Hair-care products (from treatment to plain old shampoo) are among one of the most potentially toxic in the beauty industry. Conventional hair creams, hair spray, gels, and other styling products are full of fragrances, preservatives, and plastics, and as you might know, here at CF we are all about clean beauty that’s why we want to share with you an honest Q&A with Jose Bryce Smith Founder and CEO of clean luxury haircare company, O&M.

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Q

Can you tell us about your background and what inspires your work approach?

I was born in the UK and grew up just outside London, I started working when I was 12 as a chambermaid and I loved the freedom of making my own money, I continued to work, I had every dodgy job you can think of in cafes, supermarkets, bars, airports. My dad died of cancer when I was 17 which was pivotal in making health my no 1 value, my desire to not waste any time, and make the most out of life.

My mum told me that my dad always said that I was very entrepreneurial and I would be very good at my own business. She also said to me “darling you must learn to touch type if you ever need it, you can always be a secretary” and so I did that and through university when all my friends were working in clothes shops I was working in offices earning 3 times as much when I got paid I used to take them all out, which is how I got the nickname Queenie which later became the name of our O&M hairspray, Original Queenie.

Q

O&M sustainability practices and ingredients?

We have been on a health and life sustainability journey from the start, my belief was that hair colour would become a healthy choice like food, cleaning products, or cosmetics, I thought that people didn’t know what the long term health effects were of breathing in so many chemicals and putting them on their skin and so the journey for high performing low chemical hair colour and hair products began.

We have always had clean formulas and we had the world’s first ammonia-free hair colour in 2000 and then we led the way with our 5 free formula in our shampoos, conditioners, and treatments. We own our own factory in Australia and we have always replaced chemicals with Australian native ingredients and high performing naturals. We are committed to the health and staying at the forefront of clean hair colour and hair care.

Our sustainability journey is growing and our factory in Sydney is 85% solar powered and we are on the journey to move all of the packagings of our haircare range to ocean waste and recycled packaging in 2021. Our paper products, boxes, and printed materials are moving to suppliers approved by the FSC board which promotes responsible management of the world’s forests. This year we collaborated with Australian designer By Johnny to bring out O&M salon robes made from offcuts and surplus fabrics leftover from their collections. We are excited about this next phase of the journey as it fits so well with our values.

Q

How would you describe the standards of clean hair products in Australia?

The standard has raised so much in the past 20 years, when we first started, the only sulphate free shampoos were in green and brown packaging, they were sold only in health food stores and didn’t foam. We pioneered bridging the gap between natural and luxury and we wanted products that worked and women loved the look of them in their bathrooms. There are so many great clean products coming out of Australia, the world is looking to us, we have raised the bar globally.

Q

What’s your go-to quick fix for a bad hair day?

I am a dry shampoo fiend, it can solve the worst hair day for me. I have very fine hair too so it’s great for adding volume as well as soaking up oil or adding life to my limp locks. We have Original &M Dry Queen our dry shampoo and Desert Dry which is brilliant for when I need texture and dry shampoo. That and a quick curl with a curling iron with some Frizzy logic to smooth my ends and I am shiny and new.

Q

And your secret to a good hair day?

A good hair day starts for me when I have time, I need 30 minutes to shower and wash my hair, I use treatments regularly, my favourite is O&M Power Base and I use our Detox shampoo, then power base gives me protein and moisture to keep my hair strong. I’ve worked out that to make my hairstyle last a few days I need to use the styling products right, it’s not only for hairdressers, we can do it at home!!

I learned and I use Atonic, thickening spray on my roots and Project Sukuroi which is our smoothing balm which I thought was only for thick hair but it’s great for my ends particularly as I do so much heat styling. I blow dry my hair and then curl and finish with Original Queenie, hairspray, to keep it in place. Time is the one thing we can’t get enough of, it’s our greatest luxury, and given a bit of time, I can always have a good hair day.

Q

Three hair hero products every woman should have in her bathroom cabinet?

Dry shampoo, heat protectant and treatment.

Q

How to change up your hair without having a chop?

Change your style, there are so many hair tutorials online, wave, straight, up, down, buy yourself some Bobby pins and put your hair up, you’d be surprised what you can do.

Q

What do you predict will be the big hair trends for the upcoming months?

Coming out of ISO I think the health trend is going to get even bigger and more and more people will choose clean, I think clean and healthy living is going to continue to grow in hair.