'I started my business with just £30 in parent's conservatory - 4 years later I'm on track to make £8.5million'
Lucie founded Hair Syrup, an innovative brand that sells a range of pre-wash hair treatments
HAIR SYRUP
Starting with just £30, Lucie Macleod has managed to turn her passion project into a multi-million pound business.
At the tender age of 24, Macleod's business, Hair Syrup, is on track to make £8.5million next year.
Speaking with GB News, she explained her business was birthed by creating a solution for her own needs.
After heavy bleaching and mistreatment of her own hair, Macleod began researching the field of Hair Care in an attempt to bring her fragile, dry hair back to life.
In 2019, she started experimenting with natural ingredients and was able to create DIY hair oils to treat her scalp and dry ends.
After realising how effective her products were for her own hair, she took to TikTok to explain her hair restoration journey which resonated with so many people.
That video amassed over 500,000 views, prompting the University student at the time to consider selling her oils online - which she did.
Do you have a money story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing money@gbnews.uk.
Lucie founded Hair Syrup, an innovative brand that sells a range of pre-wash hair treatmentsHAIR SYRUPBefore she knew it, her viral video was generating orders and her business steadily grew as she continued to post content. Macleod made over £10,000 within the first three months.
Macleod told GB News: "I actually I remember making my first £10,000 because I knew that I'd have to register as being self-employed because I was earning above the standard personal allowance threshold of £12,570.
"I can't really remember how I felt as I never viewed the money I made as my own money, I just put it straight back into the business. I just remember thinking, 'oh, I can buy 600 bottles now as opposed to buying them in packs of 30'.
"That's kind of my always been my attitude towards the money and I think it's served me pretty well so far."
She explained that when starting an Etsy business or a little side hustle, it's definitely good to be able to grow at a steady pace, especially when managing production alone.
The 24-year-old continued: "Things got out of control after I'd been trading for a year and a half. At that point, I was turning over around £90,000 a year, making the hair products out of the conservatory in my parent's house.
"I was hand-making them all by myself and it just slowly grew bigger and bigger. My orders started to take up one room, and another room, and then the hallway was taken over and I thought 'wow I've really built something here'."
Hair Syrup has expanded from her parents' conservatory to more than a dozen members of staff in the team in a warehouse in the South of Wales.
In three years, the brand has become a trusted pre-wash treatment, with the business set to make a staggering £8.5million next year.
The hair care products - which use a number of raw products such as Aloe Vera, avocado, coconut oil and pomegranate - are also stocked on some of the biggest sites in the world, such as Pretty Little Thing, Superdrug, Beautybay, LOOK FANTASTIC, and Sephora.
The young entrepreneur from South Wales was really proud after getting her product in Superdrug as it gave her company a sense of validation, weight and legitimacy.
She was also able to give another 15 people jobs because the brand was busy on the retail side of things.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
She continued: "This year we're on track to make more than £6million. We've just finished our accounts from 2023 - 2024 and that was over £5million.
"In 2024 - 2025 we will make £6.5million, and the next year, 2025 - 2026 we are on track to make £8.5million. It's been a long, hard four years since I started the business and I never have time to celebrate what I've achieved. It's just always on to the next step, but this is amazing how far we have come.
Offering advice to aspiring entrepreneurs Macleod said: "I think the best way to be authentic. People love to see how you're actually starting off. So new businesses have an edge over me now because they can start off and they can do the whole behind the scenes and they can talk about how they package orders at home.
"People love stuff like that, they love watching a brand grow."