WHEN you're a world-class model, there's only one person you trust with your hair, and for Britain's Next Top Model winner Mecia Simson, it's her mum.

Letitia Moreno, owner of Incognito hair and beauty salon at Ebrington Street, is the only person 19-year-old Mecia trusts to care for her gorgeous locks, even after winning the competition which was shown on Living TV.

Mecia, from Hartley, is Plymouth-born and bred and attended Plymstock School before studying travel and tourism at City College Plymouth.

She completed the course a year ago and while looking for a job in tourism, she worked at Bites sandwich bar on the Barbican.

The competition rocketed her into the national limelight after she beat thousands of other entrants and appeared each week being put through a series of fashion-orientated ordeals.

Letitia said her daughter comes back home whenever her hectic schedule allows.

"It was definitely a big deal when she won," says the 39-year-old.

"She's had to move up to London for work, but we're still absolutely over the moon for her.

"The shows have been very big in the US and Australia, so we knew the English shows were going to be equally big".

She's proud her daughter has remained a level-headed Plymouth girl who has taken the new-found fame in her very long stride.

"She's certainly more level-headed than I was at that age," Letitia laughs.

Regular calls back to mum keep the family informed of her new life, include sharing gossip about meeting celebrities.

"She'll say 'oh, I just met so and so'. Everyone thinks she's a celebrity but she gets just as star struck when she meets these big names."

Letitia has been most impressed when Mecia met one TV legend at a recent event.

"She told me she met The Hoff! I was so impressed. She remembers BayWatch, so she knows he was quite a star then, but she knows he is still huge now."

In recent weeks Mecia has done a billboard fashion shoot for clothing firm Apricot, and recently did a private fashion function for Stella McCartney.

London Fashion Week saw her work with the House of Blue Eyes label and later this week she's doing the new Max Factor campaign.

But despite being coiffured by top-flight hair stylists for fashion shoots and shows, it is her mum's scissors she trusts the most.

Letitia said: "They'll style her hair for a shoot, but when it comes to a cut and a colour, she heads home."