The 25-year-old was picked to take part in an annual trip run by Schwarzkopf Professional, who take a selection of hairdressers to third-world countries with the aim of trying to help end the poverty cycle.

While there, Ms Dillon will spend time training under-privileged people her trade in the hope of giving them a livelihood.

“It’s an initiative where hairdressers get to volunteer their time and go over to the Philippines to teach a group basic hairdressing skills for two weeks at a time to further their career and chances of having a future without them having any previous education,” Ms Dillon said.

“A lot of them are orphans or are living in villages where they don’t have much at all. Most of them don’t have parents but they might have siblings to look after.”

She left for the fortnight-long trip on May 21 and expected to return enriched by the experience.

Ms Dillon, who is a hair stylist from Woohoo in Charlestown, was successful in her application to take part in the international initiative Shaping Futures. 

The program works in cooperation with SOS Children’s Villages, the world’s largest orphan and abandoned children's no profit organisation, and involves volunteer hairdressers from Australia travelling to the Philippines for a total six-week training period.

There they take local hairdressers through necessary training in the hope of enabling them to forge their own careers, and to have a have positive impact to change their lives forever.   

“I just want to know that I’m helping someone else and giving back a little bit because a lot of the time I do things like Fashion Week, which are volunteer but it’s only really helping myself, it’s not really helping anyone else,” she said.

“When I heard of this program, I thought it would be a really good experience to challenge myself.

“It sounded a worthwhile thing to do. If we can help make their lives a little bit better, that would be good.”