I'm a natural redhead who, in my late 20s, started going darker. But I didn't want to reach for a box of dye, or colour-depositing product – it just felt like painting over my natural shade. None of those products ever felt like my hair. More than anything, it felt like admitting I needed fixing.

That's the thing about red hair: it's often the first thing people remember about you. Which means you've probably spent some of your life not loving it, and now – hopefully – wanting to protect and enhance it. My pride for being a redhead took a long time to reveal itself, particularly as I struggled with it growing up, so the last thing I wanted to do was paint over it – I'm making up for lost time.

A lot of us grew up with comments, shame, and feeling different in the wrong way. I'd already spent years hearing this from the redhead community – from running Ginger Parrot and Redhead Day UK events in London, to launching a successful petition for ginger emojis, my passion for all things redheaded had already become a true labour of ginger love, long before Gingerful existed. Beauty brands cater to brunettes and blondes first and foremost – there are endless shelves of products just for them. But redheads get maybe a few colour-depositing and box dyes, and not much else – we're expected to be happy with a one-size-fits-all option.

So, after two years of love and development, I set out to build something different: henna, in its natural glory, as the hero ingredient, gentle enough to gradually build up and work across every shade of red, from strawberry blonde to deep auburn. Not a fix. Not a cover-up. Just your colour, enhanced – I like to say it's your shade on its very best, sunshiny day. Our first products, the now best-selling Henna & Rose shampoo and conditioner, launched in February 2020.

Years on, I'm still genuinely moved by how many of you trust Gingerful to celebrate your gingerness rather than hide it. It feels like we're part of something here: a space to feel proud of our unique features, in the hopes of making up for lost time.

Welcome to the club 👩‍🦰👨‍🦰