Shaun Pulfrey | How to become a self-made beauty millionaire.
The Emma Guns Show
Emma Gunavardhana
4.8 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 18 September 2016
⏱️ 78 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Tangle Teezer (@tangleteezer) is arguably one of the business world's most surprising, and inspiring, success stories in recent years, and I was very honoured to be able to sit down with the brand's CEO and Inventor, Shaun Pulfrey to be able to learn about this incredible story.
I personally can't remember a time before the Tangle Teezer existed: the hairbrush that fits perfectly, and ergonomically, in your hand and glides through hair painlessly detangling knots in its path. It's a huge hit with parents who no longer have to fight to get a comb through their children's hair at bath time and provides an instant 'refresh' to styled hair.
Perhaps what first brought Shaun and the Tangle Teezer to our attention was his appearance on BBC2's Dragon's Den in 2007, where Shaun offered the assembled Dragons, including Deborah Meaden, James Caan and Duncan Bannatyne, 15% equity in the company for an £80,000 investment. Shaun, and his plastic brush, were dismissed as 'hair-brained' but viewers were so impressed that the day after the programme aired the Tangle Teezer website was inundated with orders. The rest, as they say, is history...
In it's nearly ten years Tangle Teezer has gone on to be sold in over 70 countries and counts celebrities including Victoria Beckham as fans of the brush, which comes in a variety of colours, shapes and sizes.
What struck me during this conversation with Shaun was how the idea was born. Shaun was a hair colourist in some pretty fancy London salons and wanted to send his clients to their stylist with freshly coloured hair that was tangle-free. What is now a global brand was back then a practical tool that he knew he needed, but couldn't find.
I learned a lot during this conversation, not least that there was a whole other life-changing story that ran parallel to the invention and launch of the Tangle Teezer.
If reports are to be believed Tangle Teezer is now valued at over £200m so I wanted to find out from Shaun what it's like to go from earning a £-per-hour wage to being a multi-millionaire entrepreneur.
I hope you enjoy this episode of The Beauty Podcast where it's hard not to feel inspired and cheer Shaun on for everything he's achieved.
Enjoy! EG xx
Hey! Why not share your thoughts and insights to make your listening experience even better. Complete this listener survey to tell me what you want to hear: http://bit.ly/theemmagunsshow-survey
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Just imagine what your best Christmas ever would sound like. |
| 0:03.4 | Thank you for calling National Lottery. I can see you calling about a winner today, is that correct? |
| 0:07.4 | Yeah, I think I have. I'd just take to double check before I do a cartwheel. |
| 0:11.1 | Yeah, I can confirm that you have won the top prize 1.2 million oh my |
| 0:15.5 | what happy Christmas why do now you have the best Christmas ever this Christmas it could be you. The National Lottery. Rules and procedures apply. Players must be 18 or over. This episode of the podcast is brought to you in partnership with Sensodyne. |
| 0:37.0 | You may have heard in the podcast last week that I took part in a chill test with dentist Anita Sandu. This is her area of expertise and she guided me through drinking |
| 0:46.4 | ice cold water, eating a slice of fresh apple and taking a bite out of a trock ice, all with the purpose of learning about my teeth sensitivity. |
| 0:55.2 | Now I knew I had some sensitivity, but it was really helpful learning from Anita the reasons why, |
| 1:00.4 | the foods that can cause that sharp feeling of sensitivity and the changes I can make |
| 1:04.7 | to minimize any discomfort moving forward. |
| 1:07.1 | Since the chill test I've been using SenserDine Repair and Protect Toothpaste, it's clinically |
| 1:11.9 | proven to provide long lasting protection for sensitive teeth with and is |
| 1:13.0 | protect tooth-based. |
| 1:14.1 | It's clinically proven to provide long-lasting protection for sensitive teeth with twice daily brushing, |
| 1:16.5 | and is expertly formulated to generate a protective layer |
| 1:19.5 | over exposed areas of your teeth |
| 1:21.3 | to help protect you from the pain of sensitive teeth. |
| 1:24.0 | So if like me you've struggled with sensitive teeth, go get yourself some |
| 1:27.0 | sensodyne repair and protect now. Welcome to another episode of the Beauty Podcast with me, Emma G. I'm thrilled to say that my |
| 1:40.9 | guest in this episode of the show is the very generous and kind |
| 1:45.3 | Sean Pulfry the inventor of the Tangle Teaser. I was very lucky to be able to get some |
| 1:51.6 | time with him. He's an incredibly busy man, but his lovely PR Jackie, I do have to say thank you very much for making this happen Jackie. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Emma Gunavardhana, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Emma Gunavardhana and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.