From TikTok Sensation to Dragon's Den Pitch | Hair Syrup

In this episode of Connected Thinking, Sarah Jardine, our Senior Strategist, sits down with Lucie Macleod, Founder and CEO of Hair Syrup, the viral haircare brand that’s gone from TikTok sensation to being stocked in Boots, Urban Outfitters and Beauty Bay.

Since launching in 2019, Lucie has built one of the UK’s fastest-growing beauty businesses with a focus on all-natural, cruelty-free products and a community-first approach that’s redefining how brands grow on social.

From their recent Ariana Grande community activation to her unforgettable Dragon’s Den pitch, Lucie opens up about turning viral hype into scalable growth and the realities of being a founder-led business.

Stay tuned for more episodes of Connected Thinking, our series of chats with standout voices from the world of marketing, where we unpack what’s trending, what’s shifting, and what’s coming next...

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Connected Thinking, our series of chats with standout voices from the world of marketing, where we unpack what's trending, what's shifting, and what's coming next. I'm Sarah Jardine, your host and senior strategist at Scene Connect. Today I'm joined by Lucy McLeod. Lucy is the founder and CEO of Hair Syrup, the viral hair care brand that's gone from TikTok sensation to being stocked in boots, urban outfitters and beauty bay. Since launching in 2019, she's built one of the UK's fastest growing beauty businesses with a focus on all natural, cruelty-free products. Welcome, Lucy. So to kick things off, when that first video blew up on social, what was going through your head and what do you think was the reason why it was just so successful?

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Honestly, I couldn't believe it when that first video went viral. I'd never intended for many people at all to see it. Certainly never intended for it to be some sort of a sales pitch, which it seemed to turn into once people started viewing it. I had a handful of followers before, never had any presence really on social media, never really used TikTok. So I didn't know how to make anything go viral. And I didn't know that it would go viral. So it was a big shock, big surprise when I woke up the next morning. But honestly, I think the secret to why that went so viral was that it was probably just such a relatable struggle at the time. You know, it was locked down, so many people were giving themselves botched haircuts, they were all the salons were closed, so bleaching their own hair, or they were just on some kind of a self-care journey. So I think people were just relating to what I was saying in my experience and just thought this is some constructive advice that they could follow to see a transformation.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

And obviously, so much has changed since 2020 and lockdown, and obviously, like there was the rise of TikTok. How do you think founders and brands can turn viral moments like that into like, you know, lasting growth and see continued success?

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Honestly, I think it's really difficult because you see so many brands, especially on TikTok, coming and going, and they have these like really big viral peaks, and then you don't really hear much about them six months later. But I think a big secret to longevity and success for a brand ultimately just comes down to the product. I think, especially in beauty, because you can make something and you know it can go viral and you can maybe sell it to however many people, but ultimately it's repurchase rates that matter and people recommending it to their friends, etc. Like social media is great, but so much of my growth has happened organically through word of mouth and through people who use the product genuinely saying to their friends, their family members, oh my gosh, you should try this. I know this brand, I've been using it, rather than just purely relying on those, you know, quick five seconds of fame that you get on social media.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

So it's great that you had that like word of mouth presence, but in terms of influencers for hair syrup, what does that look like for you guys now? Can you take us through what that's looked like since you kind of started out and now um working with influencers today?

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Lots of the big influencers, there's particularly across the UK, some of them across Australia, the US, they use hair syrup just because they've bought it. Obviously, we do things like PR send-outs, but a lot of our gifting and our influencer initiatives, if you like, tend to focus on our customers, people who engage with our videos and our social audience, more so than big celebrities. Literally, a few weeks ago, we bought a VIP box at Ariana Grande, and we're inviting people from our TikTok following, customers, people who we know love Ariana, missed out on their tickets. So we kind of like to shift slightly away from the traditional influencer route and work more with the wider communities because you know their voices are kind of just as powerful.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Yeah. So one of the questions that we had actually was around sort of the Ariana Grande um box that you've managed to secure. When it comes to influencer and community, how do you see them both working together? And what do you think brands should do in future to make sure that they are catering to their community and you know, it's it's speaking to all their audience?

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Honestly, I think it really changes from brand to brand. I don't think there's a right or a wrong way to do it. And I think that's where a lot of brands probably go wrong is that they see this prescriptive method that someone else has done, they see it as a template and they think, okay, well, we'll do that. But it doesn't necessarily gel with the rest of their brand voice, brand messaging, and their social media strategies. So to be honest, my advice to brands all the time when it comes to, you know, if you've got the sort of brand where it works particularly well, you know, work working with influencers or celebrity endorsements, things like that, just absolutely go for that. I never think anyone should sort of neglect their community, but I don't really like the idea of people just doing it because they think it's going to give them some sort of it's gonna make them look good or it's looks sort of charitable for them. Um it should just be a genuine, honest thing. Like with Hair Sarah, we're so genuinely engaged with our community, we don't sort of see ourselves as, even though people know that we are quite a big brand, we don't really see ourselves as that much of a big brand. So we like to keep that going through working with communities. But I would say honestly, it changes from brand to brand. And um, I just think do what's right for your messaging, what's right for you, and what feels instinctively good as well.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

You've leaned heavily into TikTok shop and e-commerce to build your brand without that initial retail touch point. What would you say to brands that are maybe nervous about starting out on social or relying heavily on social?

SPEAKER_01 5:47

I think social media is a really important part of most businesses, especially if you've got a product-based business. It's not crucial. Um, a lot of people like to build a bit of a B2C presence and get a bit of a relationship with their customers before going into retail. But you know, some people do it the other way around. It kind of depends on things, in my opinion, like price point, packaging, and obviously it's pretty difficult to get into a big retailer if your brand has got no presence, no followers, and nobody knows who it is, because it's a big risk for them to put something on their shelf that people are going to walk past and go, I don't know what that is. Like I said, unless you've got some really standout packaging, you've got a lot of money to put behind things like stands, um, retail stands. But yeah, I would say really good to get your face, well, not necessarily your face, but your brand's face out there on social media, get people talking about it, get a bit of a buzz about it before you start thinking about retail. And also you make where you make your real, you know, your money is through, you know, your direct consumer channels. So focus on that, and then you'll have more of a leverage when you come to pitch to buyers, you'll be able to say, look, you know, this amount of people have made videos about videos about us on TikTok. We've had a cumulatively X amount of views, so people know who we are and they'll recognise us on the shelves.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

In one of our episodes, uh, we had the head of marketing at Perfect Ted describe TikTok lives as flattening the funnel, which we thought was really interesting because she spoke about how you can actually move your um customer from an awareness stage all the way to sort of conversion and purchase within a TikTok live. Have you found that that to be the case with kind of what you do? Um and what do you think actually makes someone, you know, convert through a TikTok live?

SPEAKER_01 7:35

Yeah, we've got a bit of a love-hate relationship, I think, with TikTok lives. You know, it's I hear very mixed messages and I hear brands like um Perfect Head, who started on TikTok who came onto TikTok shop a little bit later. But I think honestly, and this is so true for all of the brands who I'm friends with, work with, when we were there from the beginning, really, with TikTok shop, and we've kind of seen the ups and downs, and we were there when the shopping basket became integrated, shoppable lives became a thing, shoppable videos became a thing, and we have had so many trials and tribulations with lives in general, um, that my team are a little bit cautious around them because you know there's all these rules and you can get violations. Um, so we find it quite stressful to be honest. Um, and we don't lean into lives as much as we used to, but like I said, it's probably just because we've had difficult past experiences with it. Um, but you know, it might be that in the future we just kind of need some fresh live presenters who can just come in with no preconceptions and then enjoy it. But yeah, I mean TikTok lives are really, really good. I tend to find that they work better, to be honest, if you've got discounts, bundles, flash sales. That's really where you get people engaged. Um, but the algorithm's clever, and if they've been looking at your page and then the live pops up, they're totally right in what they're saying. It is a lot of the time what you need to get them over that purchase finish line.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

We can't not talk about Dragon's Den. It was quite a big part of um sort of your journey and story. Um, I read that it lasted like three hours of filming, which is crazy. What does it feel like when you're kind of stepping out of that elevator and and all the dragons are there in front of you?

SPEAKER_01 9:23

Oh gosh, I can picture it right now. Uh surreal and terrifying. I'm a pretty confident girl. Like I never get stage fright. I do a lot of public speaking. I used to do drama when I was in school, but there was nothing quite like stepping onto that stage and seeing them all sitting there, it was terrifying. Um, I actually fluffed my lines the first time and had to start again because my voice was shaking. And um, yeah, I don't know. There was something just something really, really intimidating about it. I think it's because I idolized these people, look up to them and thought, oh, that's what I want to be when I'm older. And I kind of just felt like if I didn't impress them and they didn't like me, then I'd have taken that. I knew that I'd take it very badly, which obviously I did.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

So it was really different kind of pitch, wasn't it? I think um you were great, but the reaction from the dragons that it was all um, you know, very dramatic. In terms of what that's meant for hair syrup and your business, would you say that it's actually been a really positive thing?

SPEAKER_01 10:31

Honestly, I say this to everyone. Going on Dragon's Den completely changed my life. And when I went in there on paper, my business was doing well. I couldn't spot any massive red flags or flaws that they would then go on to spot, which meant that the business was uninvestable. Um, you know, we get investment offers all the time from massive VCs, angel investors. Like, I didn't see it as being an uninvestable business. So not that I went in there with full confidence, because quite obviously I didn't, but I had high hopes that I'd get at least a few offers. Um, so when I got six no's, that was well, I just felt like my world had come crashing down and nobody understands, honestly. And I get these ridiculous comments on my TikTok, and you know, people say, Oh, like you you looked so silly on there, you didn't know what you're talking about. And I'm just like, if you were to stand on that stage, you have to experience it to actually understand what it's like and the what it does to your brain. I mean, I could barely think by the end of the three hours, but yeah, being rejected on Dragon Stand, like I said, completely changed my life. If I hadn't got six no's, it just wouldn't have been the same. I got those six no's and there was a lot of bickering and arguing amongst the dragons, there was a lot of disagreement, and then like you said, it was all really dramatic, but it really put not only the business in the spotlight, but also me, which they'd said to me would happen after the show, and I didn't really believe them at the time, I just thought I'd be a complete laughing stock, and that's obviously not what's happened. Um, so yeah, really put hair syrup on the map as well as positioning me as kind of a young female British entrepreneur, which has been really amazing and life-changing.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

And if you could say something to the dragons now, what would you say to them?

SPEAKER_01 12:29

Do you know what I would say that they were right about pretty much everything they said, although at the time it was difficult to hear, and I've actually actioned pretty much everything they said to me in those three and a half hours was three and a half hours of really great solid advice. And I don't even know if I've consciously remembered, listened, and then action changed, or if it's just sort of happened, but um yeah, like when they were concerned about the over reliance on TikTok shop, for example, at the time I didn't really see it that way. I just thought, well, it's great, you know, it's a new chat new platform, new channel. But since then, you know, about four months ago, we were having a big problem on TikTok shop where counterfeit hair syrup goods were being sold across the platform. So even if we had to close the shop for one day, last year that would have been we would have been losing 50% of our revenue for a whole day, which when the business grows and you get bigger, that is monstrous. Like you can't you can't risk that happening for no good reason other than the platform was unreliable. Um so I've actioned things like it's gone down, so it used to be fit 49% of our revenue and now it's 24%.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

Where where else have you uh moved to from TikTok shop then? Is it your sort of your own website?

SPEAKER_01 13:57

We've grown our B2B. So although our TikTok shop numbers are still growing, but like I said, the proportion of it of our revenue that comes directly from TikTok has shrunk, but it's not because we're selling less on TikTok shop, it's because we're selling more elsewhere. So, really, this year has been all about strengthening our retail partnerships, you know, helping get those volumes up, and it's worked really well. And you know, it's the direction that most beauty businesses end up going um as they get a bit older. So yeah, it's worked really well. But like I said, there's so many examples I could give of they what I felt like they were being really harsh and grilling me. And a lot of people who were watching the episode thought, oh, that's a bit unfair. And although what they were saying came across at the time as, like I said, harsh, it was definitely tough love. And I'm so glad I heard it because it's really, really helped not only me shape to shape me as an entrepreneur, but also to help shape my business. And I think, like those teachers you've had in school who might have been a little bit on your case, a little bit strict, a little bit shouty, and you always thought, oh my gosh, they're really mean to me, but it's because they see your potential and they want to see you do the best you can do. People think that I would like to turn around to them and say, ha ha, you know, you were wrong, but not at all, because they were right.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

Um, and yeah, that's what I would say. We're seeing more and more founders stepping into the spotlight now to represent their brands. How has being front and center of hair syrup helped you connect with customers and build that human connection?

SPEAKER_01 15:29

I would say it's a really, really integral part of hair syrup as a brand. Again, it wasn't something that was done intentionally all those years ago, but because the products, the whole reason hair syrup started was because I used to make very similar formulated DIY hair oils on my own hair, made a video about it. It was my video, it was my hair transformation, they were my product. It was a natural progression that the brand would be founder-led because it was all about my hair and my hair health journey and everything that I'd done. So if I was selling something that was maybe white labeled or drop shipped, or maybe I was selling something that I didn't have such a personal connection to, I wouldn't be front and face of the brand in the same way that I am. Um, just because although it's amazing for building community, building trust, it has its pros and cons. Um and sometimes I find myself I got called an influencer at an event a few weeks ago, and I was just like, what? I was like, I'm not an influencer, I'm a business owner. They said, no, no, you are. And I was just sort of realized then, oh my gosh, this is kind of what it becomes. Um, and if that's not what you want, and it's not what a lot of people want. And like I said, I fell into it and it's really beneficial. But I think a lot of people, and I see it all the time across socials, and you know, we those of us who started these TikTok businesses years ago who we had to go in front of the camera because we didn't have any money, UGC agencies didn't really exist, affiliates on TikTok didn't really exist. So we had no choice but to, you know, didn't have these like AI softwares that could generate content or whatever they do, but we had to go in front of the camera because we had no money, and it was just us as a time, you know, just us being that one person. Um, whereas I think what we see a lot of now is people have watched how it's worked for, you know, brands like mine, which was sort of the original TikTok brands, and people see it as this fast track to success. They think, oh, if I put my face, my story behind it, then it means I'm gonna do this and that. But I don't think people are aware of the other side of the coin. People have misconceptions about you, about your business. They judge your business based on you rather than based on the products you're supplying, services, etc. etc. Which, you know, from a from a business perspective is not it's not really ideal.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

And that's probably a lot of like weight on you as well, making sure that you're constantly showing up. Because it it started as just you and now you've got a huge team, right?

SPEAKER_01 18:08

Yeah, it's a lot of pressure. And I think especially, you know, with social media, things can just blow up like wildfire. You know, you can say the wrong thing or something can get taken out of context and suddenly it's just going crazy. Like you see it all the time on socials, and a lot of the time brand founders are kind of in the firing line of that. And you know, you look at these massive companies, you don't even know who owns them. So you could kind of never you you you know, if you're angry about something that a big business has done, you're angry at the business. But I think when it's on a founder level, people are angry at you or angry at the owner, and I think it helps, you know, that connection that people feel, it's great, but it can also mean that if there's a problem or something goes wrong, they feel that they've got a direct outlet that they can vent their frustrations onto, and they people forget that we are normal people who have our own lives and kind of exist um beyond just our businesses. I don't think anyone knew that a few years down the line you're gonna be recognized for it.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

We just thought, oh, well, these are my products and I want to sell them. Yeah, and TikTok was in its infancy then as well, so no one knew how big it would be. Um so just before we go into quickfire, um, for anyone who's thinking about launching their own business, what's one piece of advice that you would share with them?

SPEAKER_01 19:34

One of the best pieces of advice, and I always give it, and it's so simple. I got a couple. One of them has to be don't say do. So I always hear people and they'll say to me, you know, I'll see them in August and I'll say, Oh, I've got this idea, really want to do this. And I'm saying, that's fab, go for it. Here's how I'd advise you, go about it. Anything you need, let me know. And then you see them again in January, and then they say, and then I say, Oh, how's it going on? Oh yeah, you know, haven't done it yet. And then you see them again next August, and it's the same thing. And before you know it, two years have passed, and they'll say, I always hear people all say, Oh, well, I just don't know if it's good enough. I don't know if this is ready, and I'm not sure if you know the website's not good, and I want to get this packaging looking better before I start. And my biggest piece of advice is just forget all of that. For me, starting is better than perfection. You can make things better along the way, but if you don't get started, you've got nothing to work on. You look at photos of hair syrup from when I first started, and they were little hand-pourred bottles of hair oil with labels that I'd printed from a printer, cut out, stuck on with blue, and now they're these you know beautiful products that you see on the shelves of boots, but you've got time to make everything look good and polished and shiny. And honestly, I think it's so amazing looking back at the journey. It makes it so much more special when you think I didn't start with the end product, I built it as the business was growing, and it helps to keep you profitable. And it also just adds to the story because you can really see the development of the brand as it's going on. So um, don't worry about perfection and just kind of go for it and know that things will things will improve over time and you'll understand what your customers like and you'll be able to integrate that into the changes.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

Amazing. That's that's great advice. So, quickfire questions. Um, we asked this to um every guest. Um, so favourite book or podcast that you'd recommend? Gotta be Diary of a CEO. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 21:36

Absolutely love it. I listen to it all the time. I just find it so interesting and they talk about really niche topics that I'm super interested in.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

Is it weird that like, you know, Stephen Bartlett hosts that and and you've had that sort of um meet with him and at Dragon's Den? Uh Is that something like why you like it?

SPEAKER_01 21:53

Well, he's exactly the same when I met him in real life. He's exactly the same. He was really nice in real life and he was exactly the same. in real life as he was on the podcast. Um and I speak to him, you know, we're still in touch and he always congratulates me every time I post a success. And I really like him, think he's a lovely guy. And yeah, but when I'm listening to the podcast, um I listened to it before Dragon's Down and I've listened to it since. And it is one of my favorites. What's the best piece of advice you've ever received? I think it was around a conversation about taking investment, raising capital. And someone said to me something which just blew my mind really it was so simple. But when you're growing a business, you're constantly looking around for help and for someone to tell you, this is how you do it. This is the right thing. And I was just told that basically the advice I was given was you know your business better than anyone. You know in your gut, your heart what's right, what's due, and keep doing it. Don't let people come in unless you need to, don't have someone come in and steamroll it and say, yeah, I've built six businesses before. So this is what we need to do. So your business really is a part of you and nobody understands it as well as you do. So that was really, really good advice and just helped me s get some clarity that although you feel like you don't know what you're doing 99% of the time, you might not be the best, you might not know everything, but you know your business better than other people do. Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 23:32

Thank you so much, Lucy, for joining us on Connected Thinking. It's been great to chat. Thanks for having me.