Every finalist in the 2026 Kent Health, Hair & Beauty Awards, ahead of the ceremony in Ashford on 16 October
Hair, beauty and wellbeing businesses from across Kent have been shortlisted for this year’s county awards, from a one-woman salon in a field outside Maidstone to a training academy on a Faversham back street.
The Kent Health, Hair & Beauty Awards published their 2026 finalists this month: 121 finalist places across 20 categories. Because many are shortlisted more than once, the list covers just under 60 businesses and practitioners in all. Two of them, Bleu Rose Aesthetics and The Medical Massage Lady, are finalists in four categories each.
The winners will be announced at the Ashford International Hotel on 16 October. The awards are run by Kent Business Awards, whose co-founders Hilary Steel and Sue Steel also run the Kent Women in Business Awards.
Nominations are open to the public, and the shortlist and the winners are then decided by a judging panel. The organisers said they received more than 150 nominations this year and that it is “not a popularity voted for system”.
“The judging panel have already commented that the standard of entries this year is extremely strong and they welcome the opportunity to discover new talent across the county,” Sue Steel, co-founder of the awards, told Kent Local News.
One finalist has already placed second in the UK
Karistyle, which appears in three Kent categories, has already been named national runner-up for Best Home Salon at a separate set of industry awards. The UK Hair & Beauty Awards published Karistyle second in that category in their official national list for 2026, behind Lucy’s Beauty Studio in Swansea. The result was announced at the AO Arena in Manchester on 15 August.
The salon is a purpose-built pod on a family smallholding at Otham, near Maidstone, run single-handed by Karis Petersen. It began, she said, in the hallway of her old house in Paddock Wood after lockdown, and moved to Otham when she joined her husband Neil on the smallholding. The pod itself arrived in March 2025.
“I’m essentially one woman working from a pod on a smallholding in Otham, so it still feels slightly surreal,” she said of the national placing.
She said the biggest change had been confidence rather than bookings. “When you’re working by yourself from home, you don’t necessarily have the same benchmarks around you that you would in a large salon. Being recognised nationally has made me realise that what I’ve created here can stand alongside businesses from anywhere in the country.”
Her advice to others running a business from home in Kent was “not to underestimate what you’re building just because it’s small or because it’s based at home”.
Kent Local News reported the national result in full on 10 September: Otham salon in a pod on a smallholding placed second in the UK for best home salon.
Karistyle is shortlisted in Kent for Home Based Business of the Year, Hair & Beauty Business of the Year, and Karis Petersen for Hair Stylist of the Year.
A Faversham academy training young people into the trade
Prestige Beauty Academy, in Jacobs Yard off Preston Street in Faversham, is shortlisted in two categories, Community Impact Award and Industry Trainer of the Year, for its training of young people, including learners with special educational needs and with education, health and care plans.
Its founder and principal, Mary Hickson, appears on the organiser’s shortlist as Mary Smith. Ms Hickson told Kent Local News that Smith is her maiden name and that the academy is registered under Hickson; Companies House records her as the sole director of Prestige Beauty Academy Ltd, incorporated in August 2025. The organisers said they publish the trading names and personal details supplied by each applicant. The list below reproduces the shortlist as they published it.
Ms Hickson said every learner currently at the academy has an education, health and care plan. Three are completing City & Guilds qualifications, she said, with more expected to start over the next month or so, and each leaves with a full City & Guilds qualification in a chosen field such as nail technology, beauty therapy or massage. The academy provides that training alongside practical experience in a working salon.
“We don’t just want our learners to leave with a certificate,” she said. “We want them to leave believing in themselves, knowing what they can achieve and having real skills that can help them move forward in life.”
Two categories will not go ahead
The organisers list two categories as unable to proceed this year: Nutrition & Wellness Business of the Year and Fitness Professional of the Year. They told Kent Local News that a category only goes ahead if it attracts at least ten nominations, to make it viable.
The full 2026 shortlist
Finalists as published by Kent Business Awards on 5 September 2026 and unchanged when re-checked on 10 September, reproduced in the organiser’s own wording and order. Where a person is named alongside a business, that is how the organiser listed the entry.
New Business of the Year
- Carley Burke Aesthetics
- Manifest Aesthetics
- Fit Mum Squad UK
- Inferno Beauty
- Revitalise Head Spa & Wellness
- Your Tanning Hub
Home Based Business of the Year
- Halo Nails
- Secret Oasis Beauty
- The Hair Room
- Karistyle
- Blossom with Lisa
- Brows by Sharn
- Manifest Aesthetics
Hair Salon of the Year
- JY Hair
- Your Hair Hub
- Luxfords Hair & Beauty
- Sian Hair and Beauty
Beauty Salon of the Year
- LS Lashes & Beauty
- Therapy on the Farm
- The Foundry
- The Secret Spa
- Twinoaks Beauty
- Mischicks Day Spa
- Secret Oasis Beauty
Nail Salon of the Year
- Polished and Pampered by Jen
- Sophies Cosy Corner
- Handsdown Nail Services
Innovation Award
- Clare Cross – The Women’s Wellness Clinic
- Sam Mishra – The Medical Massage Lady
- Sharon Vatcher – PMUbySharon_Aesthetics
- Tawa Dowling – TD Aesthetics
- Tracy May – Spiritual Tree
- Vanessa Lawrance – Mischicks Day Spa
Service Excellence Award
- Jo Shapter – East Kent Foot care
- Maria Hammond – Japanese Head Spa Co.
- Cherie Bennett – Natural Definitions Specialist in Permanent Makeup
- Lorraine Smith – Lorraine’s Treatment Room
- Rachel Carter – The Secret Spa
- Tawa Dowling – TD Aesthetics
- Zena Jago – Revitalise Head Spa & Wellness
- Laura Price – LP Nail Artistry
Industry Trainer of the Year
- Charlotte Harding – CH Aesthetics & Training
- Donna Waugh & Charlotte Waugh – Whitstable Beauty School
- Maria Hammond – Japanese Head Spa Co.
- Mary Smith – Prestige Beauty and Wellness / Prestige Beauty Academy
- Sam Mishra – The Medical Massage Lady
- Victoria Corcoran – Bleu Rose Aesthetics
- Rebecca Nutt – Serenity Health & Beauty
Hair & Beauty Business of the Year
- Whitstable Beauty School
- Karistyle
- Luxfords Hair & Beauty
- Sian Hair and Beauty
- The Kailana Lounge
Health & Wellbeing Business of the Year
- Flex and Flow Chiropractic Kent
- The Women’s Wellness Clinic
- Therapy on the Farm
- The Medical Massage Lady
- Revitalise Head Spa & Wellness
- Jo Adams Coaching
- Fit Mum Squad UK
Skin Clinic of the Year
- Skin and Medical Cosmetics
- Carley Burke Aesthetics
- Twinoaks Beauty
- Manifest Aesthetics
- Serenity Health & Beauty
- TD Aesthetics
- Bleu Rose Aesthetics
- Elysian
Community Impact Award
- Fiona Shoults & Rachel Chapman – The Boobie Brunch
- Niki Young – Ashford Menopause Mingle
- Jo Holden – Your Hair Hub
- Clare Cross – The Women’s Wellness Clinic
- Jo Shapter – East Kent Foot care
- Mary Smith – Prestige Beauty and Wellness / Prestige Beauty Academy
Hair Stylist of the Year
- Polly Kent – Linehan and Co
- Jennifer Skilton – JY Hair
- Jessica Knibb – Jessica Hair
- Karis Petersen – Karistyle
- Lorilee Luxford – Luxfords Hair & Beauty
- Sian Brown – Sian Hair and Beauty
Beauty Therapist of the Year
- Lisa-Kay Muggridge – Lisa-Kay’s Beauty Box
- Nicola George – Serenity Health And Beauty
- Ami Southon – Therapy on the Farm
- Becky Hargreaves – Beauty & Wellbeing by Becky
- Rosanna Sulovari – Twinoaks Beauty
- Julie Luckhurst – Secret Oasis Beauty
- Sharn Clare – Brows by Sharn
- Melissa Funnell – Stradbrook Skin and Beauty Clinic
- Victoria Davis – Auream Clinic
Nail Artist of the Year
- Louise Fraser – Nails by Louise 13
- Ruby Huxen – Faversham Quarters Beauty and Wellness
- Sophie Donaldson – Sophies Cosy Corner
- Viktoria Harris – Handsdown Nail Services
- Becky Hargreaves – Beauty & Wellbeing by Becky
- Laura Price – LP Nail Artistry
Permanent Make-up Artist of the Year
- Rebecca Nutt – Serenity Health & Beauty
- Sharon Vatcher – PMUbySharon_Aesthetics
- Natasha Oxford – Infinity
- Genette Clark-Jones – Genette PMU & Fine Line Artist
Aesthetic Practitioner of the Year
- Charlotte Harding – CH Aesthetics & Training
- Dr Raquel Amado – Skin and Medical Cosmetics
- Victoria Corcoran – Bleu Rose Aesthetics
- Carley Burke – Carley Burke Aesthetics
- Jayne Webster – Auream Clinic
- Lauren Jenkins – Elysian
Health Hair and Beauty Champion of the Year
- Charlotte Waugh – Whitstable Beauty School
- Jo Shapter – East Kent Foot care
- Lorraine Smith – Lorraine’s Treatment Room
- Maria Hammond – Japanese Head Spa Co.
- Victoria Corcoran – Bleu Rose Aesthetics
- Vanessa Lawrance – Mischicks Day Spa
Mobile Business of the Year
- The Hair Room
- Lisa-Kay’s Beauty Box
- Inferno Beauty
Complementary Health Practitioner
- Jodie Hudson-Garret – Flex and Flow Chiropractic Kent
- Lisa Austin – Blossom with Lisa
- Rachel Carter – The Secret Spa
- Sam Mishra – The Medical Massage Lady
- Tracy May – Spiritual Tree
- Lisa-Kay Muggridge – Lisa-Kay’s Beauty Box
- Lorraine Smith – Lorraine’s Treatment Room
What happens next
The winners are announced on the night at the Ashford International Hotel on 16 October, and the organisers say the results will be published later that evening or the following morning.
If you are on this list and would like to tell us what the recognition means for your business, we would like to hear from you at editor@kentlocalnews.co.uk. We will report the results after the ceremony.
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Sources
- Kent Business Awards, 2026 HABA Finalists — https://kentawards.co.uk/2026-haba-finalists/ (archived by Kent Local News, 5 September 2026)
- The UK Hair & Beauty Awards, Official UK National Top 100 List 2026 — published via the organiser’s 2026 results page, https://hairandbeautyawards.co.uk/
- Companies House, Prestige Beauty Academy Ltd, company no. 16681559
- Written responses to Kent Local News from Sue Steel, co-founder, Kent Business Awards, 9 September 2026
- Written responses to Kent Local News from Mary Hickson, founder and principal, Prestige Beauty Academy, 9 September 2026
- Written responses to Kent Local News from Karis Petersen, 4 September 2026