Amersham chemist Cicely Coops lands four-Dragon deal for sustainable haircare brand Selkie

We chat to Amersham chemist Cicely Coops who has turned her sustainable haircare dream into a four-star deal on Dragons’ Den.

It’s not every day you walk into the Dragons’ Den with a broken shoe and walk out with four Dragons behind you.

But then Cicely Coops is clearly not one for doing things by halves. The Amersham-based chemist and founder of sustainable haircare brand Selkie recently secured £40,000 from all four investors on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den, with Deborah Meaden, Peter Jones, Steven Bartlett and guest Dragon Jenna Meek each taking a 5% stake.

For Cicely, appearing on the show was the stuff of childhood dreams. She says she has been a “mega fan” since she was about 12 – and the idea for Selkie actually came to her in 2021 while watching the programme with her best friend.

The concept was simple: why ship bottles of shampoo around the world when most of the bottle is water? Selkie’s answer is powder-to-liquid haircare, with customers adding water at home to create their shampoo or conditioner. The reusable bottles are designed to be kept and refilled, while the powder comes in plastic-free packaging.

Cicely’s chemistry background was the perfect starting point. Selkie’s formulas are 98%+ naturally derived, vegan and cruelty-free, and are made without sulphates or silicones.

And then came the Den.

“I went in with a genuinely open mind,” says Cicely. “The only thing I told myself was nail the pitch and know your numbers.”

She certainly did. Although she admits the experience was rather more nerve-racking than watching from the sofa – particularly when her shoe broke about an hour before she went in.

“I did the entire pitch hobbling around the Den with a broken shoe,” she laughs.

Cicely had hoped to work with Deborah, thanks to their shared passion for sustainability, but was thrilled when all four Dragons ultimately agreed to invest. Peter Jones even offered her a better deal than she had originally requested – something Cicely says she could “hardly believe”.

Since filming, Selkie has gone from strength to strength. Cicely has left her demanding corporate role to concentrate on the business full-time, while Selkie has appeared on TV shopping channels and joined a beauty accelerator backed by Boots and TikTok Shop.

Now her ambition is even bigger: to make Selkie a household name in sustainable haircare.

“In a few years people will say, ‘do you remember when we used to buy liquid shampoo? So weird’,” she says.

To discover more about the brand, visit selkiehaircare.com.

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