30-year-old Courtney Manning works as a hairdresser from her home salon in Baiter Park, but there’s a lot more to her business than trims and colourings.
With all the hairdressing products she uses being vegan and cruelty free, she has quickly been branded Poole’s very own ‘vegan hairdresser’.
Courtney said: “It’s just all about reducing animal cruelty and having beautiful hair with it.”
The idea for the salon, known as Hairbevore, followed Courtney’s years of experience as a hairdresser, and her adopted vegan diet.
She said: “I’ve been hair dressing in salons for about 14 or 15 years now, and I decided to leave and set up my own hair salon.
“Being vegan myself, I wanted all my products to be vegan and cruelty free.”
When looking for vegan and cruelty free products, Courtney said she was ‘shocked’ to see how many hair products and colours contain animal products or are tested on animals.
She added: “Even though animal testing is illegal in this country, you can still buy products that are tested on animals from other countries that have been imported in.
“For hair products- the shampoos and stuff- it wasn’t too bad as there were lots of vegan choices, but to find a vegan colouring brand, I really had to do my research.”
Since launching Hairbevore on November 1, the ‘vegan hairdresser’ has had what she describes as an “overwhelming” response.
She said: “People have been really really positive, even non vegans. I think people are looking for more vegan and cruelty free products now.
“I’ve been really overwhelmed with the positivity around it all.”
Of course, the launch of the business continues to have its challenges. Introducing a new concept at a time of soaring costs and after a pandemic wasn’t going to be easy, but Courtney is making sure she stays positive.
She said: “It’s been hard. I think anyone would be lying if they said it wasn’t hard at the moment. But I always say, if you don’t give up, you can’t fail.”
