I’m a Tease
I’ll admit it, I’ve been a tease the past few months. I’ve teased about new classes and products, and that there are big changes coming to Jennylafleur. Well, the time has come for the big reveal – drum roll please…
A Change in Focus
Jennylafleur Historical Hairstyling will be changing its focus from primarily producing/styling hairpieces or wigs to primarily providing Historical Hairstyling Education, DYI Kits, and Accessories.
Why the change?
Some personal and some business reasons, the biggest being that I lost my main hair manufacturer/source earlier this year.
When I began producing and selling historical hairpieces and wigs I knew my biggest challenge would be sourcing and stocking the hair itself. I sampled and road-tested hair from various companies for over 2 years before finding the one I was looking for. An old established firm of 40 years that offered consistent quality synthetic hair in a wide range of natural hair colors. One that sadly had to close its doors when it couldn’t survive the global pandemic.
That sudden blow, as well as the appearance of some new personal challenges, made me stop in my tracks and revaluate, well, everything. I won’t go into details here to respect my family’s privacy, but there were many factors at play as I contemplated the best way forward for Jennylafleur. It was the perfect storm, and looking back I’m grateful I was forced to hit pause and re-think my business, what worked and what didn’t, what brought me joy and what didn’t, what was sustainable in the long term and the role I really wanted JLF to play within the costuming community.
It has taken me a few months of soul searching, planning and reorganizing things behind the scenes, but I am now super excited to turn my focus to the things I am the most passionate about in historical hair - sharing the beauty, the fun, and efficient ways I use to recreate it.
Does that mean no more Jennylafleur hairpieces - EVAR?
Moving forward JLF WILL continue to offer three types of made-to-order hairpieces as part of it’s regular line product offering in the shop including:
Regency Fringe
Buckle Curls (regular and XL)
Braids (coming this summer)
JLF will also continue to stock Cushions & other hair supports, as well as Paper Flowers and other Hair Accessories in limited-edition batches. And you can look for DYI hairstyling and hairpiece kits to compliment upcoming classes later this year!
In addition, I will be taking limited orders for previously offered hairpieces until my current inventory of hair runs out. I was able to snag some additional inventory from my old manufacturer while it was still available, but I have very limited quantities in any given color. Once these made-to-order pieces are sold out, they will be discontinued. These hairpieces include:
Hedgehog Toppers
Frizzed Hedgehogs
Falls (straight, spiral & ringlet)
What about Custom Orders?
My availability for custom orders will be very limited and will be dependent on the desired style, timeline and may require the client to source or provide the hair/wig base. If you have any questions about hairpiece availability or want to be added to my current custom order wait list, feel free to contact me!
Shipping to UK
I am currently not shipping orders for tangible goods to the United Kingdom due to the new Brexit-related VAT requirements.
The new requirement, implemented on January 1, 2021, for non-UK sellers to track totals, collect, then remit VAT to the UK government is an onerous process that, as a small indie business, I cannot currently comply with. I hope that I will be able to sell to the UK in the future, but I don’t know when that will happen. I do not have an anticipated date of when shipping to the UK will begin again.
When does your Shop reopen?
Today! If you are reading this, the shop is now open!
New Class: Regency Hairstyles
My first class offering of 2021 is Regency Hair: The Story of Women’s Hairstyling (1795-1825)!
In this lecture style class, I focus on the historical and visual references that give context and insight to the hairstyles of this 30-year period, as well as breakdowns of the most commonly depicted styles and accessories of the period.
If you have been following me on Social Media you know I have been teasing about this class for months. I didn’t mean to be such a tease, but the research and writing of this class took far longer than planned. As this project became a real labor of love I fell deep down the Regency Hair rabbit hole and I can’t wait to share the results with you!
For those interested in recreating these styles for yourself, I have also created companion tutorials that will be available a la carte, starting June 27th. Designed to complement the lecture class, these step by step hairstyling tutorials will walk you through how to recreate the styles with tips for different hair types and incorporating hairpieces. I’ve started with 6 tutorials and will be adding more over the summer!
On Demand
This class, tutorials (and all future classes) will be offered on-demand through Teachable, so you can purchase/watch/re-watch them anytime.
Pre-sale
The Pre-sale for this class begins today and includes an invitation to the exclusive Premier Party on June 26th at 1pm ET - featuring a live presentation (via zoom) of the lecture and Q&A! Bring your own champagne! The Pre-sale ends June 24 at midnight, eastern time. The on-demand Class and Companion Tutorials will launch on June 27.
Upcoming Classes & Products
In addition to the official launch of the Regency Hair class and tutorials, June 27th will also see some new products released in the shop, including a new style of Regency Fringe and some wonderful Regency hair accessories highlighted in the class - I can’t wait for you to see them!
Coming this summer will be an updated and expanded on-demand version of my most popular class, The Art of the Curl as well as more Historical Hairstyle Tutorials.
Starting this fall, I will be offering DYI Hairpieces classes, teaching step-by-step how to make and style JLF signature hairpieces for yourself, starting with the soon-to-be-discontinued hairpieces! I’ll be sharing all my tips and tricks, measurements and patterns of how I created these pieces, as well as tips for sourcing hair and maintaining them for long lasting results.
Many Thanks
If you have made it all the way to the end of this epistle, you are made of awesome! Thank you for all your patience and support this year as I sorted through layers of decisions and changes both personally and professionally. Being part of such a wonderful and supportive community fills my heart to overflowing!
Until next time my friends, may your curling tongs stay hot, your hair pins stay put and your unique beauty shine forth!
Jenny-Rose, AKA Jennylafleur