University Student Builds Multiple Six Figure Brand in Less than a Year, Creating TikTok-Famous, All-Natural Pre-Wash Hair Syrups
Lucie was just a student when she founded the now-TikTok-famous pre-wash treatment brand Hair Syrup. She had no idea how far the business was going to grow in such a short space of time – turning over six figures in less than a year.
Founded towards the end of 2020, Lucie never set out to actually create a business – or even a product to sell. Instead, she initially created her products to combat some of her own personal hair problems that she was dealing with in 2018.
She’d always wanted to be her own boss, but was scared to do so at such a young age. But, spending so much time on TikTok and seeing teenagers making successes of themselves within their industries made Lucie realise that she was definitely not too young to start working for herself – and inspired her to create Hair Syrup.
Hair Syrup, which is now a trademarked name, started out in a 12oz Yellow Squeeze Sauce Bottle that was found in Lucie’s local 99p shop. Now it’s a bestseller, branded, and all-yellow – Lucie’s favourite colour, and a colour that showcases warmth and positivity.
Lucie said: “From the day I invented the now trademarked name “Hair Syrup” and came up with the idea of having a honey dripper on the logo; it made sense that my branding would be all yellow.
“Coincidentally, yellow is also my favourite colour, too, as it symbolises happiness, positivity & warmth!
“Since launching the business I have wasted a good few hundred pounds on deposits for graphic designers to do my labels, but I had such a clear vision in my head of what I wanted I was just too particular to be able to work with someone else.
“It was the same story with my website, I was quoted between 5-6K by different agencies to build me one, and whilst I’m sure their work would have been excellent, I know they wouldn’t have been able to capture the same core of the brand as I have.”
Lucie has turned Hair Syrup into a booming business as a student, and hopes to see it on the shelves in high street stores in the future. She wants it to be a global brand within five years, because she has so many international customers pleading for her to ship outside of the UK.
For now, Hair Syrup is a famous brand on TikTok and online – and Lucie says the response to her story and her pre-wash treatments has been ‘crazy’.
She continued: “I have so many blue tick followers & customers which is insane.
“I barely keep up with them – I get so many hundred Instagram DMs every week I don’t even see the majority of them – same with Tiktok comments.
“Social media marketing is my favourite part of the job so I would love more staff doing the manufacturing etc so I could focus more on it.
“I’ve been super lucky to land straight in with my target audience.”
But running a business at such a young age has been less than easy – in fact, Lucie says it’s the hardest thing she has ever done in her life.
She continued: “Juggling my final year of University with running this has been testing, to say the least. Working from home for myself by myself was really difficult – running a business is so stressful & anxiety inducing. Being locked down definitely heightened those feelings.
“The highs have been the amazing customer responses I’ve had to these products – they’ve genuinely changed so many people’s lives & have helped with their confidence and self esteem.
“I hate to be a negative Nancy but there have sadly been a fair few lows! Working with natural products has come with its problems – they can be unpredictable in their nature and this has been a real struggle to control.
“Tiktok trolls can be quite brutal at times – this really gets me down as it’s so unprovoked when all I’m doing is selling some hair oils! Copycats have driven me mad, too.”
But Hair Syrup is growing successfully both online and off, with customers raving about the gorgeous pre-wash products, which leave your hair soft, shiny, and full of life.