Why a hairdresser made a hair cream for the sauna.

Hi everyone, I'm Shiralee, nice to meet you! I want to tell you how Ember Hair Care started.

I've wanted to be a hairdresser for as long as I can remember. My parents love telling the story of the Barbies I'd get for Christmas. By Boxing Day, every one of them had a bob. For my 8th birthday I got a dolly head and I thought it was the best day of my life. It went everywhere with me. I'd do upstyles on it in my bedroom, then drag it out to the lounge room and do its hair while we all watched TV as a family. Learning to multitask early!

I've now had the privilege of doing what I love for 20 years (you could argue it's longer if you count all those unpaid hours on the dolly head). I still work and play with hair every week in the salon I own on the Sunshine Coast.

Growing up in the country

I grew up in a small country town with extreme temperatures. In winter it could drop below -1 in the morning, and it's been known to get down to -10, then warm up to 20 by the afternoon. Summer was a very dry, crisp heat, with temperatures up to 40 degrees.

I was lucky enough to have a sauna at home. On those freezing winter mornings, sitting in the warmth before I tackled the day was the only way I'd escape a case of seasonal depression. But every time I got out, I was trying to repair my hair with masks and treatments.

Moving to Queensland

In 2020 I relocated to Queensland, the total opposite of where I grew up. Humid and sunny, with no big temperature swings. The weather is so nice that I was outside and active a lot more. I've always been an active girl, so you'd find me running, at the gym, or trying my newest obsession, hot Pilates.

Between the humidity, the sun, beach walks and hot Pilates, my hair was copping it more than ever.

Someone needs to make this

Three years ago I was sitting in a sauna with friends, telling them to put something in their hair before they got in, rather than trying to fix it after. I'd tried all the different products we had in the salon and nothing quite hit the mark. I was mixing three products together to get close, and it still wasn't right.

At the same time I kept seeing it in my clients. They were buying all the right products I'd recommended, then sitting in my chair for their colour touch up with hair that felt dry and brittle. When I asked if they'd changed anything in their routine, I kept getting the same answers. "I've started doing saunas. I feel so good but I don't think it's great for my hair." Or, "I've started doing hot Pilates."

I'd actually stopped using the sauna myself because I couldn't stand how dry my hair felt afterwards. So I kept saying it. Someone needs to make a product for the sauna.

Little did I know that three years later, that someone would be me.

That product is Silk, a lightweight leave-in cream you put on before and after the sauna. It launches the first week of December. If you want to be first to try it, join the launch list below.

Shiralee x