From the mediterranean to manchester with shiny happy hair

 After a couple of weeks doing shows and seminars in the Mediterranean, this week I've been on the road with my haircare range Shiny Happy Hair.

I've visited Asda stores in Manchester, Leeds, Cheshire and the Midlands meeting my public(!) and offering advice on haircare and how best to use my products.

Everyone thinks that having your range is probably a dream come true, but it is a huge workload! Fortunately, I have a fab team around me - we're calling them 'Team Barton'!- to give me support.

I've recently employed a new MD to help me out. She comes from both a large corporate and small business background and is really helping me to put a proper business structure to the company.

Despite it being a lot of hard work, I'm really enjoying the work because it is all new to me. I've been in hairdressing for 25 years, but launching Shiny Happy Hair has made it feel like I have done my first year all over again.

The great thing about getting out and about is that you meet people and you get to know what they really think. It's really interesting to hear what women want from their haircare range and how they describe them.

As an industry, sometimes we get locked into our own language and terminology and it doesn't necessarily mean anything to the consumer. We'll describe colours and cuts with professional language; but to be honest saying graduated bob means nothing to your average person, whereas 'Victoria Beckham's bob' means everything.

That's actually an extension of a lot of the work that I have done at Saks, which has been to understand trends and buying power so that we can appeal to women nationwide rather than just targeting a London-centric type.

As the consumer becomes more savvy about what she buys and how she buys it - especially in what is fast becoming a challenging economic climate - it's vital that we respond to her needs.

I've had the opportunity to launch my own haircare range for quite some time, but always held of until it felt like it could be my signature rather than the direction a company wanted to take me in.

It might turn out to be the wrong decision, but I wanted to be involved in everything, from the formula to the smell to the marketing message on the back of the bottle, so that there is a little bit of Andrew (and my years of experience) in every bottle.