International Women’s Day Retailer Spotlight: Michele Scott-Lynch, founder of Bouclème
On International Women’s Day 2021 we wanted to celebrate some of the incredible women behind our fantastic retailers.
Michele Scott-Lynch is one such woman making real change in the beauty world with Bouclème: a cruelty free haircare brand that offers a cleaner, more natural alternative to sulphate and silicone-based curl products.
In her twenties, Michele had battled against her own natural curls, trying to make her hair straight while damaging it in the process. But when she had her two beautiful daughters, her mindset changed. Michele wanted her girls to love and embrace their curls, using products that would improve their condition. It was here that the idea for Bouclème natural curl care was born.
We chatted to Michele to find out more about the Bouclème customer, how she’ll be celebrating International Women’s Day and women every day, and how the brand has stayed connected to its customers during the pandemic. Read more below--
CLEARPAY: Can you tell us about when you launched Bouclème and what your mission is as a haircare brand?
MICHELE: “I launched Bouclème back in October 2014 out of personal need. My mission was to empower fellow curly girls and guys to embrace their natural curls. Having previously trained in holistic medicine, it was important to me that the products we created were plant based and kind to the hair as well as to the planet”.
CLEARPAY: Who is the Bouclème customer?
MICHELE: “The Bouclème customer is confident, proud and independent. They want to fall in love with their curls and want products that work for them that don’t cost the earth, literally. They’re conscious of the environment and like their products clean and natural”.
CLEARPAY: How are you celebrating International Women’s Day as a woman and a retailer?
MICHELE: “We are celebrating women throughout the month of March through our charitable partnership with Malaika. Malaika is a non-profit organisation who empowers girls and community through education in the Democratic Republic of Congo. For every order placed on our website we’ll be donating £1 to this incredible organisation”.
CLEARPAY: This month, you’re donating £1 from every order to Malaika. Can you tell us more about your relationship with the charity and what these donations will go towards?
MICHELE: “We have been working with Malaika for over a year now. The partnership started after an emotional lunch meeting I had with Noella Coursaris Musunka Malaika’s founder. What this organisation has been able to achieve in 12 years is amazing. In the village of Kalebuka they have created access to clean water by building wells, primary and secondary school education to over 365 girls and, in turn, affected an entire community. According to UNESCO 49.5 million girls in Sub Saharan Africa are out of school, so Malaika is literally transforming the futures of these girls and generations to come”.
CLEARPAY: “From using Fair-Trade ingredients, to committing to being cruelty free, you’re committed to sustainability. How important is it to you to maintain these standards and how do you communicate your values to customers?”
MICHELE: “Our aim is to be a conscious business. We want to empower our customers through the products we create without depleting the planet. It’s important to us to help effect change where we can by sourcing some of our actives from Fair Trade cooperatives in Africa, to reducing our production of plastic. We have a sustainability timeline with set goals of what we want to achieve by 2025; we share this regularly with our customers through email and socials. We also enable our customers to donate points they’ve generated through our loyalty program to our charitable partnerships with Malaika and Trees For The Future”.
CLEARPAY: Can you tell us more about Bouclème’s 30-day hair challenge?
MICHELE: “Our 30-day challenge kits were created to help people transition away from sulphate and silicone-based hair care systems to a clean plant-based one. We’ve curated kits for three different curl types: wavy, curly and coily as a simple starting point with a £10 saving on the usual RRP. The customer is supported on their journey by weekly emails sharing tips and tricks PLUS an email address where our curl experts are on hand to answer any questions that come up. The aim is to bring customers closer to healthier, more defined, stronger curls”.
CLEARPAY: What challenges have you faced during the pandemic and how have you worked to overcome them?
MICHELE: “We moved to a new warehouse back in April 2020 at the peak of the pandemic which coincided with our sales doubling. The warehouse was ill prepared and short staffed which meant the packing of orders was severely delayed resulting in some unhappy customers and weeks of sleepless nights for me and the team. It took about six weeks to get back on track but now our order processing is the best it’s ever been”.
CLEARPAY: How have you stayed connected to your customers during the pandemic?
MICHELE: “We’ve used lockdown as an opportunity to try to build a community and keep people connected by offering meditation, fitness, sound baths, indoor plant classes (to name a few) through our Instagram feed. It’s been a really interesting exercise”.
CLEARPAY: What are your goals as a business for 2021?
MICHELE: “For 2021 our focus is on expanding into the US. We’ve got a warehouse prepped and ready and we are super excited to see where this journey takes us”.
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