Kelly Manu won this year\u2019s Hairstylist of the Year Award, presented by Beautiful Environment (Davines NZ). <\/p>\n
\n Who they are: Kelly Manu is a session stylist, educator and founder of Auckland salon Una, and already has many prestigious awards under her belt. She was named the New Zealand Professional Hairdresser
\n of the Year at the New Zealand Hair Awards in 2025, won New Zealand Hair Salon of the Year for Una at the Industry Awards in 2023, and was named the National Grand Winner of the L\u2019Oreal Professionnel Style & Colour Trophy in 2022.\n <\/p>\n
A long-time contributor to Viva, Manu also sat on this year\u2019s Viva Beauty Awards judging panel. She was unable to nominate herself as Hairstylist of the Year, but was put forward by others who recognised her talent. Excluded from the judging panel for this category, our other judges deemed her a worthy finalist, and she then won the public vote by a country mile.<\/p>\n
Manu is a regular on the international Fashion Week circuit, having worked on shows for New York Fashion Week, New Zealand Fashion Week and, most recently, the Melbourne Fashion Festival in her roles as a L\u2019Oreal Professionnel Pro Artist and Ghd Creative Artist.<\/p>\n
Una is a waste-free business and has partnered with Sustainable Salons to divert salon waste from landfill. Plastics are repurposed, metals are sold and donated, hair is collected to clean up oil spills, and ponytails are donated to be repurposed into wigs.<\/p>\n
What the judges said: \u201cTo have Kelly recognised as this year\u2019s Hairstylist of the Year is so well deserved,\u201d said Rachel Soo Thow, a former beauty executive and content creator.<\/p>\n
\u201cKelly takes such great pride not only in her work but also in her clients, with the biggest smile on her face. Passion and sustainability run rampant throughout Kelly\u2019s portfolio and her salon, Una, and the recognition that hair is a person\u2019s signature remains a strong mantra.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What our beauty editor said: \u201cIt\u2019s about time Kelly Manu made more space on her mantelpiece. She\u2019s a worthy winner of this year\u2019s Viva Beauty Awards 2026 Hairstylist of the Year award,\u201d says Viva beauty editor Ashleigh Cometti.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer background in graphic design serves her well as both a colour expert for L\u2019Oreal Professionnel and a New Zealand French balayage expert, as confident working with both wigs and real hair as she is creating lived-in blonde or rainbow pastel hues.\u201d<\/p>\n
What the winner said: \u201cI can\u2019t even describe what it means [to me],\u201d Manu told Viva at the Beauty Awards Gala on Tuesday night after collecting her trophy. \u201cI feel really grateful to be honoured amongst my amazing peers, who I\u2019m a really big fan of. I\u2019ve always been the bridesmaid, never the bride [in this category], so I feel really, really happy and stoked to have won.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Where to find her: When Manu is not travelling the globe, you\u2019ll find her leading the team of professional stylists at Una, in the heart of Ponsonby.<\/p>\n
The salon\u2019s lavender exterior is hard to miss, and inside you\u2019ll find an equally calming space complete with poppy floral motifs, a plush purple couch, and 3D-printed stools to rest your coffee or wine throughout your appointment.<\/p>\n
More Viva Beauty Awards 2026<\/p>\n
Meet all the winners from this year\u2019s Viva Beauty Awards 2026; go behind-the-scenes with our judging panel; and learn about other leading brands who took out the top prizes below. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kelly Manu won this year\u2019s Hairstylist of the Year Award, presented by Beautiful Environment (Davines NZ). Who they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2246,806,2346,10779,28822,1244,3390,3595,238695,156,273,2536,234522,18220,48955,111,139,69,1118,15225,72775,223,1961,159,22052,379,1530,197],"class_list":["post-472814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-2246","tag-as","tag-award","tag-awards","tag-beautiful","tag-beauty","tag-best","tag-by","tag-davines","tag-entertainment","tag-environment","tag-hair","tag-hairstylist","tag-kelly","tag-manu","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-presented","tag-stylist","tag-the","tag-this","tag-viva","tag-voted","tag-year","tag-years","tag-you"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}