Bouclème founder, Michele Scott-Lynch, shares her journey on why she decided to take the plunge into curly hair products...
Michele Scott-Lynch has had a varied career journey, from working as a sales assistant in a men’s clothing shop to a receptionist at a PR company, until she landed what she calls her ‘first proper job’ as an admin assistant at a book publishing company. Fast forward to when Michele turned 21 and became a marketing assistant for Warner Records, she spent the next 10 years working within the music industry until she turned 30 and began to study holistic medicine and became a mum. 10 years later, Bouclème launched.
Rewind back to her years growing up, Michele explained how she often battled with her natural curl pattern, choosing to chemically relax it from her teens. “When I turned 30, I read Malcolm X’s autobiography, which talks a lot about the process of chemical straightening and how it burns the scalp. He spoke about how people of colour put themselves through that pain in order to conform with the Western concept of beauty being straight, sleek hair. When I read that, it completely resonated with me, and I decided that I was never going to straighten my hair again – and I never have.”
As Michele embarked on her journey of embracing her natural texture, it was only then that she realised she couldn’t find any products that suited her hair type. “It was a real struggle to find anything natural and effective, so I decided to create my own.” Adding to that, when her daughters came into the world, both with curly hair but with different curl patterns, her eldest daughter came home from school one day and said ‘I hate my hair’ which gave Michele the determination to create a different experience for her daughters. “I wanted to redefine what it meant to be curly and help people find the confidence to be who they are, what they want to be, and to wear their hair with pride.”
How did she start? “Bouclème is completely bootstrapped by myself, but having no background in beauty or hair, I turned to my friend who put me in touch with somebody in product development.” Wanting to create three essential products that could work for as many people as possible, Michele set to creating a cleanser, conditioner, and a styling product. Michele spent two years creating and testing out the products on herself and her daughters. “Each of us having completely different curls, trying them out to see if they worked across the various patterns.” A successful focus group later and Michele knew she was ready.
Now, after recently celebrating the brand’s 10th anniversary (which HJ had the pleasure of attending, check out our TikTok of the event here!), Michele spends her time in meetings, building plans around new launches, organising events and brainstorming new ideas. When asked about her thoughts on how the industry can increase representation for diverse, curly hair types, Michele told us she still believes there’s work to be done. “Many customers have had such awful experiences with their hair, and I think it takes time to build trust.”
What’s next for Michele? “We’re working hard on a launch exclusively for salon professionals which has been about 18 months in the making. We’re still putting it through some rigorous testing, but we’re hoping to bring it to market early next year.” Hairdressers, keep your eyes peeled!
