Lucie Macleod came across the idea for her hair product from personal experience while she was at university and her business has taken off to such an extent she’s just made Forbes’ 30 under 30 list
07:05, 15 Apr 2026Updated 07:06, 15 Apr 2026
Lucie Macleod founded Hair Syrup in her hometown in Pembrokeshire when she was 22 and it’s gone from strength to strength(Image: Hair Syrup)
Just one year after being rejected on Dragons’ Den Lucie Macleod, from Pembrokeshire, has been named on Forbes’ 30 under 30 list. The 26-year-old joined the likes of Love Island star and businesswoman Molly-Mae Hague on the media brand’s retails and e-commerce category.
The Welsh entrepreneur’s natural and cruelty-free hair and scalp oils took TikTok by storm and brought in almost £5 million in 2025. Despite a disappointing result on the BBC programme, Hair Syrup is now available to buy at Boots, Beauty Bay, Urban Outfitters, Lookfantastic, ASOS, Anthropologie, as well as through its own website.
She posted the announcement on Instagram, saying: “Mom, I made it #forbesunder30.” Lucie later uploaded a video where she shared the news with her father.
Lucie started the business five years ago when she was in her second year of her English Literature degree at Warwick University. She readily admits that her entrepreneurial journey began almost by chance, after a TikTok video showcasing her hair transformation went viral and sparked overwhelming demand for her homemade oil.
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Casting her mind back to how it all began, Lucie said: “I basically started it by chance, a little bit by accident.”
She had begun concocting hair oils in her university kitchen to tackle her own damaged hair, and after 18 months noticed a remarkable improvement. When she returned home during the first lockdown, her family were taken aback by the change in her appearance.
Lucie said: “My mum, my brother and his fiancé were all saying: ‘Woah your hair is so amazing and so much better, what have you been doing?'”
Lucie Macleod went on Dragons’ Den to pitch her haircare brand in 2025 and said despite it not going very well for her it was one of the best things she could have done(Image: BBC)
Like countless others, she downloaded TikTok in the summer of 2020 and filmed a video documenting her hair transformation. In her own words, she “gave it no thought at all” — yet it went viral.
Initially she ruled out the prospect of selling her homemade creations but when the demand showed no signs of waning she cautiously began exploring the possibility of selling them, uncertain whether she was even permitted to sell hair oil from her house.
Now the 26-year-old runs a multi-million pound business from her hometown.
Despite the success of the business across the UK and Europe, Hair Syrup still operates from Goodwick in Fishguard.
Speaking to WalesOnline in 2025, she recalled how fellow university students would make remarks suggesting Wales was somehow backward, though she admitted finding pleasure in challenging this outdated stereotype.
Inside the Hair Syrup industrial unit in Fishguard(Image: John Myers)
She said: “It’s really funny because Hair Syrup is one of the most viral, trendy brands and the fact it has come from a place that generally people wouldn’t like to associate trendiness with is quite satisfying.
“We’re supporting and boosting the local economy and job creation and just putting it on the map. It’s really cool that I get to say, ‘I’m Lucie and I’m from Pembrokeshire‘, even the dragons didn’t know where it was!”
During the interview with Lucie, she had just finished pitching her venture on Dragons’ Den, a programme she has faithfully watched and adored for years.
Things have gone so well for Lucie she has just been named on Forbes 30 under 30 list(Image: John Myers)
Although she left without securing any investment, Lucie praised the show and her experience, describing it as “one of the best things I’ve ever done”, despite being unlike anything she’d previously encountered.
She acknowledged that ideally she would have partnered with Steven Bartlett and Peter Jones, but instead spent considerable time in discussion with the Dragons, receiving “invaluable business advice”, and has maintained contact with several of them since.
Lucie said: “They said to me: ‘You’re gonna thank us for this in a little while.’ I was obviously upset because you feel like these are your idols, you want them to love you and they’re not always telling you what you want to hear. It was a bit of tough love but in the best possible way.”