Hair2U started producing hair-related photo and video content in 2014, and started selling on the Sellfy web store since early 2015. We are based in Perth, Western Australia. We currently also have collaborators in the Philippines, Mexico, Russia, and China.

Here is a brief history of the journey so far.

Phase 1: 2014 – 2015

I started off with shooting creative long hair themed still photos. The first few batches of content were made with casual models whom I met from the local photography club.

After gaining more experience, I decided to venture into video production. This required significantly more planning, skills, and equipment to properly produce quality videos. I bought softbox lighting, cameras, tripods, microphones, and backdrops for video production. Production costs were high back then, since I needed to hire studios and pay hairdressers, on top of the models’ fees.

Note that Hair2U was, and still is, just a personal side business venture. I still do need a day job to live off, since the profit margin of hair video production is low, and highly irregular.

Phase 2: 2016 – 2018

In late 2015, I received a new job offer which required me to relocate to France for three years. Hence, the first phase of Hair2U ended, and a second phase began.

In the second phase of Hair2U, I collaborated with a partner from Bosnia & Herzegovina. She modelled herself, and also produced hair videos for me from her home. During this time, we had access to many amazing beautiful Slavic women with long hair willing to model their long hair, or get their hair cut for a generous price.

During phase two, I supplemented my own production with customised videos ordered from a collaborator in China.

Phase 3: 2019 – 2020

Upon completion of my work contract in France, I returned back home to Australia. Collaboration with our partner in Bosnia & Herzegovina ended, for her personal reasons. Hence, phase two ended, and a new phase started.

In phase three, I set up a small home studio workspace for video production. I also trained myself to cut simple hair styles. By producing videos from home, and doing the hair styling myself, I am now able to save significantly on production costs. There is no longer a need to hire a studio or pay another hairdresser; unless the later is requested by a customer for a customised video.

2019 was a very fruitful year. Many videos were produced in that year. Most local haircut models are foreign backpackers on working holiday visas. Being adventurous and willing to work odd jobs for the pay, they are the perfect candidate for our production.

In addition, collaboration ties with foreign partners in the Philippines, Mexico, and Russia were established. They are able to produce videos for us, either modelling themselves, or seek models.

Phase 4: 2020 – 2022

In early 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic crisis begun. On the flip side, Australia is able to cope relatively well, being an isolated continent. On the down side, hard border policies were put into place, which resulted in foreign backpackers leaving, and new ones no longer permitted to enter. This has affected our video production capability, since we rely heavily on backpackers as haircut models.

We have tried in vain to crack the local market, as in getting local Australian women to appear in our productions. However, so far the interest is almost non-existent when we advertise. Being a first world country with very high living standards and GDP per capita, we hypothesise that Australians are not as desperate enough to put their reputation on the line for quick cash in this sort of production.

In contrast, typically European backpackers are more open minded to model for this sort of production in exchange for easy cash. We hypothesis that it’s because backpackers are typically the adventurous type to open try new things and require money to fund their travels. They are the perfect demographic for this production.

As a result of all these factors, we have not produced much content locally (in my own studio) in 2020 to 2022. Fortunately, due to the surplus production from 2019 and foreign collaborations, we are still able to keep releasing new content for our customers regularly.