Carmen Zepeda Villanueva: 2016 Hair Icons Recipient

The unstoppable Carmen “Carmelita” Cepeda Villanueva, our 2015-2016 Hair Icon Lifetime Achievement Award Winner. Her secret to success? Hard work. At 89, she’s still doing what she loves and continues to be an inspiration to the hair industry.

Through her support and vocation as a hair industry expert, Ms. Villanueva possesses the qualities of a true hair icon. Her love for hair began in 1940 when she started working in a beauty salon. Seventy-six years later and Carmen is still overseeing her own hair replacement clinic and beauty lounge. She attributes her lasting success to her family, quality workmanship, honesty, and hard work. Her accomplishments include countless certificates and awards from beauty contests all over the world such as Costumer of the Year Rene of Paris in 2001, Laurel de Oro a la Calidad in 2002, and the imprint of her hands on the Walk of Stars in Mexico City in 2004.