I started Tots Crops almost by chance; my daughter was attending a nursery in the city while I was working at a barber shop. One day when collecting my daughter Ellie from nursery, I looked at her friends and realised they all needed a hair cut. I asked the manger for permission to cut their hair, as I knew all the parents, and we gave it a go. The business flourished from there. It took a few years to master a system that worked for everyone, but it has been so much fun from the very outset.

One major problem was the hairdressing chairs. As a hairdresser and a mum, I can say with absolute certainty that they are all rubbish and not safe enough to be used in a nursery environment. If the child is uncomfortable, it creates difficulties for cutting hair and that is where errors are made. With this worry in mind, I embarked on designing and manufacturing my own cutting chair. It was a difficult task to undertake as I had no expertise in designing chairs, but I got there in the end and the chair we came up with turned out amazingly; the children love it and more importantly it’s great to work on. It’s made in the UK and has a high chair safety certificate, and since its conception, has been an invaluable asset to the business.

Another business product we can't live without is our taylor made cutting gowns! When we started out, my grandma used to make all our cutting gowns with my daughter Ellie wearing them and give feedback on everything. This brought light to some issues with kids cutting gowns that I hadn't realised before. Its an important tool to ensure the comfort and cooperation of the child, and through trial and error we have designed the ideal gown for kids. Now available on Amazon! 

Over the years TotsCrops has evolved and now we are established and have a fantastic reputation. Pre-Covid we were a nursery based children’s hairdressing service,Covid struck and the business shut down. Not one to feel sorry for myself I took the time in lockdown to complete a children’s hairdressing book which my daughter illustrated. The book is really a business card and it explains what TotsCrops is all about. 

We have a physical location now in Earls court where I am able to teach new stylists our TotsCrops training method so that they can take our skills and use then in their high street salons. 

We also offer a mobile family hairdressing service which came about by warm calling our nursery data base whilst our nursery service was on hold. 

For new parents we specialise in children’s first haircuts, if you get the first haircut right the rest will follow. 

‘Mellie’s haircut on the magic chair’ is our book is now available on Amazon. We recommend parents buying this to read to your child so anyone can download it buy it and teach there child a little story of a little girl that goes to nursery and gets her haircut. 

We are now offering hair up house parties where our stylists come round and get the party started. They braid, plait, blow dry, tong and curl creating a really lovely experience. With disco lights, a Spotify playlist & fun resulting in great hair up parties! This is a new venture not one I ever thought we would be doing but I have to say I’m loving it. 

I’m really looking forward to 2022 and seeing what’s next for TotsCrops