Capital Hair and Beauty

 I am all for championing UK grown businesses on my blog and indeed I have featured one or two in my time. Today's honour is bestowed upon Capital Hair and Beauty who began their journey some 60 years ago as a scissor sharpening company based in Brighton, East Sussex.  Today they have gone on to became the UK's largest independent supplier to Hairdressers, Beauty Therapists and Nail Technicians with over 34 cash & carry stores throughout the UK and Ireland.

The company for me has a really fascinating history, back in 1954, the scissor sharpening service used push bikes to deliver their service, not using a courier service as you might use today or indeed a Boris bike for those of you who live in London.  Throughout the 60s and 70s the business grew and self-service trade counters began to appear, then fast forward to the 1980s and there is the very first cash and carry wholesale outlet in Hayes, Middlesex.  Today with stores and distribution warehouses expanding rapidly, we hit the year 2004 to see Capital’s first eCommerce website which was later launched and in 2005.  It was at this point they started providing training courses to encourage customers to pick up new skills and broaden expertise, plus give them a chance to meet new people in the business and share tips!  Now the website has a mobile version of the website and most interestingly of all, a blog and a step into the ever growing and rapidly changing universe of social media.

I know a few of my readers are beauticians in many different forms and this website has everything I can think of for running your own business.  Whether you need a barbers chair, styling units or even a nail station, which look super handy for make-up storage, this site covers it all and at amazing prices, I somehow expected to see chairs costing a lot more than they do, my own office chair is three times the price of one of these and it isn't that comfortable - I wonder if I can trade!

Furniture aside and there is a huge lost of products for sale with every brand you can think of from Tigi, American Crew, Babyliss, Fudge, L'Oreal and Schwarzkopf to name just a few of them.  As this is a wholesale site you can only imagine some of the bargains to be had and if you do run your own company, are just starting out or have been thinking about starting out, then Capital Hair and Beauty is more than worth checking out.


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Merumaya Melting Cleansing Balm

MeruMaya is a brand I have read a lot about and not tried until I selected it as one of my choices in my January You Beauty Discovery Box.  Since then, I have pretty much used it every day, if not every other day, that is how much I love it.  Cleansing Balms are something new to me, I know a lot of people rave about Emma Hardie and it is on my wishlist, but it has to be seriously amazing to replace this product.

The tube I have is 30ml, so it has lasted over a month which is quite impressive and I still have just under half a tube left to use before it runs out.  The claims are at "The Melting Cleansing Balm claims to efficaciously removes all traces of make up and grime and leaves the skin feeling velvety soft".  I am delighted this balm comes in a tube too, makes it much easier to use.

Merumaya recommends that you massage the balm on to dry skin and you really only need a small blob because as sayings go, a little goes a long way. In the tube, the balm looks every bit like you would expect a balm to look, it is thicker than your average Micellar water and thinner in texture than a face mask.  Once you begin to massage the balm onto your face, it immediately begins to melt and as you massage it in, you can see your mascara, foundation and other products on your face simply melt along with dirt and grime from your day.  After massaging, you add water and for a another minute or two, further massage your face and you will notice that the balm now becomes like a cleansing milk, it is at this point that I grab a clean Muslin cloth to wipe my face clean.  Afterwards my skin feels absolutely amazing, soft and smooth to the touch, clean and incredibly moisturised, all in what is effectively less than 5 minutes of my time. 

I absolutely love the scent of this balm which adds to the number of reasons why I love it already. It has three main active ingredients which are:

• RevitElix™ is Echium oil providing Omega 3, 6 & 9 to reduce lines and wrinkles, improve elasticity and participate in barrier repair. It helps rebuild the hydro lipid film as the skins surface and is also anti-irritant.
• Sucragel™ which contains Sweet Almond Oil and acts as a ‘wash on’ moisturiser and leaves a velvety finish while thoroughly cleansing
• Mangosteen Fruit Extract which is rich in vitamins and polyphenols providing anti-oxidant protection

All of those ingredients, plus a few others come together to leave your skin feeling soft, clean, hydrated and as though it can breathe. As you can see, not only is this a great budget friendly cleansing balm that doesn't strip the skin, it feels luxurious and works so effectively at what it is meant to do, what more could you want? I would happily try everything else in the range.

If you are looking for a new Cleansing Balm and haven't yet tried this one, I cannot recommend Merumaya enough, it is a complete bargain at £15.50 for 100ml.