When I moved to Sweden, oh so many years ago…I found many of my Afro-Scandi sisters scrambling around the black hair care desert, looking for a good stylist. Especially those of us with our krullig natural tops. A trip to London, Paris or New York would result in suitcases overstocked with a year or more’s supply of products. It was also hard to find trained hairdressers. The situation has thankfully changed for the better, not least because of people like Vivat at Visons butik in Stockholm. However, the struggle is still real for sisters (and brothers) not living in large cities.

In the next step in the evolutionary quest for black hair care, entrepreneur JADE PHILIPS, based in Bath, UK, has applied her tech knowledge to finding a solution. She founded the platform Mane Hook-up a few years ago when her family moved to Bath and struggled to find hair stylists that could cater to their needs.

____

Tech and Black hair

Tell us a bit about yourself and your background?

I’ve worked in marketing for about eight years and spent most of my career at technology companies. So my background played a huge role in my understanding of how to research, position, and build a platform, like Mane Hook-Up, that has a lot of moving parts.

My marketing career started at Nike, which was eye-opening and helped me understand how important it is to have a strong and compelling brand. That’s why both the name and visual identity mean so much to me – I wanted it to make people feel at home and reflect our culture. So, everything in the brand design was pulled together to evoke a feeling of belonging. Especially as there is still so much to do to build equality in the hair industry. Afro hair isn’t celebrated or normalised, and, in some instances, it isn’t even tolerated. So, creating a brand that both looked and felt like home was everything.

…we live in a world where we all have access to the internet 24/7… and mini-computers in the palms of our hands..

How did you come to the idea for Mane Hook-up and what are the benefits for customers?

Mane Hook-Up was designed to address a number of problems that I’ve experienced as a young, black woman. After transitioning back to my natural hair four years ago, I found it painfully difficult to find an Afro hairdresser beyond word of mouth. There was no way for me to find, filter through and compare any stylists (and Instagram just wasn’t cutting it). I watched the women in my family struggle with the same issue – especially those who had moved out of London. My grandma, for example, moved to Bath in 2010, but for years she travelled back to London to get her hair done. Spending as much money on the coach fare as she did on her hair appointment.

I couldn’t comprehend how we live in a world where we all have access to the internet 24/7, have phones (that are basically mini-computers) in the palms of our hands, and yet there was no online source where I could easily find and book appointments with hairdressers who understood how to manage Afro hair. After conversations with a few hairdressers, I discovered that with such a hands-on job, the act of finding new clients wasn’t easy either. Many stylists don’t know where to start when it comes to marketing, and those who do often don’t have time to follow it through.
So, instead of waiting for a solution to appear, I chose to create it.

What are your ambitions for the brand?

I believe that Mane Hook-Up has the potential to become an international brand. Our product can serve so many different people, from the women living in towns and cities with few Afro hairdressers to the university students moving away from home and the families moving to other countries.

We love to see black empowerment and the support of black businesses. Hairdressing, of course, is always a hot topic here in Scandinavia, that for a really long time, was basically a black hair desert. What are you bringing to the market that is/was not already there? What are the benefits for salons?

Mane Hook-Up was created to help people on both sides of the chair.
Hairdressers can list their business on Mane Hook-Up for free and get exposure to people looking for their services. This gives them a chance to find new clients with minimal effort. Beyond that, they have access to our booking tool to manage and keep track of all the appointments coming through. Giving hairdressers the power to control their availability and calendar 24/7, build up their reputation with reviews, and find new customers (ultimately bringing in more money). To put it simply, with Mane Hook-Up, all they need to do is turn up on time.

Anyone who wants to book an appointment has a chance to find local hairdressers who specialise in afro and curly hair. Instead of scrolling through Instagram, customers can enter their postcode, select a style, and get a list of local hairdressers to choose from. I’ve also partnered with sixteen black-owned hair and beauty businesses to create a member’s area of the platform where they can get discounts on quality products.

How do you see Mane Hook-up fitting into the Scandinavian market?
As the brand is UK-based, give us an idea of how it would work for Scandinavian customers?

Mane Hook-Up will be the place people from across the globe can come to find and book appointments with people who understand afro hair.

Mane Hook-Up is simple and effective enough to work for a global market. Potential clients just enter their postcode and select a style. This translates very easily regardless of where you live in the world. And if it’s challenging to find an afro hairdresser in the Scandinavian market, Mane Hook-Up will help them be seen with ease.

Why should they come through you? How does it work practically?

At the moment, Mane Hook-Up is moving to a freemium model, and all hairdressers that register can make use of our platform for free. We want to ensure that all stylists get the exposure they need to build a really profitable business. Unlike other platforms, while we won’t be free forever, we won’t take a commission. Hairdressers spend their days doing hands-on, skilful, work and we believe that they deserve to keep as much of their earnings as possible.
Plus, I’m helping hairdressers to build their profiles at the moment to make the transition to our platform as seamless as possible. Giving them space to do what they do best.

How would it integrate into their existing websites?

Mane Hook-Up has been built to be a booking tool and micro-website for hairdressers. There’s a gallery for photographs, a list of services with prices as well as reviews. So we’re not just helping hairdressers to find new customers; we’re also helping to build their online presence.

Ultimately, it’s all about saving time so that hairdressers can just turn up for their appointments and delight clients. Then, instead of creating and maintaining a website, they can use their Mane Hook-Up profile as a website that showcases their best work and client experiences.