HairByTillie: Social media, Salons and Styles.

February is the month of love, which comes hand in hand with dates, post lockdown of course. Everyone is finding themselves with the roots coming closer and closer to their ears, so why not get it done just in time for that special night? 

Well, HairByTillie has you covered. Specialising in low maintenance colour, balayage, blonding, grey coverage and cutting and styling, 21-year-old Tillie Banyard is happy to take on any low-maintenance colours to make sure that your hair is just right for the perfect night. 

Staring off at the age of 14, Tillie fell into a salon apprentice before becoming her own boss at 19 and owning her own salon at the tender age of 20. Since then, through her amazing Instagram profile, HairByTillie has grown in lengths and strides. 

The salon owner said: “I wanted the flexibility and freedom of working on my own and for myself, not having to be tied down to the typical 9-5. I also just wanted to push myself in my career and do what I wanted to do. I absolutely love it, it’s hard work but I would never go back.” 

Opening in November 2019, HairByTillie has had it’s fair share of hair pulling moments of frustration, with the continuous lockdowns causing her to close her doors just as she opened them. 

Not all hope is lost however, as Tillie has used this time to learn new skills to bring to her salon through online lessons, alongside homeschooling her younger sister. She now hopes to be able to bring in hair extensions to her long list of services and hopes to expand her business in the future to bring on more stylists and, potentially, apprentices- which is where her career first started. 

“To be honest, it’s not been ideal, it’s been challenging but it’s one of those things. No one could’ve predicted it. If I’d have known this pandemic would’ve happened, would I have opened my salon? I probably wouldn’t of. There’s a lot of good and bad things, I think it’s pushed me to know that this is definitely what I want to do but it has been hard at the same time. You just have to keep positive. At least now I know that if my business can survive through this, it can survive through anything,” Tillie said. 

Tillie is still currently dealing with appointments that were booked, and subsequently rearranged due to the lockdowns, that were made back in November so make sure you book in fast with her to get your spot. 

Despite it all, Tillie is very excited to get back into the salon and dust off her scissors to put them to good use. 

“I can’t wait- I absolutely can’t wait. I have days where I’m like ‘oh, it’s quite nice not having to be at work’ and then I get days where i’m like ‘I don’t know what to do with myself’. There’s so many things that make me want to go back. 

“The biggest thing is probably paving the way for my girls. The other great thing is when I have clients come in and they have no confidence, you talk through with them about what you’re going to do and they’ve been so happy at the end of the appointment that they’ve cried in the salon. Making my clients feel better and improving their confidence is the best thing ever about my job.”

To book yourself in at HairByTillie simply message her on Instagram or Facebook under @hairbytilliebanyard and tell her what you’d like. When lockdown is over, you can find Tillie’s salon at 13 Orwell Place, where parking is also available. 

We personally can’t wait to sit ourselves in the salon seat again, so be sure to check her out for yourselves! 

To listen to the full interview, simply click on the video below!