Who’s Who in 2022, Inspiring people: Tahnee Hudson

Deception Bay hairdresser Tahnee Hudson has been credited with saving Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath’s life after finding an abnormally shaped mole during a regular appointment.

Tahnee says Yvette had come in for an appointment on her birthday when she made the discovery.

“Yvette became my client over a year ago after discovering we shared many mutual friends and they had recommended me to her,” Tahnee explains.

“Yvette had come to see me for her birthday appointment, and we were in the process of changing things up and decided on going a little bit lighter.

“As I was foiling, which takes many small sections throughout the head, I came across what seemed to be a very abnormally shaped freckle.

“From experience it’s not always a great sign, so we decided to take a photo of it, reason being to show Yvette and to take it along to her next skin check appointment to make it easier for the doctor to identify where it was situated on her scalp.”

A check-up revealed the mole was in fact melanoma.

The story made national news, with Tahnee feeling a little surprised about all the media attention.

“I was surprised and slightly overwhelmed, but the nature of the seriousness of skin checks, especially in our state of Queensland, was more important to get the message out there, than the nerves I had to overcome with the attention,” Tahnee said.

This wasn’t the first time Tahnee had potentially saved one of her client’s lives, saying there were several times over the years she had spotted something.

“Fortunately, they were all detected in the early stages of melanoma,” Tahnee says.

“Apart from melanoma cases, hairdressers are also educated in identifying many scalp and skin conditions throughout the apprenticeship processes.

“However further education is needed to keep oneself knowledgeable in health conditions concerning the scalp.”

About Tahnee Hudson

Tahnee Hudson has been in the hairdressing industry for 20 years and is the current owner of The Mandala Room at Deception Bay.

She started her own business about nine years ago after the birth of her first son, who was “staring back at me by my feet in his bouncer”.

Tahnee says what she loves most about being a hairdresser is the “creativity and expression to help those to transform themselves into how they want to visually identify to the world at that moment in their lives”.

She also loves all the relationships she has built and considers her clients as “family”.