The colourist turned hairbrush hero

Shaun Pulfrey’s gamechanging hairbrush was the result of decades spent working in top salons, but not everyone recognised its genius immediately

After working in the world of hairdressing for more than 30 years, Shaun Pulfrey, now 58, developed an unusual technique for detangling tough knots, which others struggled to recreate. In 2007, he launched a tool that mimicked it: the Tangle Teezer. After being famously rejected on Dragons’ Den, he’s gone on to sell more than 50 million brushes, and boasts Victoria Beckham and Cara Delevingne as fans. For anyone with a big idea, here’s Pulfrey’s advice...

Don’t be afraid to be a bit left field.

I was working as a colourist at Vidal Sassoon in Boston in the 1980s, when I saw our assistant struggling with a client’s hair. It was long and had become a tangled mess. I detangled it by using a comb and a wide paddle brush – bouncing the two up and down to encourage the hair to move. Tangled hair had become a bit of a problem in our salon (and presumably lots of others), taking a long time, and a lot of product, to brush out, I decided to make a tool that would do the job instead.

It’s amazing what you can find when you go looking.

I designed the brush myself, researching the different polymers for the teeth: they had to be firm enough to slice through hair but flexible enough not to rip it. I tried different variations, making sure the plastic wasn’t too tough. Then I needed to find a manufacturer. I grabbed the Yellow Pages and spotted an advertisement from a British company in Oxfordshire, which read, ‘We like start-up businesses.’ I hopped on the train to Oxford and went to speak to them. The Teezers hit the market in 2007 and that original manufacturer still makes them today.

You might have to cut back on luxuries.

The venture was entirely self-funded from £98,000. I remortgaged my flat, saved up three years’ worth of wages and had to forgo holidays. My mum and I did all the assembly and shipping in the early days. She would come round to my Brixton flat and put the brush components together and I would be on packaging, then we’d swap over.

Take every opportunity.

A friend started pestering me to go on Dragons’ Den and it helpfully ended up airing a week after I launched. Although I was rejected by the show’s judges, it worked like free advertising. We had 1,500 orders flood in, causing the website to crash. Orders always shoot up when a repeat of the episode comes on.

Keep striving to improve.

I’d only been selling online and at trade shows until 2008, when I got a phone call from Boots. It turned out that an undercover buyer had spotted me at the Clothes Show in Birmingham and decided to put us into 200 of their stores. After our first year in business, we had sold a whopping 35,000 brushes.

Recognise your achievements.

Receiving two Queen’s Awards for Enterprise was a phenomenal experience. Shaking hands with Her Majesty at a reception at Buckingham Palace felt like an affirmation for all my hard work. I hope that it inspires others to think about where a little idea can take them. tangleteezer.com Interview by Sophie Foster

Shaun Pulfrey at Tangle Teezer HQ in London