LAUREN MACKELLAR

We happened upon Robe Haircare products organically through Instagram and decided to give them a go. We instantly fell in love with the products and were completely touched and inspired by Lauren's story and what she has been able to create.

 

As personal lovers of Robe haircare, we know their products and how well they work. Our all time favourite is the Major Volume Boost Bundle.

  

 

I'm Lauren Mackellar, the owner and founder of Robe Haircare.

 

What do you do? 

 

I create products that help people to fall back in love with their hair!

 

Image by Jack Younger.

 

 

I was a hairdresser for 16 years, and worked as a celebrity hairstylist in Los Angeles and Australia. In my 20’s I’d had my own challenges with stress-related hair loss - and I’d realised during that experience that there were no high-end, active products available to help me  re-grow my hair.

 

I also had so many of my clients asking me for  which products I could recommend that could help them after going through various stages of their lives that had affected the health of their hair (postpartum hair loss, health issues and  hormonal changes to name a few.)

 

As a hairdresser I had access to all of the best products on the market - but when it came to finding a product that had any active ingredients or long-term benefits- I couldn’t find anything. 

 

It seemed as though the products on the market at the time only offered cosmetic and superficial results, which only lasted until the next wash. It was frustrating to me that there were plenty of active cosmetics and skincare products  around - but nothing like that when it came to haircare.

 

I’d discovered the powerful benefits of natural ingredients through my own experiences with eastern health practices, but these ingredients were hard to come by for the everyday person, and I wanted to make beautiful products with them that would be more accessible to the wider population that needed them.

 

 

‘Focus on service’ 

 

When I feel challenged by set backs (or anything challenging in regards to  business really)  - I always come back to why I started ROBE in the first place - to help people. So it really helps me to live by and focus on the mantra of giving people the best service that I can offer. Everything else can be sorted out in the end, and coming back to that helps simplify everything in the moments I’m feeling overwhelmed. 

 

 

If you were to open up my phone right now, you’d  find my Insight Timer meditation app permanently open. I just love it. Specifically the yoga Nidra meditations, I use them every single night when I go to bed. I also use other short meditations during the day or whenever my brain tells me I need a break. 

 

As someone who recognises how much repair my body needs through sleep (and who has had a lot of trouble with sleep in the past) Ive had to put the  the time into working out how I can help my body get the rest it needs - and I think I’ve cracked the code with yoga Nidra!

 

The Huberman lab podcast is also something I love listening to when I’m working from home during the day. I find Andrew Huberman so interesting! Way before I started Hairdressing I was studying Behavioural Neuroscience and Psychology at uni, and he talks a lot about the brain and health which have always been fascinating to me - but even more-so now, since going through my own health journey.

 

Secrets of a beauty queen by Steph darling is a book that I’ve read and re-read multiple times. Its light, funny, informative, and its also just really inspiring for me to learn about other people’s journeys, and it’s inspired me to write my own memoir - one day!

 

 

Dream hotel or travel destination?

 

The Parker hotel in Palm Springs. Its like being in Alice in Wonderland, a complete sensory overload and not at all what my own personal style is like at home -but I love that - its like stepping into another world!

 

But if I’m thinking about places a bit closer to home, I love everything about The Calile, or the Swell Hotel in Byron. The gold couch in the lounge bar at Swell is what dreams are made of! 

 

 

 

Cicciolinas in St Kilda - it feels like home to me - when I was doing Chemo, I would go in there on my own at least  once a week, because I would have aversions to absolutely everything else and their food was all I felt like. The staff there always took such good care of me, and now it just feels like an extension of my own living room.  the food and cocktails are always faultless and its walking distance from home - perfect!

 

 

My friend Tess James for all of the above! Tess just exudes effortless-chic in every way.

 

 

 

Ah, there’s too many pieces to choose from! But I especially love the 

Crystal Object 1.01. I love statement crystals and that piece  in particular is just breathtaking.  

 

Something cosy, comfy and textural that I can be very  horizontal on!