Hairdressing final of the 25th Competition: one of the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France

Christine Margossian

Nicolas Christ, what does represent the competition of the MOF in 2015 whereas the first labor national exhibition took place in October 1924 at the Hôtel de Ville of Paris inaugurated by the President of the Republic Gaston Doumergue ?
This competition has always represented the professional skills of any craftsperson with the concern of perfection. The challenges of our profession have evolved with modernity. The technique is associated to art with more and more creativity. The candidate of the 25th competition has more liberty regarding his/her expression but he/she still needs three years of preparation to practice every day at the regional and national level.

How many hairdressers are there ?
At the beginning, we were 85. 39 were qualified and that Sunday 18 finalists were ready.

Does the competition have more value due to the modernization of the challenges?
Yes, it does, the level of exigency is still high due to new challenges. The relation between the difficulty and the technique is still the same. For example the two last competitions: the penultimate one, during which you were jury Christine, didn't see any MOF and for the last session, only one candidate obtained the supreme qualification…

What are the tests of the finale ?
There are four final tests:

Haircut blow dry hair color 40 min
Wedding hairstyle 50 min
Free transformation haircut 40 min
Themed hairstyle 120 min, among which 30 min of preparation.
Technical artistic file presenting the project on a multimedia support for a maximum of 5 min. It will contain drawings, sketches, methods used for the project and will be illustrated with pictures presenting the different steps.

Why is the title of MOF not so broadcasted like gastronomy ?
Any discipline has a favorite field and for the MOF it's cooking ! But this does not detract the merit of the 160 professions which participate to that competition. We must play with communication even more. However, that profession starts to attract more and more medias.
The tv program projects are many and TF1 was the first. Other channels like M6, France 2 and Arte have also their own concepts regarding that profession.

You talked about favorite field Nicolas, don't you think that this is also a problem? The MOF of gastronomy evolve in the luxury places, it's not the case for the hairdressers !
There are restaurant "codified" high end, this doesn't exist in our profession. I particularly think about the stars and the macaroons awarded to cooks and the exigencies. The hairdresser is not about to go that far ! And those who can do that are rather the franchisers contrary to the independent artisans.

Even if the artistic part is not anymore the target of the providers, What would you say to the hairdressers about their artistic future after the competition ?
I don't think that the artistic part is not part of the future anymore. I just think that since a few years, the great brands are expecting new talents… The hairdressers on stage must know how to work, to have a real stage presence and to express themselves before we can bet on them. Though, I can see a real enthusiasm which supports the French team. Just yesterday, we were received by the company l’Oréal this means that the hairdresser must be efficient and his/her talent will keep being on the stage.