HJ CAREERS
Adventures of a… GO-GETTER
Heffy Wheeler, founder of HX Hair, reveals why you should always follow your passion, stay true to yourself, and trust your potential
“I never thought I was capable of achieving anything big. I thought there was this limit on anything that I could ever personally achieve,” Heffy Wheeler reveals as we begin our chat. Which is a shame, considering her career now. Let’s rewind…
“I was probably around 14 and I was very emo, and obviously a big part of that was the hair,” she tells us. “I just started to experiment on my own hair.” Which soon turned into her friends hair too! “They would give me £5 and I’d have the scissors in my mum’s kitchen, doing these emo hairstyles at 14 years old,” she laughs. But Heffy recalls how much hairdressing was stigmatised at that age. “My GCSEs were okay. I remember I was torn between hairdressing and doing my A Levels and one of my teachers said to me, ‘It’s going to be such a waste if you do hairdressing with these GCSEs.’ But I decided to follow my heart and forget the pressures from other people.” And this is where Heffy’s journey began.
After finishing college, Heffy went to work for a salon chain as a junior. But it was at this time, she began to struggle. “I’m neurodivergent and I was undiagnosed at this point so my teenage and young adult years were very confusing,” she tells us. “I just felt that I was different and I couldn’t quite fit in.” From here, Heffy moved to a salon in Birmingham that was known for being more alternative, and this is where her colour journey began. “They put me in this little pop-up shop in the middle of Birmingham and told me to run it,” she laughs. “It was when vivids and ombre started coming into fashion but it was before we had social media so I had to figure things out as I went along. This is where I realised I have a flair for colour and I started to come up with my own techniques and style.”
But following further struggles, Heffy decided hairdressing wasn’t for her anymore and ran away to Canada. It was here, that she began to get messages from old clients asking if she was still doing hair. “I said no, but I’ll do it for you when I come home because I had no other way of making money,” she tells us. “It was at this point I made my Instagram.”
When she came back to the UK, Heffy had just £30 left in her account. “I went to the wholesalers, (I wish we could do this nowadays!) I bought a tube of colour, bottle of peroxide, brush, gown, towel and some shampoo from Tesco, and drove to a client’s house,” she says. “I did the colour, got paid, went back to the wholesaler, bought a second lot of colour, and that is exactly how I started doing hair again.” Heffy was also learning the value of social media too.
Fast forward six months and she was fully booked four months in advance. “I rented a space in a barbershop. The barber was 80 years old, had his business for like 60 years, and I was in the back of this tiny little room,” she laughs. “I started to do more vivid work, experimenting, and I found my niche and started to really lean into it.” This led to more education, more opportunities, and more visibility for Heffy. “I took on a 14 year old girl who’s being working for me now for 10 years,” she tells us. “I was like, 'okay I’m going to need somewhere bigger now'.”
Not long after, Heffy found a two-storey building for her and her partner. “I couldn’t afford it on my own, so he had the upstairs to do his tattoo business, and I had the downstairs as a salon,” she says. “This year is my 10th year in business which is amazing. I have seven staff, I work for different brands, I educate all over the world, I’ve made something that’s so much more than a salon, I’ve made a community.” Something she’s extremely proud of. “I’ve always been so stoked with everything I’ve achieved because I’ve done that,” she tell us. “I’ve always accepted that I can’t do things, or I’m not good enough, so I’m just ecstatic to have done more than I ever thought I would do.” It seems there’s no limits to Heffy’s achievements!