A salon, where the mother is saving her daughter a seat to join her when she finishes college, is a finalist in Lancashire Telegraph’s ‘Best Beauty Salon 2024’.

LMN Hair and Beauty, in Hollingreave Road, Burnley, was opened in 2019 and fulfilled a lifelong dream of owner Nicola Duckworth.

Having worked in the care sector she had always wanted to move into the beauty industry but struggled when leaving school.

Now owning her own salon, she aims to also support her daughter Lexi’s dream of working with nails and supporting her on her journey.

Nicola said: “I would be so proud as a salon I started just before Covid hit and I have been in here for five years.

“I have never been put forward for something, so being top 10 and then winning it, I would be so proud.

“I don’t think I realised how many people you actually serve and how many are grateful to you and love doing what you do.

“I was actually speechless, and anyone who knows me that doesn't happen often, I don’t shut up.”

Run as a family business, with LMN standing for the names of her and her daughters, Lexi, 15, currently helps out on a Saturday, when she has her own clients and practices blow-dries.

While Nicola mainly focuses on hair, Lexi wants to go into nails which she is currently taking courses in before doing hair at college next year.

Her clients say she goes above and beyond and Nicole works with a mental health home and provides a range of haircuts, lash and eyebrow treatments to all her clients.  

Nicola added: “I only have two chairs so it isquieter and it is more personal and you can have more one-to-one time with people.

“When you are a hairdresser or a beauty therapist you are also a counsellor, you are a teacher and people like that.”

Having worked in the housekeeping section of a care home for most of her life Nicola realised that her passion had always been in hair and beauty and returned to college to complete her level 2 and level 3 qualifications.

After doing beauty courses between colleges and other training academies she started her business just months before the pandemic hit but since then it has continued to grow due, she thinks, to people wanting a less crowded salon.

She added: “The eight years before I opened the salon I was sat at work and thought, what do I want to do with my life? I always knew that hair and beauty was my dream.”

Readers can vote for the ‘Best Beauty Salon 2024’ by picking up copies of the Lancashire Telegraph between Monday, September 30 to Saturday, October 12.