Up against 14 other hairdressers from across Australia, Jake Putan was put to the test over three days, delivering hairstyles in seven categories that covered a range of hairdressing skills.

His work impressed overall, but it was his creations for the two men's styles (including one for hair art) that earned him perfect scores from the judging panel.

Finishing up with total a mark of 80.63, he was only 4.8 marks off first place.

The 21-year-old, a third-year hairdressing apprentice at Nik's Cutting Edge, had been determined to do well.

"Last year I entered the regional WorldSkills for the Hunter and won that and that got me into the national competition," he said.

Jake started training in May and went into the competition with a plan.

His preparation included trips to Newcastle almost every weekend for close to five months, spending those two days training at Hunter TAFE, in addition to undertaking practice in his own time most afternoons after work.

The WorldSkills hairdressing competition took place on mannequins, and the sections covered all categories of hairdressing.

"In some sections we were restricted with what we could use and what we could do."

Jake said he appreciated the support of his boss Nicole Williams and his colleagues and thanked them for giving him the opportunity to participate in the competition.

The talented hairdresser said he fell into the trade as a career.

"I was just doing my own hair and the hair of my friends for something to do and then I needed a job," said Jake.

"I'd always done art at school and creativity and imagination are a strong point. Now I get to express myself through hair."

Jake works full-time at Nik's Cutting Edge and is also planning to start teaching hair art, a niche he has developed for himself locally.

He hopes the teaching aspect will give him a chance to travel across Australia and even internationally to do shows and teach people hair art.

One day he would also love to move to the Gold Coast and open his own salon.