Worthing hairdresser sees lockdown business boom

Leah Daisy Robinson, 22, of Station Road, Pulborough, began her business, Scrunchin Scrunchies, in late 2020 after trying to come up with ideas for making a living when non-essential businesses were closed.

Having been in hairdressing for eight years, Leah, manager at DLG Hair Studios in Worthing, decided to create a hair-accessory business, creating different types of scrunchies, heatless curler kits, hair combs and hair clips.

Leah said: “I wasn’t able to work during lockdown and I needed something to do in my spare time. I started looking up things to make, stole my mum’s sewing machine and started to make scrunchies.

“Starting my business in Covid was definitely tough to begin with. It started off as something fun to do but obviously I did need money as I was, and still am, a self-employed hair dresser so I was getting nothing apart from universal credit.

“I was in a really tough place where I couldn’t even get furlough pay because I was self-employed, but at that point I wasn’t even self-employed long enough to even get a self-employed grant.

“It was really tough, so I needed something to take my mind off the struggled but to also bring in some income at the same time, and it just grew from there.”

And it grew massive. Leah said: “My products go to people all over the world. I get quite a lot of customers in the United States, Canda, France, Italy and Australia.

“I started off at my mum’s in my bedroom with a little basket with a few scrunchies in. Now, I have my own flat, my own separate room for my business with massive containers full of scrunchies and two sewing machines.

“Seeing my business grow in lockdown makes me so happy and proud of myself. I never dreamed I could achieve such goals and manifest such dreams.”

Leah’s products can be found on her Scrunchin Scrunchies website – she also has Instagram and TikTok pages.