There are moments in business you remember.
Not because somebody gave you a certificate.
Because somebody outside your company looked at the product and said:
This is good.
Really good.
Hairbond had three of those moments early on.
And yes.
It felt great.
2012: Moulder Wins Best Hair Product
In 2012, Hairbond Moulder Professional Hair Shaper won Best Hair Product at the LOOKFANTASTIC and LOOKMANTASTIC Hair & Grooming Awards.
Hairbond was four years old.
We were still small.
Independent.
Competing with brands that had more money, more staff and far more distribution.
But none of that mattered when the product was judged.
Moulder had to stand on its own.
And it won.
That meant something to me.
I had spent years behind the chair using products that promised everything and delivered grease, shine and concrete.
I wanted something better.
Dry.
Flexible.
Easy to use.
Good enough for a professional.
Good enough for the bloke using it at home.
Moulder did that.
Winning the award told us we were heading in the right direction.
About.com Named Hairbond Best Hair Product Brand
Then came another one.
This time it was not about a single product.
Hairbond was recognised by About.com as Best Hair Product Brand.
That felt different.
A good product can have a moment.
A brand has to mean something.
By then, Hairbond was starting to.
The names.
The smell.
The jars.
The performance.
The attitude.
I never wanted Hairbond to become another anonymous grooming company making black tubs with silver lids and calling everything “premium”.
There were already enough of those.
Hairbond had to have a personality.
Being recognised as a brand told us people could see it.
2013: Distorter Wins Best Hair Clay
Then came Distorter.
One of the products that helped define Hairbond.
In 2013, Loaded magazine named Hairbond Distorter Best Hair Clay.
Loaded was part of British men’s culture.
Football.
Music.
Style.
Arguments.
Bad decisions.
The important stuff.
And there was Hairbond Distorter.
Best Hair Clay.
Five years earlier I had been building a hair product brand in Lancashire.
Now one of Britain’s best-known men’s magazines was telling people our clay was the best.
You are allowed to enjoy those days.
So I did.
Three Awards
Put them together:
2012 — Hairbond Moulder: Best Hair Product, LOOKFANTASTIC / LOOKMANTASTIC
Hairbond: Best Hair Product Brand, About.com
2013 — Hairbond Distorter: Best Hair Clay, Loaded
Three recognitions.
Two products.
One brand.
It gave us confidence.
Not arrogance.
There is a difference.
Arrogance says you have already won.
Confidence says you know what happens when you do the work properly.
Now We Have to Do It Again
Hairbond has new products coming.
And I am more excited about these than I have been about a launch in years.
We have taken our time.
That matters.
I do not want Hairbond launching products because some marketing calendar says we need something new every quarter.
The world does not need more average hair products.
If a product carries the Hairbond name, it has to earn it.
It has to stand beside Distorter.
It has to stand beside Moulder.
It has to be good enough that we would still want to talk about it ten years later.
Otherwise, why bother?
We Are Entering Awards Again
The new Hairbond products will be put forward for industry awards.
Absolutely.
Awards are not everything.
A customer buying the product again matters more.
A barber recommending it matters more.
Somebody standing in the bathroom on Monday morning and thinking their hair looks good matters more.
But awards still matter.
They put your work against everybody else’s.
No excuses.
No history.
No sentimental nonsense.
Just the product.
We like that.
Are We Confident?
Yes.
Very.
But not because of what happened in 2012.
You cannot walk into 2026 carrying a trophy from 2012 and expect anybody to care.
The market has moved.
Products have improved.
Competition is tougher.
Good.
That is how it should be.
We are confident because we know what has gone into the new products.
We know how long they took.
We know what we rejected.
We know the standard.
And we know what Hairbond can do when we get it right.
The Next Award Has to Be Earned
Nobody owes us another one.
Loaded does not matter to the next judge.
LOOKFANTASTIC does not matter to the next customer.
About.com does not matter when someone opens a new jar for the first time.
The next product gets judged from zero.
That is the bit I like.
A new formula.
A new product.
A new test.
Same question.
Is it good enough?
We think it is.
Actually, we think it is better than that.
We think Hairbond can win again.
That is not nostalgia.
That is the challenge.
And we are ready for it.
Three awards behind us.
New products ahead.
Same standard.