll be back next year.

Warragul Fire

Grand Final Day 2009 - what a bad day, not only did St Kilda not win the flag but the phone rang at 7pm that night... "Hello, it's the Police here... your salon is on fire - but don't panic!" OMG! Jump in the car, drive 'cautiously' to Warragul, and yes indeed the street is swarming with Fire Engines - three of them. Introduce myself to the Fire Chief, casually suggest that I'm going into the shop, "Yup - no worries" and ... no fire. Seems the downstairs neighbour had lit their fireplace and the chimney had caught fire. The flames could be seen from all around town but remarkably there was minimal damage. The chimney is had it though so no more fires in winter for the bar downstairs but for us it's all ok. Isn't it funny though, as I drove to the shop and then walked around it as Firemen secured the blaze - I realised afresh just how beautiful the Warragul Salon really is. I mean it's stunning that’s why we refer to it as the 'Palace'. Funny how we forget to look at our everyday surroundings sometimes and really appreciate them.

Pakenham Salon Open for Business

Congratulations to Tania Davis for becoming the newest Chumba Salon owner. Proprietor Tania Davis trained in Warragul directly under Carl Keeley and Belinda Keeley. Honing her skills she climbed our ranks to graduate from apprentice, to senior, to salon manager and now to Salon Owner! A Chumba Creative Team member this exciting young salon and it's owner are a key player in Chumba's future.

Join Chumba on Facebook

Catch all of the latest news and happenings from the Chumba Salons and Staff on Facebook. Friend us to receive special promotions and offers. What a great way to join the extended Chumba family.

Behind the Scenes - AHFA Shoot 2010

It's spring and that can only mean one thing - Hair Craziness! At this time of the year we are neck deep in hair and fashion events. Front and center is our major brand photo-shoot of the year. That would be the Australian Hair Fashion Awards. Earlier this year Belinda was one of the four finalists for Australian Colourist of the Year. We can't say too much right now but our latest collection, shoot last Wednesday in Melbourne by Super-snapper Andrew O'Toole, has surpassed our wildest expectations. Stay tuned for the results. But be patient because these images aren't to be seen until Christmas.

Melbourne Spring Fashion Week 2009

Spring Fashion Week is here and Chumba Stylists are there. This is Tania (Pakenham) and Colleen (Chapel St) looking a little weary after giving their all in backstage styling. These two in particular are living life on the highlights reel this year. Tania opens her new Chumba Salon at Lakeside Pakenham on Sept 22nd. And Colleen travels to Tasmania on Sept 20th to the IHS Hairdressing National Championships after her win at the Victorian State Championships. You go girls!

Gippsland Business of the Year

Wow! Looks like lightening does strike in the same spot twice. For the second time Chumba Concept Salon has scooped up the title of Bendigo Bank Gippsland Business of the Year. This prestigious accolade recognises the best of our regions enterprises. This is how the Awards are judged...

"The judging process is conducted in three stages. In Stage one all entries submitted are assessed against the Eligibility Criteria and the responses to the General Information and Prescribed Questions. Those entries whose submission meets the criteria and gain a higher than average aggregate numerical score against the General and Prescribed Questions are further evaluated at Stage Two. Judges at this stage once again assess the entry against all the criteria, then present the results to the judging panel and recommend finalists. During the third stage the judging panel members come to together to determine if a winner/s for each category can be decided and adjudicate on the Business of the Year."

Chumba Pakenham Under Construction

We're proud to announce that the Pakenham Salon is now under construction. It's been a dream of ours for sometime to see one of our staff members grow up and have their own Chumba Salon. Tania Davis is about to complete this journey for us. Beginning as an apprentice Tania has climbed the ranks year after year. From apprentice to Senior to Salon Manager - Tan has collected awards and respect within the company. Now she has joined the owners club as our first Franchisee. We are so proud and confident that she'll continue her successful career under her own roof in her new Chumba Salon. For bookings call 03 5940 0942 or 03 5940 0527

IHS State Hairdressing Championships

It's hairdressing competition season again and the Chumba team is right in the mix as usual. We're happy to report a very successful day out at the Victorian State Championships. Star stylist Colleen of the Chapel St salon won 1st place for the blue ribbon event - Open Ladies Haircut. Not to be left out Sarah-Kate swept up a 3rd place in Junior Catwalk. Not bad for her first ever hair competition!. Last but ot least a third place was gained in the Team Collection event. Well done team Chumba!

Next stop - the Nationals in Tasmania in late September.

It's a Boy!

Carl and Belinda Keeley are happy to announce the birth of their son, Jett Alexander Keeley born Thursday 2nd July 2009 at 9.22pm, at the Warragul Regional Hospital. Jett weighted 7lb 13oz and measured 50cm tall. Mum and son are both in perfect health and returned home the next morning. Big sister Tia is loving having a little brother also. Big thank you to the amazing professionals of Ward 5. The Doctors, Midwives and staff do a wonderful job - we're all very lucky to have such an amazing facility here in Warragul.

"The Edge" video

Come behind the scenes with us on our latest hair collection - "The Edge". This collection was entered into the Australian Hair Fashion Awards 2009. These awards are judged in the UK by a panel of British hair experts. Belinda was named as one of the four Finalists in the category of Australian Creative Colourist of the Year 2009. We had an amazing time creating this collection with Andrew O'Toole and his talented team. Son one day we're on set with the lights flashing... and the next day we're in the salon looking after You. We love our job! See if you can spot your personal stylist in the movie.

The Edge Hair Collection - Behind the Scenes from Carl Keeley on Vimeo.

Boys Win all at IHS Junior Mini Comp

The IHS Mini Hair Competitions were held recently in-conjunction with Victoria University in Melbourne. This competition is for apprentice hairdressers making there way into the big wide & scary World of Hairdressing comp's. (Think 'Best in Show' for humans!) But - we love it! Hapily our two biys brought home trophies from all of the available events. Josh won 2nd place in Men's Haircutting and 2nd again for Men's Fashion Colour. Peter was even more impressive with 1st prize in Women's Haircutting, 3rd place in Women's High Fashion Colour and 1st again for Avante Garde couple. Well done guys! Next assignment for these two talents is the big stage at Hair Expo as a part of Chumba's Creative Team for Excellent Edges Scissorsmiths.

Mural completed at Windsor

Excerpt from Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine "Filmmaker Rob Henry just finished a video piece on Melbourne artist Nate Gamble. “I worked with him for an extended period while he was painting a wall in a store on Chapel St,” writes Rob. “Most of his work is done with the spray can but like this one, he's done a few others recently with the brush that have been solid.” Watch Nate Gamble’s journey and hear him speak about his multifaceted work here."

AHFA Colourist of the Year Finalist

We mentioned a few months ago in October that the Chumba Creative team was cooking up something big... the project that we had keep under wraps was our photographic collection entry into the Australian Hair Fashion Awards 2009.
We can now proudly announce that after the international judging (held in London) our very own Creative Director; Belinda Keeley-Watts was announced as one of only four finalists in the prestigious Colourist of the Year category.

click here for the press release >>

Artwork in progress at Chapel Street

Here’s Nat one of our local artists at Chapel St Chumba. Nat’s doing a complete wrap around mural in the salon’s basin room. Looks great so! There’s a documentary about this work being filmed so look out for that in the future too.

Chumba’s a Circus

We’re proud to be assisting NICA (National Institute of Circus Arts) in their upcoming production-- Rhapsody
The team at Chumba Chapel St has been asked to design and execute the hair styles for this event. Needless to say we’ll see some hair-razing moves.See website >>

More new stuff at Chapel St

More reno’s at Chapet St... now it’s looking more like a Chumba Salon...progress is being made at the Windsor salon. Who knows what we'll uncover next! Every salon has a story and this one is of no exception.

Behind the scenes of our latest shoot

In the first week of October we set about shooting our latest hair collection. We used a studio in Richmond called Lot Four which is a really beautiful space in which to work.
Our photographer , Andrew O’Toole and his talented team of make up artist Kylie O’Toole, Emma Cottrell plus assistants made the day a huge success. We can’t show you the results yet as the collection is to be sent away for judging in the AHJ Hairdresser of the Year 2009 awards. We’ll show what we achieved shortly before Xmas...

Spot the Salon - Shortcuts Software

Does this image look familiar? Yup - it’s one of our styling rooms at Chumba Warragul. Shortcuts Software is the World’s leading Salon Management Software. We use this to manage all of our salons. They asked us a while ago if they could use one of our interior images as the hero shot for a new streamlined package that they have. So here it is - looks great! click here >>

Kevin Murphy featured in the Age

Kevin Murphy - uber stylist, brand creator and close friend of Chumba - recently featured in the Sunday Age. The interview talks about Kevin’s career path and is a great insight into the man, the brand and the opportunities hairdressers have in our great industry. It’s a must read click this link to see it >>

Backstage at Spring Fashion Week

Spring Fashion week to our Chumba team means blowing out the winter cobwebs and getting stuck in to the backstage mayhem that is Melbourne Fashion Week. In this backstage shot Tania (Warragul) joins forces with Kevin Murphy to produce another stunning show.