What We Loved About The Moroccanoil Collective 2025

Creative HEAD hit up Las Vegas with Joy Salon Services – this is what we brought back (along with a lot of merch)

by AMANDA | INFORM

There are plenty of reasons to visit Las Vegas – Elvis impersonators, 24-hour casino buffets, quickie weddings – but Moroccanoil give their community an irresistible cause… The Collective! This is an inspirational event to drive both creativity and business, while also including the brand’s Global Hair Competition and plenty of fun (think pool parties and club nights sprinkled in among the workshops).

Joy Salon Services, the UK distributor of Moroccanoil, hosted a contingent of stylists and salon owners, along with Aston & Fincher, at this second Collective event, at the jaw-dropping Fontainebleau. And no one left disappointed – this is what blew us away from The Collective event this year…

Gareth Williams and Oana Cioufu

The Workshops

Attendees had the opportunity to choose from an amazing array of practical workshops, and we got to sit in on four belters. Starting with Nancy Dobell’s The New Normal – she’s the senior global director of business and brand development at Moroccanoil – we got a brilliantly helpful insight into consumer beauty and shopping trends and how salons can maximise the opportunities they present – Nancy had even devised an exclusive AI programme to help attendees come up with service menus around key calendar dates and themes.

On the subject of AI, Social Beauty Makers podcast host, Gordon Miller, lifted the lid on how best to maximise the different AI platforms out there, showcasing both the creative opportunities (animating still imagery) and the business possibilities (we met his AI assistant, Mary!).

Curl Explosion with Greg Gilmore and Tatiana Dudley shared some wonderfully useful techniques and tips for textured clients, while the UK’s Gareth Williams (joined by Oana Cioufu) revealed some dimensional blonde techniques that anyone in the audience could take straight back to the salon and start earning from.

Nicole Wilson, Global Hair Competition winner 2023

The Opportunity

The Collective includes Moroccanoil’s Global Hair Competition, with the finalists given the chance to present a collection on stage and work with theMoroccanoil team backstage at the iconic Eurovision. The overall winner? Well, they scoop $10,000, a salon retail package worth $5,000 and $2,500 of education at the Moroccanoil Academy in New York. Not bad at all – in 2023, Nicole Wilson from Northern Ireland was the winner and presented her models on stage this year in Vegas.

Global Hair Competition winner 2025 Tatiana from Puerto Rico, with Antonio Corral Calero

The Community

With a serious number of global attendees, there’s the chance to engage with salon owners and independent stylists from around the world. The support from the brand is felt throughout, and audience members we spoke to discussed how being part of Moroccanoil truly felt like a family, with pees that share ideas and lift up others. And there was no better example than the reaction to the Puerto Rico’s @tati.hair.magic winning this year’s Global Hair Competition – flags and vuvuzelas aplenty!

Robert Ham and Kevin Hughes

The Fun

We cannot undersell just how much fun the Moroccanoil team seems to be having on stage at the evening hair presentations. We’re talking choreographed dances, comedy skits, dream sequences with forest nymphs and a giant AI horse… props to senior vice president of global education, Robert Ham; global creative director, Antonio Corral Calero and vice president of artistry, Kevin Hughes, for being so game (and often in sequins, too!).

Oh, and the welcome pool party, with pina colada ice lollies in the brand’s iconic blue and inflatable Moroccanoil bottles? Yes, that’s how to welcome your guests with style.

The Merch!

The pop-up shop meant that you can put a serious dent in your credit card with all that azure-coloured merchandise – from cosy hoodies (good when the aircon was fierce) to silky dressing gowns to tie-dye tote bags, there was a plethora of goodies to shop (or win, with everyone receiving a voucher to play prize-laden games). Again, this all added to that community vibe, a sea of blue greeting you every time you arrived for the next happening. Very clever indeed…

Abby Whittaker on mic

Oh, and a shout out to Abby Whittaker, director of education for Joy Salon Services, who flew the UK flag on stage during a breakout panel discussion on reputation and education in hairdressing… and received some brilliant audience reaction too!