Woodland hair stylist finishes third in national contest

Hair stylist Lea Graves of Woodland finished third of three finalists Sunday in the national Masters of Beauty competition in New York City.

“I was a little disappointed but I’m super-happy that I got to come, and I won a thousand bucks and four classes,”Graves said. “It was an honor being able to get this far. … I got this far out of hundreds of people. It was a really big accomplishment for me.”

Graves is a stylist at Vancouver’s Essentials Day Spa & Salon. All expenses on her trip were paid by Masters of Beauty. She said she did not cut hair at the finals; she was named a finalist for photos of her work on model Tabi Evans of Vancouver.

A story about the stylist appeared on Page D1 of Friday’s Columbian.

Did that article get her any response?

“Oh my gosh, tons of people,” Graves said. “My phone is getting flooded with new clients and my clients, and it’s really cool.”

Graves said her mom, Teresa Schultz of Vancouver, accompanied her to the Big Apple. She said they loved shopping.

You can see Graves and the other two finalists by going to Facebook and then typing “Masters of Beauty.”