NEWSROOM

Hair salon product protects clients, cuts drying time

By D. Ray Tuttle, The Journal Record

Editor’s note: This is part of a series of stories on creativity in business, education and the arts in Oklahoma. Oklahoma City will host the World Creativity Forum in November.

TULSA – Rose Hardwick knew she had nailed it when people lined up to buy her new product at an Atlanta hair show.Hardwick invented a foam shield that protects the face, ears and neck from the 150-degree temperatures and the noise of the hair dryer at hair salons.

At the same time, Hardwick’s product, called Urulax, cuts drying time by 45 percent.

Hardwick said she’s spent hundreds of hours under the hair dryer, thinking that something had to be done for the women at salons who endured the hot and noisy machines for hours at a time. Hardwick also learned the product needed to be flexible and reusable.

She came up with the name because when she uses the product she feels “relaxed.”

“You relax when you use this,” Hardwick said. “I wanted to create a play on words.”

While hair dryers have been used for decades, Hardwick could not find a product that cut drying time while reducing the noise.

“I know there had to be a solution,” Hardwick said. “To get a curly hairstyle takes hours under the dryer. So, I kept asking myself, ‘What would make me comfortable?’”

As Hardwick did her homework, she learned the market was huge. According to industry sources, 65,000 beauty salons and another 5,000 barbershops generate combined annual sales of $19 billion. But the industry is fragmented as the 50 largest companies control just 15 percent of the market, according to Hoovers Inc., the business information website. And, by far, the majority of salons are small independently owned.

In addition to combating heat and noise issues, Hardwick realized there was little protection from the chemicals applied to the hair.

“When you get your hair done, the hairdresser wears gloves, and they cover your clothes,” Hardwick said. “But they do not cover your face and neck.”

Nearly five years went by from the time Hardwick first started thinking about a product.

Once she designed it, it took her another two years to come up with a product that people said, ‘Yeah. This is good,’” Hardwick said.

Hardwick assembled a chemist, an engineer, a patent attorney and paid lots of cash.

She estimates she’s invested $59,000 to date on product development.

“I let them do what they know to do,” Hardwick said.

Once she had a product, Hardwick took it to hair shows in places like Atlanta and in Winston-Salem, N.C. She then quizzed hairstylists about the foam product and asked them to critique it.

“People told us what they liked and we’d come home and tweak it,” Hardwick said. It was at one of these hair shows in 2007 that Hardwick knew she’d found the right combination.

“A light bulb went off,” Hardwick said. “They were lined up for the product. I thought to myself, ‘We made it.’”

Salon operators would describe how their customers complained about the heat and the time it takes to dry their hair, Hardwick said.

“Once they saw the product, they told me, ‘We need something to get our clients to quit complaining. This will stop all that,” Hardwick said.

Since that Atlanta hair show, Hardwick has sold about 700 items.

Hardwick has worked at American Airlines in Tulsa as a maintenance scheduler 28 years. She continued working at AA while developing the Urulax. She entered the SpiritBank/Tulsa Community College Entrepreneurial Spirit Award competition earlier this year and was recently named a semifinalist. Entrepreneurs entered the competition by submitting their executive summaries online in April and May.  After executive summaries were submitted, the Top 25 businesses were notified and went through judging and coaching rounds where entrepreneurs “pitched” their idea to a panel of judges.

Winners will be announced on Nov. 16. The first-place winner will receive $30,000, second place $5,000 and third place, $2,500 – all provided by SpiritBank.

“We want to expand our market,” Hardwick said. “That is one of our problems now is that we are not big enough. We need to get the product out there.”

Hardwick praised the coaching she’s received. If creating an idea and getting it to the market was easy, everyone would be doing it, she said.

“The experts at the Spirit Awards know how to get it there,” Hardwick said. “I’ve learned a lot of business. I know how to invest but not how to get it from concept to market.”

Her husband, Stacy, has been surprised how his wife has been persistent and worked to not just come up with the concept, but also stick with it and bring it to market.

Rose Hardwick cautions anyone wanting to start a business.

“Don’t try it unless you have deep pockets and broad shoulders,” she said.