A New Beauty Brand Leading The Charge On Sustainability

Yolanda Cooper discovered her passion for hair around the same time she learned to walk. Then, in her teens, after an impromptu chop of her boyfriend’s hair, Cooper realised she had skill too. Despite having no formal training, she has since launched a global eco-friendly haircare brand. With naturally derived, vegan-friendly formulas harnessing the power of Irish ingredients, We Are Paradoxx is shaking up the beauty industry.

Why hair, how did you get started in the hair industry? A few years ago, I had a lightbulb moment that led to my invention of the patent-pending Supernova—the world’s first cordless three-in-one hair tool that combines a straightener, wand and tong in one travel-friendly tool. I was checking in for a flight with overweight luggage, mainly due to the number of hair tools I was travelling with and started to think. With over 60 percent of women using more than one hair tool and ever-tightening hand luggage restrictions, I realised that a multi-functional, travel-friendly hair tool could be a game-changer. I drew the idea for Supernova out on a cocktail napkin on the plane and then set about making it a reality as soon as I got home. I had previous experience in inventing concepts for consumer products, but this was the first I was sure would go global.

Tell me about the moment you decided to launch We Are Paradoxx and is that a different moment from when you thought up the idea? While working on Supernova and researching the hair category generally, I saw a real gap in the market for high-performance haircare that was also clean, natural and good for the environment. With consumer demand in the beauty industry becoming increasingly focused on clean formulas and brands’ eco-credentials, I realised that there was a serious opportunity for Supernova to sit as part of a wider brand, with a complementary haircare line, so I decided to create a brand that would truly make a difference in the beauty industry. Each year, 90 billion units of packaging are created in the global beauty market and the majority of this is plastic. In the USA alone, 70 percent of plastic packaging ends up in landfills. My goal was to create a plastic-free haircare line, using stainless steel and aluminium packaging that produces fewer CO2 emissions than plastic or glass to transport and can be recycled on an infinite loop without ever degrading in quality. We are currently 90 percent plastic-free and are working hard to eliminate the rest.

Tell me about how you came up with the product line and formulations? Inclusivity was key in our initial product development. I wanted to create a line that would appeal to, and work for everyone, regardless of gender, hair type, age or ethnicity. The products absolutely had to be vegan, cruelty-free, at least 90 percent natural and clean (no toxins or irritants of any kind). Initially, we developed a capsule collection of six products, most of them multi-tasking to streamline people’s hair routines, without the need for step-by-step regimes or complicated instructions. For example, our conditioner is a 3-in-1 product that acts as a conditioner, hair mask and styling balm and our candle is also a hair mask and body oil treatment. We also have a multitasking scrub that works on both the scalp and body. 

We worked tirelessly to get the formulations right, with up to 20 revisions on some. We infused powerful extracts native to Ireland, including kelp, carrageen moss, red clover, Celtic salt, whiskey and hops. These extracts are relatively untapped when it comes to haircare, and I wanted to bring global attention to the amazing ingredients Ireland has to offer. We also used only essential oils and no synthetic fragrance.

What do you love most about the industry? The constant innovation! It’s a really exciting industry to be part of, with ever-changing trends and evolving technology. I love that just when you think you’ve seen it all or thought of it all, there’s always new ideas launching. For example, we just launched a candle with our signature scent that also doubles up as a hair mask and body oil treatment. We called it Mind Blown for obvious reasons.  

How has your business and your day-to-day changed since Covid-19 There is no doubt about it, Covid-19 turned our business upside down. As a predominantly retail brand, we instantly felt the effect when all the retail stores closed their doors. Thankfully, however, our business is mainly built through online retailers such as ASOS.com and Lookfantastic.com in the UK, Utla.com and UrbanOutffiers.com in the USA and I’m pleased to say sales continue to be strong online. We have also seen a dramatic uplift in our own website sales. Day-to-day, I’m spending most of the day on Zoom, attending virtual events and phone calls, and it seems like this may be the new-normal for quite some time. At least I’m never late for a meeting any more!

What has been the most unexpected aspect (both good and bad) of starting your own brand? I’m a strong believer in gaining as much experience in an industry as you can first before launching a brand in that industry. It helps in so many ways, to understand trends, the retail landscape, the consumer mindset, create connections and contacts with buyers and de-risks it, as you know what has worked and what hasn’t in the past etc. Well, that’s not at all what I did with the electrical side of our brand. I had zero experience bringing an electrical tool to market. I was blissfully ignorant when I started the development of Supernova and soon learnt the hard way what actually goes into an invention like this, and it was tough! We had underestimated the cost of goods, cost of research and development, and project timelines, so when it came to the launch date pre-Christmas last year, we faced the most insane and unexpected amount of pressure to get it over the line and get it to market. But we did it! 

On a positive note, the instant success we experienced in our first year of launching was totally unexpected. I knew we had created a strong brand with a meaningful purpose, so I believed we would have a great start but the response was overwhelming. Within about six weeks of launching, we went from having five retailers to 35. And within the first year, we had launched in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Austria, USA and across the Middle East.

What is your best beauty travel tip? Embracing multi-purpose products is my ultimate travel beauty tip. This was really important to me when developing our haircare line—where possible, each product should do more than one job. For example, our Game Changer Hair Mask can be used as a leave-in or wash-out mask, on dry or wet hair; and can also act as a finishing balm to smooth flyaways and frizz. I even use it as a skin moisturiser!  

What is your best-selling product and why do you think that is? Hangover Hair Elixir is a big hit. It comes in an irresistible hip flask and gives hair incredible shine.