Our Experience In The Hair Industry

I started my first business at the tender age of 22 when I opened a hairdressing shop in Adelaide. It’s been over 3 decades in the hair industry since my apprenticeship at the age of 16, so I’ve been involved in hair for my whole adult life.

When I was 30 I sold my business in Adelaide and moved to Canberra to be with my now husband Stewart. After letting life do its thing for a little while, I realised that I wanted to explore a new direction in the hair industry. I wanted to learn all about the organic and natural movement and that is when Natural Eclipse came about.

Leading The Way In Natural And Organic HairCare

Working in Natural Eclipse I continued to learn, especially about no poo washing, co washing and curly girl products/methods as many of these methods use natural and organic products. This movement can be perceived as an unorthodox way of hairdressing and when I first started exploring it, there weren’t many hairdressers in the industry teaching it so that is when I decided to step in and help.

Lots of customers and in-particular curly customers were searching for professional advice and products in this area. Organic hair care was not as popular as it is now. This was when I discovered the amazing Australian haircare brand EverEscents. EverEscents was the beginning of this journey for me too, so they are a company I hold dear to my heart. It was hard back then to find high quality professional organic hair care products in Australia and especially ones made here suitable for curly girl.

How Natural Eclipse Adapted And Evolved As A Business

Natural Eclipse quickly outgrew our home (and web) based business and saw a great opportunity to move into an office when one became available at Futuretheory (who assists with our marketing and developed our website). We soon moved into our own room in their Fyshwick office and it was here that I set up Canberra’s first professional haircare refill bar. My curly following quickly grew in Canberra and my customers needed more space and a tailored private environment to teach them. Online teaching via my online store naturaleclipse.com.au was growing fast too and online sales had grown Australia-wide.

Our Shop Front In Fyshwick Canberra

More and more customers in Canberra wanted to see me in person, and in March 2020 we made the move into my own premises at Wollongong St Fyshwick. Here, we we could grow the refill bar bigger and create a hub for our curly customers to come in and get professional advice.
That same month COVID hit, we made the tough decision to close our doors for a short time while we continued to give our customers advice online or shouting through the cracks of our closed doors. Crazy times!

Opening Curly Cuts and the move from Fyshwick to Lyons shops

Over the past year, it became clear that there was a need for Curly Cuts, and that’s why we created two support and professional hubs for Curlies in Canberra. Our retail outlet and online store Natural Eclipse at Fyshwick  and our sister business Curly Cuts at Lyons.

In August 2021, we decided to move our online component of Natural Eclipse into the premises next door to Curly Cuts. This was to create a curly megastore hub in Canberra and so that we could run the two businesses more efficiently. Customers can either shop in-store at our sister shop Curly Cuts and have access to the refill bar, product help and support. OR shop online for products and deals available exclusively ONLINE ONLY from Natural Eclipse.

 

Evolving With The Times

Natural Eclipse continues to evolve and create change in the hair industry. We are a professional refill station for EverEscents and Clever Curl. Our refill bar currently has 34 different varieties of professional haircare.

Being involved in the change to reduce the many disposable containers of hair care has been a highlight for Natural Eclipse.

 

Australian Made Campaign And Changes To Stocking Overseas Brands

(updated 16/6/2021)

I am very proud that Natural Eclipse was a retail supporter of the Australian Made, Australian Grown Campaign. This means that I have shared the objectives of the campaign in promoting Australian made and grown products. My licence ID number was 9438.

Whilst the vast majority of our business is Australian brands, we also are making changes to sell some high-end overseas brands.

Covid has meant we have had to rethink the way we do things as a business. Shortages and supplies have at times become a real issue for our business.  Therefore you are going to see some major changes with our store over the next 12 months. This will include adding some popular products from overseas and evolving our store to cater more for our curly hair customers.

What Is Important To Us When You Shop At Natural Eclipse

At Natural Eclipse we provide an exciting, fun and uplifting shopping experience. Your shopping experience, after all, should never only be about a product in a box.

Our customers also have the option of selecting minimal packaging at checkout.

As you can see, I take a lot of pride, effort and joy in selecting items for the shop. I hope you enjoy the site as much as I did create it for you.

Leeanne Goodwin

Owner Natural Eclipse