Introduce yourself and what it is you do?
My name is Jasmine Dougherty, I’m a hairstylist with 20 years of experience. I’ve worked for some of New Zealand’s top hair salons as a platinum stylist and team leader. I’ve traveled the country training people in niche services, won awards, worked back stage - behind the lens, and on the runway at NZ fashion week. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial mind which is why I’m now in business!
Can you tell us a little about your business?
Lush & Luxe Hair is a brand of premium silk haircare accessories and heat-less styling tools that are salon quality. I created Lush & Luxe Hair in 2020 and launched it in 2021, right in the midst of the COVID pandemic, when hair stylists and salons couldn’t open but people were online purchasing a lot more. We started making silk face masks and we blew up! Especially when salons opened and hair stylists had to wear masks all day! The silk was much better for our skin.
What inspired you to start your business?
I’ve always had an entrepreneurial mind and I am so passionate about our industry. I’ve never seen myself as someone who would settle working for someone else for the rest of my life. An idea sparked when I noticed a pattern happening on the floor in the salon. I would always recommend my clients silk pillowcases and scrunchies to help protect their hair but I would have to send them to department stores to buy them, and I also wasn’t sure they were getting something good quality. I saw a gap in the market for our industry and jumped on it!
How do you keep motivated and stay inspired?
Business is not easy, glamorous and all fun like it can look on social media. I feel like no amount of video content can truly express the reality of it. It does get hard but what motivates me is seeing everyone’s results with my product! Seeing my clients and other stylists use my product and watching their hair journey go from strength to strength, literally! All my fellow feminine entrepreneurs also help keep me motivated. I love the community we’ve built and we always lift each other up and inspire each other.
Any advice for someone wanting to start their own business?
Just start. You don’t need to know what you’re doing or have all your ducks in a row and have everything perfect. Just learn as you go. You don’t need heaps of money either. Just start small and simple, and keep putting the money back into it.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
Exactly what I just said above. Another great piece of advice I’ve also been given is, “just launch” don’t hold out until you feel like everything is perfect, just go! Once you’ve launched you can start spreading the word and showing off your product or service.
Do you have a beauty tip you can share with our readers?
When it comes to hair it would be, stop using so much heat. Heat strips everything good out of our hair and leaves it dry, dull, brittle, and profusely causes split ends and breakage. I’m not against heat styling but I’m against doing it multiple times a week. It’s like bleaching your hair over and over again.
When it comes to skin, always use SPF! Every single day… even in winter, even indoors. UV rays are everywhere if you think about it - do you spend your day in complete darkness? No, so you are constantly exposed to UV rays and it’s the ultimate aging enemy.
Must have products?
Our Luxe Sleep Scrunchie! Anyone with long hair who likes the idea of styling once a week and waking up with perfect hair every day needs it. It’s a huge time saver for busy women and it’s so much healthier as you’re not constantly styling and using heat. After a couple days all it needs is some dry shampoo.
