‘Bullies called me Frizzy Lizzie at school – now my hair company is worth £10million’

A woman branded “Frizzy Lizzie” by school bullies got the last laugh as her hair brand is due to rake in £10million.

Lizzie Carter, 35, from Derby, grew up being teased for her curly tresses.

In order to shield herself from playground taunts, her years in primary and secondary education consisted of brushing out her natural hair to slick it back into a ponytail.

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Then she quickly became well acquainted with straighteners once she hit her 20s.

But after she turned 29, she started to truly love the natural texture of her tresses.

With £500 in her pocket, she launched Only Curls in 2016 while still working her fashion design job.

Fast forward to today – mum-of-two Lizzie is now set to turnover upwards of £10million from her business that sells products catered to curly hair.

“Growing up with the name Lizzie and having curly hair resulted in my nickname of ‘Frizzy Lizzie’ at school,” she exclusively told Daily Star.

“I basically spent my teenage years brushing out my curls into a slicked back ponytail and quickly turned to straighteners as a twenty something.

“It really wasn’t until I was 29 that I truly began to understood and love my curly hair.

“While working as a fashion designer in the corporate world in the 2010s, I felt like I needed to straighten my hair to appear ‘professional’.

“It seems silly looking back now as of course curly hair is completely professional.

“But the problem was that I didn’t really know how to look after my curls – years of straightening my hair left my hair heat damaged.”

Lizzie worked with top brands like ASOS and Nordstrom in the US before she moved back to London. At this point, she decided to have another attempt at loving her natural locks.

But she realised there wasn’t a hair brand that specifically catered to curls.

“When I left the States and started working for a smaller company in London, I decided to re-embrace my natural curls and get my hair healthy again,” Lizzie explained.

“When looking for inspiration and products I realised that very little had changed in the curly hair space since I was a teenager.

“There wasn’t a brand that was focussing just on curls, and there wasn’t a single brand offering the support and guidance I needed to fully embrace and feel confident about my curly hair.”

Noticing a gap in the market, Lizzie launched her first Only Curls product – Curly Hair Towel – and started to gain attention through the likes of Instagram.

With no investments and just £500 in her pocket, she built the brand off her own back and started to pack orders herself from the kitchen table.

Since then, Only Curls stocks a number of products including starter kits to help people begin their curly hair journey.

In 2021, the business turned over a huge £5million and is on track to more than double that this year.

“With £500 I built a website, created a sample run of towels and started selling them,” the business woman shared.

“I launched the business with our Curly Hair Towel – a special microfibre towel that’s really gentle on curls. I marketed the towels through our Instagram @onlycurlslondon.

“Collaborating with influencers meant that I soon started to build a following within the curly hair community.

“It was a ‘side hustle’ for a year alongside my full time job, I went on maternity leave in 2017 and never went back to my design job.

“Being in a position to go full time Only Curls was so exciting!

“I thought ‘Only Curls’ made the most sense as the plan has always been to create a company that solely focusses on curly hair.”

Lizzie now employs a team of people with curly hair – her ‘curly team’ – who give tips and advice on how to care for their hair with the cruelty free products.

The brand has built up thousands of followers on TikTok and Instagram where customers are able to interact with the team.

“All our products have been developed to help define curls, reduce frizz and really just to help make curly hair maintenance a little easier,” Lizzie said.

“Customer service is so important to Only Curls and I have a curly team (made up of our curly customers) that are always on hand to give product tips and curl care support.”

After winning a bunch of awards, including the British Business Excellence Entrepreneur of the Year award, Only Curls is set for world domination.

Only Curls it set to expand internationally to the EU this year and has just recently launched a kids line in hopes that curly haired children can embrace their hair at an early age.

“We are really excited to relaunch our brand in the EU this year, we’ve had so many requests!,” Lizzie beamed.

“We’ve also just launched our very first kids range Little Curls with the goal of getting the next generation to really love their curls and not wreak the havoc lots of my generation caused to their curly locks.”

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