With no money but plenty of dreams, Margaux Cras arrived in London from France and built a hairdressing business from the ground up. She’s about to open her fourth salon and, as Leila Lamnaouer discovers, she has no plans to stop there…
When she arrived from Lille to London at 21, Margaux Cras spoke barely any English and had no money. But she had great ambitions.
Now Margaux Cras is the owner of three – and soon four – hair salons, which have become the go-to destination for many celebrities and influencers. Her most recent salon opened in July in West Hampstead, she also is venturing into her own hair care products, The Essentialist.
The secret of her success? Listening to her instinct.
“Everything I had done up to that point had always come from a gut feeling,” Cras insists. “I knew from the first day I arrived in London I would have my own brand. I just felt it was the right place to be. I just knew it.”
Cras, now 35, also knew from an early age that she wanted to become a hairdresser and own her own brand. “I’ve always wanted to be a hairdresser for as long as I can remember,” she says. “My mother, my grandmother, and my aunt are, or were, hairdressers.”
Originally from Maubeuge, a town near Lille in northern France, Cras grew up as an only child and spent much of her childhood and teenage years in her mother’s salon. “I was admiring my mum’s work, how at ease she was when talking to her clients,” she says. “Being around the customers every day helped me grow up quickly and overcome my shyness. So when the time came to choose a career path, there was no question. I just wanted to follow in my mums’ footsteps, do everything like her, and make people happy every day just like she did.”
But Cras had to fight to make it happen.
When, at 15, she decided to follow her dreams, her parents tried to stop her, wanting her to study at a university. But the teenager wouldn’t listen and packed her bag to rush to the Cannes film festival.
She knocked on the door of the hairdresser’s partner for the event and persuaded him to give her a chance. Despite having never touched a pair of scissors before, she astonished him with her natural talent.
“I showed up at his door every morning for three days, begging him to let me work for him,” she recalls. Cras finally landed a job as an assistant.
She returned to Lille at the end of the summer, more determined than ever. Her parents finally gave her permission for her apprenticeship. At 18, despite being offered a permanent contract in a salon, Cras flew to Australia. “I didn’t speak a word of English. I quickly realised it wouldn’t be easy,” she recalls. B
ut her boldness paid off again; she was hired in a salon in Sydney, where she stayed for nine months before returning to France.
At just 20 and in the midst of an economic crisis, the fearless young woman decided to open her own salon near Lille. She quickly built a clientele of prominent figures. Within six months, the salon was thriving, yet Cras was already thinking about her next move.
During a weekend visit to London to visit a friend, she was strolling through Soho when she stopped in front of a salon. “There was loud music and a crowd of young people,” she said. “The style was wild and completely new to me, unlike anything I had seen in hairdressing before.”
She went in and once again convinced the owner to hire her.
So began her London adventure in 2011. After her experience in Soho, she was hired in a salon in Chelsea. She built up a wealthy clientele there, which allowed her to save money to open her first salon, working seven days a week for a year.
The idea of Margaux Salon was born during the summer of 2016, with Vincent Doucet, her then life partner, whom she had met months earlier in London. To bring her vision to life, she had to work hard.
“My top priority was meeting the right people, by attending events even though I was shy. I was always going out to places out of my comfort zone to make sure I learned the codes, how to behave and talk to people and to understand how to really get into the business,” Cras remembers.
To stand out from the competition, the young entrepreneur decided to use only organic and natural products for both hair and nails. A year later, in November 2017, Margaux Salon was launched in Highbury. Cras put all her savings into her business, admitting that opening the first salon was hard.
“When you have no money and contacts, you don’t speak the language, you are a young woman who didn’t graduate from a top school, you have to be consistent and strong to be able to make you a place. It’s like training as an athlete: the more challenges you face, the harder you work, and the better you perform,” she explains.
So she worked hard and delivered high-quality service, knowing her satisfied clients would be her best ambassadors. And it worked. Four years later, Cras moved on to the next stage of her dream of building her own brand : a second Margaux salon, located in Kentish Town.
As with the first one, she invested all her savings and profits in it. Same for the one in West Hampstead.
“I never asked for a loan. As soon as we made a profit, I reinvested it all. Each time, I find myself starting from scratch again. My salon may be successful, but I’m far from rich,” she laughs.
Celebrities and influencers, who come to her salons for the French expertise, helped her to establish her reputation in London.
One of them is Lisa Eldridge, founder and CEO of the brand Lisa Eldridge Beauty. “One day, she came to the Kentish salon and casually told me ‘I forgot to tell you, I mentioned you in Grazia’, and showed me the page of the magazine.”
The next day, requests for appointments skyrocketed.
Among her other famous clients are the actresses Coral Peña and Nathalie Mangel – who was part of the casting of the series Rivals on Disney+ – and the French artist and singer Leo Ristorto.
With her new salon in West Hampstead, Cras has now reached a milestone allowing her to develop her other biggest dream: her own hair beauty brand.
“From day one, we worked on it with Vincent. I knew it would take maybe ten or 20 years. But it happened faster,” she says.
In fact, it took a year and a half for The Essentialist to come to life.
“We tested the products during seven months in the salons to create the perfect product,” she says. “It wasn’t just a case of saying, ‘OK, let’s make a shampoo.’ No. It was hard work. Our 15 hairdressers helped us by giving us their feedback. It was real teamwork.”
The hardest part? “Keeping it secret was the hardest part,” she admits. “When you are realising your dreams, you want to share it with everyone. But I couldn’t.”
Two years ago, Cras also created her academy, to teach hairdressers the French expertise and standards of excellence. “This has allowed us to recruit hairdressers from all over the world, we hardly have any French hairdressers in our salons anymore.”
The reason? Brexit.
“We get requests every week, we are ready to sponsor, but the hairdresser position isn’t on the list of government-approved positions for visa applications. Everything is done with a lot of thought and every decision is important,” she explains.
Cras doesn’t want to stop there. A new salon is set to open for the first time in the south of London this autumn. Others should follow.
“It is not about opening one, two or three salons. It is about to be number one. I want to be the number one,” she said.
Now, as the business is blooming, she says she is lucky enough to be able to live between France and London.
“I have my business partner, Vincent, who is truly amazing, and I am surrounded by people who support and guide me,” she says, before offering advice to other aspiring entrepreneurs.
“We live in a world where everything is judged. But focus on all your qualities and be not afraid of difference. On the contrary, let this difference be your strength.”
As for her, she will continue to do what she has always done.
”Keep listening to my instincts, as I always have.”
Feature image: Margaux Cras. All pictures submitted and royalty-free.
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