City & Guilds Success Story - Sharon Hilditch

Beauty and cosmetic entrepreneur Sharon Hilditch began her meteoritic rise in skin care at the age of 17, quickly achieving a City & Guilds qualification in hairdressing and beauty therapy. With the driving ambition bought her first salon at 18 and a few years later, launched a second salon with great commercial success.

Moving in the right direction for a place on the City & Guilds Vocational Rich List, Hilditch sold both her
salons for a sizable profit, and went to work for a cosmetic surgery group in order to gain more experience within the skin care sector. During this time, she travelled and learned from some of the best skin care ‘professors’ in the world, including expert dermatologists and specialists in the industry. Seeing a gap in the market for alternatives to the surgical treatments already available, Hilditch bought a medical micro-dermabrasion system back from Italy and introduced the idea of a treatment to resurface the skin.

In 1995 she formed Crystal Clear to offer a milder, less aggressive form of skin resurfacing, creating a new market in the beauty sector. Today it is the most popular salon treatment machine and Crystal Clear International is synonymous with micro-dermabrasion treatment. The company has an impressive celebrity following, supplying global stars such as Madonna, Cindy Crawford and Victoria Beckham.

Already stocked in Selfridges, John Lewis, Fenwicks and House of Fraser, Crystal Clear exports to 20 countries worldwide, has target sales of £10 million, and has an aggressive expansion plan to produce an exclusive range of products aimed at major department stores in the UK and overseas.

Read more inspirational City & Guilds vocational success stories

Find out about the vocational billionaires and millionaires who made this year's City & Guilds Vocational Rich List

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