A local man has won a prestigious hairdressing award.

James Abu-Ulba, a Cloverdale resident, was named 鈥淐anadian Hairstylist of the Year鈥� at the Contessa Awards gala in Toronto in November. Salon Magazine's Contessa Awards are the most prestigious and longest running professional awards for hairstylists in Canada. 

Abu-Ulba works at , a health and wellness salon in Langley. He also runs , a teaching platform. According to his website, 鈥淢ethod Education provides a unique learning experience through the study of classic and innovative hair techniques.鈥�

Abu-Ulba said he鈥檚 鈥渧ery honoured鈥� to be named stylist of the year for 2025 and said it was 鈥減retty cool鈥� to hear his name called out at the awards ceremony.

鈥淚t has definitely been a career goal of mine since I started about 27 years ago," he said. "It's nice to have that finally checked off the list."

In order to get into the contest Abu-Ulba needed to submit several examples of his work.

鈥淭ypically the work is more couture than it would be commercial salon work,鈥� he explained. 鈥淏asically trying to push the industry forward.鈥�

He said he had to survive a multi-stage judging process in the contest鈥攋udges narrow the field down a few times and then in October the name of the semi-finalists, then in November they name of the finalists. Those top 10 finishers get invited to the national awards gala, which was held at the Westin Harbour Castle in Toronto.

Abu-Ulba will now hold the Contessa Award title as hairstylist of the year for all of 2025.

The two biggest awards at the gala were won by people from B.C. Along with the hairstylist of the year award, Vancouver鈥檚 Beau Salon won the Canadian Salon Team award. And Olivia Berttall, from Sin 7 Salon in White Rock, captured the British Columbia Hairstylist of the year award.

鈥淚'm just proud to come from B.C. and have so many other British Columbians recognized and to have won some big awards,鈥� he noted. 鈥淚 think it's awesome that we have people here with such high creativity.鈥�

Abu-Ulba said part and parcel to being a great stylist is being someone who can stay relevant.

鈥淚n the hair industry, as long as your name is known you're going to have longevity," he said. "For me, that's more of what it's about鈥攃ontinuing to stay relevant and reinventing ideas, so you don't fade away.鈥�

Abu-Ulba said he won't sit back and savour the win with a bout of inactivity. While he is revelling in the joy that comes with this new jewel in the crown of his career, he is going to work even harder to try and win the award again next year.

"It doesn't happen too often, but it's been done before over the 36-year history of the awards, he noted. "It's definitely a challenge to win two years in a row. The competition is steep."

For now Abu-Ulba will focus on Method Education. He's heading off to Italy for a seminar in mid-January. When he gets back, then he鈥檒l start working on his plan to capture his second consecutive Canadian Hairstylist of the Year award.

For a full list of winners, visit