What do you do when you're going to an event that includes the possibility of having to make a speech in front of dozens of beautiful, fashionable people?

You get a blowout, of course.

Last night, P&amp;G Beauty hosted the first-ever P&amp;G Beauty Awards, which recognized top talent in Canada's beauty and fashion industry. Yours truly was up for an award in the Best Beauty Feature category (for a story I wrote for <em>ELLE Canada</em> a while back), and if there was ever a place you'd need Good Hair, this would be it.

<a href="http://beautyeditor.ca/wp-content/uploads/t3.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-4142 alignleft" title="t3" src="http://beautyeditor.ca/wp-content/uploads/t3.jpg" alt="t3" width="250" height="250" /></a>So I headed to <a href="http://ritual.ca/RITUAL2/ritual2_home.html" target="_blank">Ritual 2</a>, a salon on Toronto's King Street West, to pay a visit to their Blow &amp; Go Bar (an invitation graciously extended to me by management). The concept is that you can get your hair washed and styled in under 45 minutes for just $30—not bad, right? And to make it even easier, they offer <a href="http://ritual.ca/images/B&amp;G%20mag.pdf" target="_blank">a "menu" of six different hairstyles</a>. I chose the ever-reliable "Pretty at the Premiere," which you can see above on Ms. Zeta-Jones. (While my hair most definitely looked like this—thanks to my great stylist Tamara Gibson—my face, unfortunately, did not. Boo.)

Other styling options include textured "bedhead" waves, super-voluminous curls, stick-straight or a basic smooth style, all with helpful photos to demonstrate. Which is a VERY GOOD thing because, if you're anything like me, you become slightly fearful every time you sit in the chair of a new hairstylist. (Are they going to make my bangs too high or '80s? etc.) Thanks to the photos, this does not happen.

So. I had Good Hair, Okay Makeup (I did it myself) and a Semi-Okay Outfit (again, self-styled). Did I end up winning that award and having to make a speech? Happily, no. (Most of us beauty writers don't love making speeches—this is why we work in PRINT, not TV! My friend J., also up for an award, told me she felt like throwing up all night. Weeee!)

But the important thing is, I was like a Girl Guide: prepared.

And then, when it was all over, along with J. and the rest of Canada's "beauterati," I proceeded to consume A LOT of champagne, which is why this post is only going up now instead of at 7am. Er... oops?

<a href="http://ritual.ca/RITUAL2/ritual2_home.html" target="_blank">Ritual 2</a> | 787 King Street West, Toronto, 416-306-0040 x2

PS - BIG CONGRATS to my OTHER pal J.—as in Janine—for winning P&amp;G's award for Best Beauty Blog. Head on over to <a href="http://imabeautygeek.com/" target="_blank">Beautygeeks</a> to check out her good work! Also a shout-out to Kristen at <a href="http://www.sugarshockbeauty.com/" target="_blank">SugarShock Beauty</a>, whose blog was also nominated. Yay blogs!