Gold Winner Fred Connors, FRED. Beauty Food Art
Silver Winner Heidi Rofe, Beauty Starts Hair
Bronze Winner Teresa Fisher, Thumpers Salon
Fred Connors---whose resume includes previous Best of gold wins for Hair Stylist, an ambitious salon/bistro/gallery named after himself, plus a record of outspoken political activism that long predates his backyard poultry feather-ruffling---has been Halifamous for a while. But in recent years, his amazing talent for brutal-yet-endearing honesty in matters of personal aesthetics has made him a star. As the makeover guy on X-Weighted, Connors says he’s “on TV 20 times a week in reruns that continue to be incredibly popular.” He’s been stopped on the street in New York by people who want to take his picture. He’s been stopped in Paris! Still, the hair’s the thing. Typical days he’s working at the salon 8am to 8pm. Earlier in 2011 he took a team to Montreal for the L’Oréal Professionnel Colour Trophy, the first styling competition he’s entered in his 26 years in the industry, brought home gold as top salon team in Atlantic Canada, then got back to work, swearing off hair contests. As for this readers’ poll win, he credits the team around him. “Fill a room with attractive, hip young people who are good at what they do, and people notice.”