These amazing transformations are brought to you by #ONESHOT Hair Awards held by Behind The Chair―the largest community in the world for salon professionals to explore education possibilities and draw inspiration. The annual contest has received over 1,000,000 entries in different categories in only 5 years. There are two overall categories hairstylists can submit to: “Big Shot“ for pictures shot in a professional studio setting and “Hot Shot,” which celebrates real and raw hairstyles done behind the chair. To bring it down to Earth, in this post, we have compiled a list of raw before and after pics of contest winners and finalists across the years. These transformations show the hottest hairstyles and color trends that hairstylists masterfully transfer to clients' hair.

Most of us dream of that perfect hairstyle that will turn heads, and it shows. The competition has 118k followers on Instagram while Behind The Chair has 1.7M. Though not everyone is brave enough to rock edgy haircuts and vibrant colors, these accounts throw out so much content every day that anyone can find something they fancy and would find suitable for day-to-day life. Or maybe even inspire you to step out of your comfort zone and try something out of the box? Anyway, if we can take one lesson from the #ONESHOT awards, it would definitely be to put down the kitchen scissors when you are tempted to chop off your heavy locks and look for a professional who will take good care of you.

A new hairstyle is not only about aesthetics, it’s usually way beyond that―a way of finding self-love and needed confidence. Experimenting with your hair can help you express yourself and it can actually be a lot of fun. But the most important part―it grows back! This is why we love sharing inspiring before and after photos of hair transformations. Find more posts with epic hair makeovers you should look at here, here, here, and here.