"What made you start Hairy Jayne?"

How did I start a hair care business? 

There's never a short answer to that question! It was more a very slow series of events that inspired me to start my handmade hair care business and become Hairy Jayne. I do it full time now, with help from my husband Karl, and I absolutely love it. I've always been quite stubborn about the products being handmade, obviously I could have them factory made, which would probably make more 'business sense' but I actually still really love the process of making. I'm a bit old-fashioned like that.

Anyway. Here's how Hairy Jayne came about.

The early hairdressing years

When I started my hair apprenticeship I worked in a top, award-winning West End salon in London. In the early stages, you mostly just wash people's hair. That salon had its own range of products which we used at the backwash, and they were also stocked in Boots. I guess I was inspired at the time by the idea of a hairdresser having their own line of products with their name on it. I was pretty disappointed, though, to learn that they were produced in the same factory as most of the other big-name hair products that Boots sell.

Red raw hands

The next salons I worked in, while basically still a hair washer, stocked organic product lines that were more high-end. And my over-washed hands were sooo much happier for it! I was a natural convert from then on.

Chemical reactions

Fast forward about a decade. I'd been dying my hair black for a while and was starting to get allergic reactions on my scalp and welts on the tops of my ears. Around that time severe reactions to home a home hair dye kits were being reported, due to a nasty chemical ingredient called PPD. So that was it, no more black hair for me!

Argan oil fascination

Around that time Karl and I went on honeymoon to Morocco. Argan oil was sold everywhere which I especially noticed because Moroccan Oil was becoming a big deal in the UK. I brought a little bottle of neat argan oil home with me and began using it in my hair and mixing it with essential oils.

Curiosity

I *properly* geeked out online after that, googling terms like "essential oils for hair" and "DIY home hair recipes" until I went down the rabbit hole and found myself on cosmetic chemist's forums. And the amazing SwiftCraftyMonkey blog. I also found Plush Folly and signed up to their courses in both product making and cosmetic legislation and that was it..! Hooked.