In 2019, Gavin Hefferon was a transition year student at St Andrew’s College in Dublin. As part of his course, he had to come up with an idea for a business – and as a fan of the windswept hairstyle popularised by surfers, he decided to create a sea salt spray that could deliver the look without getting his feet wet.
The spray quickly became a hit with his peers and, although Hefferon eased back on production while finishing school and starting university, he kept the business ticking over. Six years later, that sea salt spray remains the biggest-selling product in his company’s Poseidon Hair range.
As a young teenager, Hefferon developed a strong interest in hair styling and video creation, and it was only a matter of time before the two came together.
He taught himself how to cut and style hair through YouTube, before honing his skills while working part-time in a salon. He even set up his own hair studio while still at school, using social media extensively to post styling videos and build a customer base for his sea spray product.
Hefferon went to study sustainability with business and economics at UCD after leaving St Andrew’s. However, he found it hard to settle into university life. At the end of the first term, he decided it wasn’t for him. At the time, sales of the spray were running at around €1,000 a month, and Hefferon decided to commit to developing Poseidon full-time.
He found a subcontractor to manufacture the product and a fulfilment centre in Northern Ireland to handle distribution. Within a few months sales began to grow rapidly. “I quickly discovered I was better at sales than studying,” says Hefferon, whose business turned over €272,000 last year.
“The idea for my business came directly from what I was seeing in both the barbershop and online. Every day, lads were asking how to get more volume and movement in their hair, and nothing on the market actually delivered results with clear guidance,” he says. “I started making tutorials, breaking down the techniques step by step, and then I created products that matched exactly what I was teaching.
“Poseidon is built around education first, not product. Most brands hand you a jar or a bottle and leave you to figure it out.
“I design products that actually suit modern textured styles and pair them with simple tutorials that show people exactly how to use them. Everything works together, so a customer is not guessing; they’re getting results.”
Hefferon’s initial investment was about €500, which covered basic needs such as packaging. Poseidon’s range has subsequently expanded to more than a dozen products, including a grooming clay, texture powder, moulding cream, hairspray, shampoo and conditioner. More products are in the pipeline for 2026. While the core customer base is aged 16 to 24, the products also appeal beyond that age bracket.
The US is now the company’s biggest market, followed by Ireland, the UK and the rest of the EU.
The business is Dublin-based and, apart from Hefferon, it employs a marketing professional part-time to handle social media and email campaigns. Pending a funding round of €150,000, Hefferon plans to hire a chief marketing officer while also increasing production and broadening the company’s sales channels.
Platforms such as TikTok and Instagram are still the company’s primary route to market, and Hefferon posts new videos every day and styling tutorials every week.
“I also answer people’s questions and really enjoy the interaction with customers,” he says. “People tell me I won’t be able to keep up this personal touch, but for now I intend to keep it going.”
Hefferon is a graduate of the New Frontiers programme at TU Tallaght, and the business has also had mentoring support from Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown local enterprise office.
“New Frontiers gave me the building blocks to develop Poseidon. Before doing the course, I probably knew my business about 10 per cent. Now it’s about 90 per cent as I have a much clearer picture of what I’m about,” says Hefferon, whose products are listed on Amazon and also available in a number of barber shops. Expanding this retail strand is part of the company’s development strategy, as is moving into the pharmacy sector.
“There is a lot of scope to grow my business, and I’d say that figuring out how to scale operations and sales has been the most challenging part so far. I’m only starting out and have no real experience of what scaling actually looks like,” Hefferon says.
“Doing everything myself and trying to figure it out as I go has been tough, but it’s also forced me to learn quickly and adapt as the business grows. There are plenty of start-up supports that will take you from zero to one, but some emphasis on scaling proven concepts would be helpful. I’ve reached a point where I need more focused mentorship, particularly in relation to ecommerce, and I’m now doing an online course to fill that gap.”
