Eco-friendly, ethical hair care from Ireland and Scotland

3 min read

I’ve been trialling some new haircare in the last few weeks – both independents, one Scottish, one Irish, and both eco-friendly and ethical.

Moo Hair is Edinburgh-based, founded by mum and daughter team, Suzie and Olivia Gillespie, and We Are Paradoxx is Irish-based, founded by Yolanda Cooper. Both are ethical, natural, vegan, and cruelty-free, and have very similar product ranges. So let’s have a look at them in more detail, starting with Edinburgh’s Moo.

Moo uses the purest natural ingredients, including Icelandic Moss, Marula oil and sea salt, in a seven-product capsule collection, suited to all hair types, including coloured hair. The products aim to help repair, tame, lift, add shine, nourish, de-frizz, and hydrate.

The ingredients are sourced from renewable sources, and the products, except for the Moo Hair Spray, are made from 95%+ naturally derived ingredients.

I’ve tried the Moo Hair Miracle Shampoo (£22) and the Miracle Conditioner (£22). Both smell amazing, and the shampoo, although not lathering like perhaps your traditional shampoos might, made my hair feel clean. I have to admit I had a wee bit of an issue with colour loss – quite a lot was coming out after washing and conditioning with these products. If I was washing my hair regularly, that would be a problem for me, having such a bold colour of hair. As it is I wash once a fortnight, but I hate any colour loss.

The other products in the range include Miracle Mask (£25), Miracle Milk leave-in conditioner (£25), Volumising Spray Mist (£22), Hair Spray (£22), and Sea Salt Spray (£22). The bottles are all 250ml sizes and are made of glass, so can be recycled. I did find that the labels came away in the shower, which wasn’t great, and the bottles are a bit large for handling with wet hands when they are glass.

I really liked the Sea Salt Spray when I had a spritz of it at the launch I attended, but I think the size is a bit big – I’d prefer to be able to buy this in 100ml, say.

I do think the  brand is brilliant for trying to make consumers more aware of eco-friendly and ethical beauty, and the products smell gorgeous and seem decent. It’s available in salons, and also online at moohair.com


We Are Paradoxx is an Irish brand that is now available to buy in Harvey Nichols stores. It’s 97% natural, organic, vegan, cruelty-free, 90% plastic-free, paraben-free, peg-free, sulphate-free, perfume-free, mineral oil-free, and toxin-free. The six products in the range are housed in reusable aluminium, and the hip flask Hangover Hair Elixir is a super-clever design.

As well as the Hangover Hair Elixir (£30), there’s a Game Changer Multi-task Hair Mask £30, Climax Volume Tonic £20, Fierce Sea Salt Spray £20, Super Natural Shampoo £18, and Secret Weapon 3-in-1 Conditioner, £20.

The brand uses Irish ingredients including seaweed, moss, shamrock, whiskey, hops and cider. I’ve been gifted a full set of these products, and they are really good – the conditioner is actually fantastic. The Fierce sea salt spray is also brilliant for my curly, messy hair.  We Are Paradoxx also donates one per cent of its profits to eco-organisation For The Planet.

I like what both brands are doing, and we should be as ethically-minded about our beauty choices as we can. If I had to go and buy one product tomorrow from either brand it would hands-down be the We Are Paradoxx 3-in-1 Conditioner – it’s really excellent.