Hairdresser opens own salon after big lottery win

Four lucky hairdressers have opened their own Salon after winning £2.9million on the National Lottery.

When the girls each won £418,000 as part of a workplace syndicate they vowed to keep working. But the Salons owner who was also part of the winning syndicate opted to sell the business and made all staff members redundant.

Then one of the syndicate winners, Natalie McDonald decided to purchase an empty shop close to their old premises and within 3 months renovated the property and had it ready for business.

Now 26 year old Natalie and three of her ex-colleagues are working in the newly opened salon, Bliss - for the same salary that they received in their previous positions.

Natalie from Ibrox in Glasgow said:-

"We love working here doing what we do best.

The customers are all brilliant - they appreciate that we work here because we love it and are passionate about what we do. We were gutted when the old salon was sold and we were made redundant, so I thought, 'I'm going to open one of my own'.

It's the best thing I've ever done - it feels great to see something like this through all the way from an idea to seeing the look on the customers' faces.

It was nerve-racking at first - even with money behind you, you never know quite what is going to happen to a new business.

But it was an instant success - loads of our old customers followed us here and locals seem to really like us too.

We're busier than ever - I've hardly noticed the credit crunch at all. People always ask if we argue a lot but we don't - less than before.

We're best pals and we love working together."

Despite earning more than £30,000 each in interest from their syndicate winnings, the four hairdressers insist that they will continue to work at Bliss for the foreseeable future.

Lottery operators Camelot have confirmed that one in three big winners of the National Lottery continue to work after a big win.