Interview: Meet the inspiring Jose Bryce Smith, founder of O&M

Original & Mineral (O&M) has given hair care fanatics plenty to love. In fact, it’s no secret that we at Marie France Asia have fallen head over heels for their amazing argan oil- and macadamia oil-infused Seven Day Miracle Moisture Masque and their popular Hydrate & Conquer shampoo and conditioner duo. We recently met with founder of O&M, Jose Bryce Smith, while she was in town to promote her brand.

The lovely 42-year-old mother of two spoke to us about her life as a jetsetting entrepreneur. She shared with us her secrets on how she juggles her work life with her family life, and how she manages to find time for herself in between!

Marie France Asia: Give us a brief insight into O&M. How did this journey begin for you?

Jose: I started the company 10 years ago. My partner and I had a hair salon — he was a hairdresser and I looked after the marketing and PR, and I also ran the salon. He had very bad contact dermatitis, and he couldn’t use ammonia-based hair colour. So we found an ammonia-free hair colour, and this was 10 years ago, when there were no ammonia-free alternatives on the market. We became Sydney’s first organic salon. The business grew very quickly once word started to get around. Other salons would call us and say “can we get this colour?”. Very quickly, we realised that we needed a hair care range to go with it — shampoos, conditioners, treatments — and I thought “glamorous women also want natural, low-chemical products”. I wanted something that would look like a fashion brand, so the whole philosophy of O&M is that it bridges the gap between “natural” and “luxury”.

MFA: Back in the days, people weren’t quite so concerned about how ‘organic’ a product was, or how ‘natural’ the ingredients they put on themselves were. But nowadays, it’s gotten really big. Why is that?

J: People have started to ask themselves, “If I can get my hair in great condition without having the smell and the fumes, and without using so many chemicals, then why wouldn’t I?”. I think that it’s definitely a huge trend — people are concerned about their health, and concerned with living longer. And that ranges from what they eat to what they put on their skin. It’s not that natural products are so high-priced that it makes them unaffordable.

MFA: Tell us a bit more about the Frizzy Logic products.

J: Frizzy Logic represents part of our smoothing range. It’s always been a hero product for us in Singapore because it combats the humidity — it’s essentially a smoothening serum, the star ingredients being almond and macadamia oil. What we’ve brought here is a bigger sized version of this serum and a spray version. The spray version is perfect for using just before heading out the door, and to control fly-aways.

MFA: You’ve got two kids, aged 10 and 5. With all the travelling in your line of work, how does this impact on your personal life and your family life?

J: I think for anyone running their own business, work-life balance is always quite a difficult one. Realistically, you do work a lot more hours. In terms of the travel, my children are fairly used to it. I try to make the trips as short as possible, and I try and cram as much in as I can, and I try to travel whilst they’re at school rather than during their school holidays so that I can spend more time with them. We FaceTime as well — the technology helps so much — and I just try and make it special for them when I am there.

MFA: What is the best thing about your job?

J: I actually think it’s the people that you get to meet and places you get to go. I try to buy something small for my house from every country I’ve been to. And when people love what you do, it’s really rewarding and you feel like you’re doing something right. I get to meet lots of interesting people — hairdressers are actually quite a crazy bunch!

MFA: What is the biggest challenge — as a working mother, and as a working professional?

J: Really, it’s trying to find time for yourself and trying to control the anxiety. It’s about recognising “oh, I’m overwhelmed now” so — one way that I look at it is I say to myself “I’m trying to eat an elephant, so just do it one bite at a time”. The best thing to do is not try to think too big. It’s really important to find time for yourself to try and wind down. Exercise is really good for releasing anxiety — sometimes I’d take myself down to the beach and put my feet in the sand and just… come back down to earth.

MFA: Any hobbies?

J: I’m into yoga and pilates, and fitness in general. And I also love hanging out with my friends. I live really close to the beach, so it’s great to go down there. Spending time in good company always helps me unwind. I keep it pretty low-key when I’m not working. But yes, health and fitness are what I like to concentrate on.

MFA: Any advice you’d like to give to other aspiring entrepreneurs?

J: I do get approached by other female entrepreneurs who are just starting out and they’d ask me “how did you do it?” — I like to tell them to ask themselves what the core of their brand is, what the philosophy of the brand is. And then to work out where it’s going to live, and then work out a strategy and take it one step at a time.

MFA: What’s next for O&M?

J: We are bringing out a whole new colour range that goes out to salons, coming out in the middle of the year. In terms of the products, we’re going to be bringing out a volumising dry shampoo. Further in the future, I’m very interested in hair regrowth — because I’ve got fine hair, I’m always trying to make it thicker, so I’m working on this.

Explore the O&M range in Sephora stores and on Sephora.sg today.

Angela Goh

Photos: O&M

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