Hair is one of the best accessories women have to work with. It can be coloured, cut and styled to represent each person’s unique personality.
Former fashion intern turned entrepreneur Sharna Kalwy realised the power of a hair transformation on the set of photoshoots for some of Australia’s leading magazines, watching models fall in love with a set of extensions.
It was in moments like these the 26-year-old decided she too wanted to share this feeling of confidence with all women and make them feel unapologetically beautiful without the unnecessary price tag.
From there, Hey Stacey hair extensions was born.
“I started Hey Stacey to empower the lives of women to make them feel confident and their best self,” Ms Kalwy said.
“To me, a Hey Stacey girl is confident, sexy and unapologetic. She works hard to play hard, lives and breathes fashion & beauty all whilst remaining approachable, attainable and relatable. She is us, she is you.”
HeyStacey.com offers a range of damage-free, undetectable and ultra-comfortable hair extension products that are made of 100 per cent ethically sourced remy hair, which means all the cuticles face the same directions to ensure the unlimited shine.
One thing she noticed behind the scenes of the fashion industry was a distinct gap in the Australian beauty market for locally produced, high-quality human hair extensions that were both ethically sourced and damage free.
“I noticed the fashion company I worked for always struggled to get good quality hair from Australia and always had to source it from America and wait weeks for the package to arrive,” the 26-year old Ms Kalwy said.
“I knew it was possible to make the same quality, if not better, products locally which would cost customers half the price and arrive in half the time.”
Hey Stacey prices range from $165 to $600 and the product can be washed dozens of times while still retaining its shine, with a range of products on offer, including tapes, weft and ponytail pieces, for all hair needs. Most can be applied in under 30 minutes.
The extensions come in a variety shades of natural and vibrant colours and can be used by salon professionals and the everyday woman looking for a change.
In the nine months since the brand’s March 2020 launch, Hey Stacey’s Instagram page, @heystaceyhair, has reached 194,000 followers, while its presence on Facebook has grown to 32,000.
Through a series of giveaways via social media, the brand was able to prove itself as a quality brand and build trust with consumers.
“The hardest struggle was growing our social media channels to a point where the brand was instantly trusted because of our large following,” Ms Kalwy said.
“We’ve done far too many giveaways to get it up there, but it was worth it. Getting people to try the hair once is one struggle but eventually, demand keeps ticking over and people come back for more.”
The entrepreneur learnt everything there was to know about hair extensions and tested out some the leading products in the market to discover how to set her brand apart. Ms Kalwy also became self-taught in the start-to-finish production process and the ins and outs of running a business which all appears to be working.
The goal now is to grow the business over the next five years to see Hey Stacey turn over $100 million per annum in revenue.
