Shear Genius is an American reality television series on the Bravo network that focuses on hair styling.

In the show, contestants compete with each other to create the best hair style and are usually restricted in time, materials, and theme.

The first season of the show aired in April and May 2007, immediately after the low-rated Top Design wrapped up its run.

Unlike its predecessor, however, Shear Genius became a word-of-mouth fan favorite and a second season started airing in June 2008.

As of the third season, the judging panel includes Camila Alves, Kim Vo and Jonathan Antin.

Previous judges included Jaclyn Smith, Sally Hershberger, Michael Carl and Kelly Atterton.

The second is the Elimination Challenge, which has each contestant style the hair on a real model or client given certain requirements or goals.

Brig Van Osten, the dark horse,[2] beat out both Matthew Morris and Brig's bitter rival on the show, Janine Jarman to win Season 3, the prizes included the opportunity to style hair for an Allure Magazine photoshoot and $100,000.