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When Victoria Lynch first tried to get a loan to start her hair extensions business, she was “laughed out of the bank”. Now she runs a multi-million pound operation – the country’s second largest of its kind – including a Stockton salon, store and large warehouse on Teesside Industrial Estate.
Additional Lengths is a true Teesside success story, with celebs including Charlotte Crosby among its long-term fans. Port Clarence-born Victoria, 45, is planning to expand into the US and further into Europe this year.
But she’ll never forget those early days back in 2003, trying to establish the business from “nothing”. “I wrote a business plan, not even knowing what a business plan was,” she told Teesside Live.
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“They laughed me out of the bank. It was mainly men – and hair extensions weren’t the norm. Now a man would know what hair extensions are. But they didn’t then.
“So I went to the Princes Trust and got a £1,500 loan for set-up costs, a phone line.” An accident when she was 18 had left her with degenerative discs in her spine.
“It certainly hasn’t stopped me doing everything I wanted to” she says, “but I used the funds from that to buy my stock. That’s what got it off the ground.
“My mam said ‘what if it doesn’t work’. I said ‘I’ll make it work’. There have been some challenges over the last 20 years, and that includes personal ones.
“But you have to power through them. You need to have a backbone and confidence and believe in yourself and be able to break down any walls that stand in your way.
“I’m very much a practical worker, my highest GCSE was a C. But I don’t accept failure. The bigger it gets, the more decisions there are, the more people I look after, it’s changing all the time. I had a dream 20 years ago and every year, the goalposts have moved.”
Victoria was 13 when she “first got into hair”, doing braids for two little girls who lived nearby. “One was West Indian, the other was from Nigeria,” she said, “they were fostered. It started as a hobby at first using synthetic hair.
“Friends said ‘will you do mine’ and it developed from there. I used to work at the crisp factory on a morning and do hair in the afternoons.
“There was no social media, no Instagram back then, it was 10 times harder. We had dial-up internet.
“Our trade professionals love the fact I’m a qualified hairdresser, it’s what I know, we’re not just a business selling them products. We are the second biggest extension company in the UK, but we have the biggest trade sector in the UK.”
‘I’m still a local girl’
Victoria’s roots are firmly planted in her beloved home town and this weekend she’s opening her flagship salon in Stockton’s Wellington Square. And reality TV star Charlotte will be there to do the opening honours.
“I really didn’t ‘want to move [from the salon’s old location on Maxwell’s Corner],” Victoria added. “But we have to evolve and adapt and this is more up to date, aesthetically and visually and ultimately improves the service for clients. That was at the forefront of our minds.
“I’m still a local girl, very driven by local community, we sell our products nationally and globally and I want to continue to put Stockton on the map.
“I want to continue investing in our town. I’m glad we’ve managed to be part of the new changes within the town itself and join the community that is Wellington Square.
“I always think you can achieve more. There’s so much more for us to do, we could still double our turnover in the next five years easy, just by making strategic changes and improving facilities, warehousing, distribution.
“Being at Maxwell’s Corner, we were limited in terms of the stock we could hold. We sell 80% to trade professionals. And we don’t run out of stock, we have everything people need.”
The business has “boomed” since covid, Victoria continued. “Now we’ve got expansion plans to distribute in the US and expand further into Europe,” she adds.
As well as selling third party brands, Vicky has created three of her own – Additional Lengths, kids’ range Kute and Remi Cachet, a high-end extensions product.
“Additional Lengths was great but extensions weren’t popular years ago they were always seen as a luxury item. I set up with absolutely nothing, from scratch and I needed to focus on budget range and keep it low-cost.”
Then the market for hair extensions exploded. “Extensions grew in popularity, the beauty industry has come a long way. I needed something that put us at a high level within the industry in terms of quality.
“We supply the Remi Cachet brand to trade professionals, it’s the best quality hair in the UK and probably the world. We have built strong foundations. If social media dropped off the face of the earth tomorrow, we would still have a business as we haven’t relied on influencer culture to get people to buy. We’ve built it all on our own merit.”
Victoria still sees clients in the salon one day a month. But most of her days are spent running the business, which supplies globally now to places such as New Zealand, the Netherlands and Canada.
She’s come a long way since being sat opposite the bank manager, asking for a start-up loan. But despite the busy days and hard work, Victoria does get chance to reflect on the team’s success every now and then.
“We are looking forward to our big summer ball, held at the Newcastle Hilton in July, which will be lovely,” she says.
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