Kelly Volves tells Sarah Singleton why she set up a vegan salon

THE philosophy of hairstylist Kelly Vowles is that no animal should be harmed for the sake of your hair.

She describes herself as a vegan hairdresser – and recently set up Pixal-Rose Hair Design, named in honour of her beloved pet guinea pig, Pixal.

“You don’t have to be a vegan to be a customer – I certainly don’t judge anyone. I just want people to know that the products I use are cruelty-free,” she says.

Kelly, from Rodbourne, makes sure all her shampoos and sprays, treatments and dyes, are made without any animal ingredients, have not been tested on animals and are made by companies that never use animal testing.

She operates from her own salon in Redcliffe Street, for dry cuts, hair-up and nails, and from Platinum Salon in Cricklade Street. Kelly also used to work from Bristol’s Tame the Mane salon in Bristol – a vegan salon that does not use any artificial chemicals, only natural ingredients such as comfrey, vinegars, clays, banana, avocado and oils. She says she learnt a lot from the Bristol business:

“It’s all vegan and organic. They make their own hair food – and think you should only put on your hair what you would put in your body.”

Kelly gave up an office job to follow her dream – but her first career was as a DJ. She was DJ Kelz Clarkson, and spent her 20s working in nightclubs and at festivals.

“I worked in most of the clubs around Swindon, and I did Leeds Festival, Boardmasters at Newquay, and supported people like Zane Lowe,” she says.

Kelly was born and raised in Swindon, and gained a degree in music from the University of Gloucestershire, while working as a DJ.

“I had a great time as a DJ, and I am really thankful for the experience, but I fell out of love with it in the end,” she says. “I also got a job at a leisure centre, which is where I met Leigh. We got engaged, and as he was working as a police officer our working hours meant we didn’t see each other very much.

“Leigh said ‘why not retrain?’ I picked up a Swindon College prospectus and hairdressing was there.”

Kelly took levels one and two and discovered this was an occupation she enjoyed.

“I really loved it, but I really struggled to understand it all at first – the science of colouring hair was on a whole different level. When I completed level two, I didn’t go into level 3 right away.”

She had a full-time office job while working over two years at evening classes and started doing hairdressing for friends and family. Kelly continued with her regular job until a dramatic wake-up call challenged her to rethink what she was doing with her life.

“I found out from a friend of mine, who I’d lost touch with, that her sister had died suddenly, and she was about the same age as me. I remember thinking ‘that could be me’. You never know what’s around the corner. I was stuck in this job that I didn’t care about and didn’t enjoy. I had to make a change.”

Kelly signed up with the Marvel Academy for a refresher course and gained her level three qualification in October – and made plans to set up her own business. But this was not the only big change she had made in her life. Early in 2017 Kelly, who had previously been a vegetarian, decided to eat a purely plant-based diet after hearing a friend talking about commercial egg production and how male chicks were destroyed. Husband Leigh followed suit after watching a film at a vegan festival about the life of pigs raised in industrial farming.

The couple were so passionate about the cause, they organised Swindon’s first vegan festival, called Food for Thought, which took place at the Victoria pub last year. They already have plans underway for a second, bigger festival this year.

“From day one I knew I wanted to be a vegan hairdresser, using only cruelty-free products,” she explains. And she is enjoying her new work.

“As soon as people sit in this chair, we talk about everything. It’s like a counselling session! It’s great. We put the world to rights.”

Kelly works at her Rodbourne salon on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Thursday to Saturday at Platinum.

“When I talk about cruelty-free products, everyone’s on board, whether they are a vegan or not,” she says.

Kelly advises that cruelty-free hair products do not have to be expensive and mentioned Superdrug’s own brands and the Body Shop’s vegan range.

“I don’t want to use products tested on animals, or that contain lanolin, beeswax or insect colourings,” she says. “I think there are also too many chemicals in products and they end up washing down the drain.”

“I used to have a guinea pig called Fluffy Jim, who sadly died. He and Pixal were like the greatest love story ever told. They followed each other everywhere. I knew I wanted to name my business after them, and I came up with Pixal-Rose.” Fluffy Jim is also due to be celebrated in the hairdressing world – as Kelly wants to make her own range of haircare products and this line will be named after him.

For more information on Kelly’s vegan hair design, visit www.pixalrosehairdesign.com or call 07738 617672.