HIGHLAND News Group 10 Years Younger competition winner Yvonne McLeod is almost at the end of her 12-week makeover, with the big reveal taking place next week.
Over the last two months she has been preened and pampered to perfection and this week it was the turn of top hairdresser Lynda Dick to work her magic to tame and tend to the school janitor's tresses.
Lynda, of Hair Directory, one of the main sponsors of the £8,000 contest has two branches in Inverness at Bridge Street and Balloan Park.
Hair Directory holds the Wella Master Colour Award, and a L'Oreal Colour Trophy. Lynda herself has the L'Oreal Colour Keys Award and she recently graduated from the Vidal Sassoon Academy in creative colour and cutting.
Lynda, who was also recently a runner up in the Scottish Hairdresser of the year awards, said: "Her hair is very, very fine and there was no volume to it. Over the last few weeks we have been restructuring her hair to smoothen and strengthen it. We have effectively been changing the texture of it to get it in the best condition for when we give her the new look.
"However, you will have to wait for the big reveal to find out exactly what we plan to do to Yvonne's locks."
Whilst Lynda would not reveal what her team have planned for our winner, Yvonne, who works at Coulhill Primary School in Alness, has firm ideas what she wants for her bonce.
"I don't want it short and I really want to keep the length," she said. "I need to be able to pin it up as I am out to work early in the morning and don't have time to style it. I used to have it short when I was 15 but I had loads of time then to work with it.
"I would love extensions but I am not sure they are going to do that. Some of my friends have them and they add so much body."
She added: "I have no idea what they are planning on doing, Lynda is really keeping me in suspense."
She added: "At the moment my hair has no body to it. All this has been so exciting."
Yvonne was picked from dozens of entries for our fantastic 10 Years Younger competition. As well as her hair treatments, she has been undergoing cosmetic treatments by Harley Aesthetics Scotland and she has also had access to a personal trainer courtesy of Fit4Less on Harbour Road.
She has also been given veneers by the Eden Dental Clinic and got a personal shopper experience and new outfit from Debenhams.
* The "Big Reveal" will take place in Debenhams in the city's Eastgate Centre on Sunday at 2pm. Turn up to get a first glimpse of Yvonne's new look. And pick up next week's Highland News for the full story of her transformation.
