In high school, Megan Teixiera’s bag was more likely to be filled with hair products than textbooks. That interest never wavered.

At 19, she left the island to study hairdressing in Britain and is now a stylist with Salon Pink.

“At school I’d just be braiding or styling their hair at lunch time or at the tables,” the Mount St Agnes alum said.

““I was always into beauty. At one point I was into make-up, nails and beauty in general, but I just enjoyed hairdressing the most.”

She left the island in 2013 for a two-year course at Kingston College. On graduating, she joined the creative team at Rush Hair & Beauty, a chain of hairdressers across London, Essex and the South East of England known for its prominent clients.

“The creative team were the ones who put on the big shows for the London catwalks and who had their stand at conferences like Salon International,” she said. “The last one we did was in October at the ExCeL Centre.

“Sometimes there’d be people from different British television shows in the salon but I never really knew who they were because I grew up watching American TV. Everyone else in the salon would be going crazy.

“I didn’t personally have any celebrity clients, but I did have some executives. Before I left, one guy who I had in my chair was actually the man who helped to build and design Bermuda’s new hospital.”

She spent a year at the London salon. It taught her how to be more independent and how to make her work stand out.

“London is a big place and you learn more about yourself while you’re out there. Sometimes you have to get away from this small island and work towards something bigger.

“In England, you’re a little fish in a big pond and standing out is hard but it’s a really great feeling if you do.

“My manager would measure how many clients we had in a week and put that number up on a chart to motivate and encourage us to do better. My boss had 20 clients each week. I was there for just over a year, and by the time I left I had 18.

“People liked hearing about where I was from. When you have good conversation skills and a genuine passion for what you do, the clients see that and feed off it. Ending up in a good salon really allowed me to grow into my own. My boss and the manager were fantastic. There were ten to 14 stylists there and we all got along well.”

She lived in Mitcham Eastfields, just outside the bustling city centre.

“I loved it in London,” she said. “That might not be a big thing for everyone, but I was [young] and had both of my certifications in hairdressing and had an advanced academy award from Rush. I thought, ‘I can’t believe this is my life. I’m 21 and have it all. What’s the next stop?’.”

She’d done an apprenticeship for two years with Salon Pink while in high school; owner Pink Emery helped her to apply for the government bursary that paid for her UK course.

There was no question she’d work anywhere other than the Parliament Street salon once she decided to return home.

“The reason I came home this year was for the obvious reason of missing my family,” she said. “I also wanted to bring back everything I could to the island.

“My confidence now is through the roof. I know I have so much more to learn, but I’m ready for it. I’m excited to be back but one of my biggest fears about being back in Bermuda was getting stuck in a rut.

“There’s not as much going on like in London. I was very concerned with getting bored or being stagnant, but at Salon Pink there’s more opportunity and a lot going on.

“We are active on social media and constantly trying to find more creative things to do.

“When we do hair for a photoshoot we get to be fully hands-on with that and have the chance to be creative as stylists.

“When I left I felt Bermuda was too conservative, but I’ve seen a lot more people coming in and saying, ‘Do what you want with my hair’. We have a little more creative freedom, and that’s what I like.”