Sarah Hindsgaul on Hair, Character and Creative Freedom
photography Libre Cph
With a career spanning more than two decades, Copenhagen-born hair designer Sarah Hindsgaul has worked behind the scenes on some of film and television’s most recognisable productions, including Stranger Things. Drawing on years of experience creating character-defining hairstyles, she founded Hindsgaul Hair, a brand that brings together Scandinavian sensibility and professional expertise. Fronted by Martha Pirrie Wright in a campaign photographed in Paris, the collection translates Sarah’s approach to hair into an effortless everyday ritual. Having tried the products myself, I’ve particularly come to love the dry shampoo. Its compact size makes it easy to carry around, the application is wonderfully simple, and the formula works beautifully for refreshing my hair between washes.
Ulrika Lindqvist: How did the idea for Hindsgaul come about, and how did you take it from idea to reality?
Sarah Hindsgaul: It started with me being a slightly frustrated hair designer! On Stranger Things, we needed so much volume, curl and movement, but I kept running into the same problem. The lightweight products that worked for the styles were drying my actors’ hair out, while the more nourishing formulas were too heavy and oil-based. When you’re styling someone’s hair every morning, you really see what works over time. I try to keep heat to a minimum, so I wanted products I could layer, that would care for the hair and hold up through a long shooting day. Everyday life asks much the same of your hair: you’re moving around, outside in humidity, rain and heat.
After about five years on the show, a chance conversation over dinner made the idea feel possible. I was at the home of my friend Anouk Sullivan, a brilliant makeup artist, and met her sister, Alissa, who had spent 25 years in product development. She said, “Why don’t you make your own products if you can’t find what you need?” Alissa introduced me to her team and some brilliant chemists, and we started developing the formulas together. I had no idea it would take another five years to hold a finished product in my hands. It’s probably a good thing nobody told me that at dinner! But every round of testing and all that waiting were worth it. I ended up with exactly the products I had dreamed of.
UL: You’ve spent two decades working as a hair designer on film and television sets. What are the common challenges in that line of work?
SH: The biggest challenge is making sure the hair tells the same story every time you see the character. We rarely shoot scenes in order, so two moments that appear seconds apart on screen might have been filmed months apart – one in freezing weather, the other in heat and humidity. The hair has to make you believe it’s the same moment. That’s why so much of my work happens before filming begins. I’m designing a look for the character, but also planning how we’ll maintain the volume, curls and movement through a 12- to 16-hour day and recreate it across different seasons. Looking beautiful when someone leaves my chair is only the beginning! Keeping the actors’ hair healthy is essential. Dryness or damage changes how it responds, and the same techniques stop giving you the same results. I’m always thinking about what the hair needs today, but also how we’re going to keep working with it months from now.
UL: As a wavy girl, the routine has really elevated my curls. Did you have a specific hair type in mind when developing the products, or do they work differently on different hair types?
SH: It’s lovely to hear that the routine has brought out your curls. I definitely had finer hair in mind when I started, but that includes waves and curls, too. Growing up in Copenhagen, I was surrounded by people with finer hair, and I have it myself. It’s also a hair type I’ve worked with a lot on set, so I understand both the possibilities and the frustrations. I love soft hair, but I’m very protective of my volume! If I use something too oily, my hair looks almost wet, and suddenly it feels like I have half as much of it. I wanted to bring out fullness and natural texture while giving the hair the care it needs. Fine hair can be delicate, so getting that balance right was really important to me. How I use the products depends on how much hair someone has, their natural volume and how much wave or curl there is. But the philosophy is the same throughout the line: keep it as light as possible, so the hair stays soft, keeps its volume and has the freedom to move.
UL: Have you tried the products on set yet?
SH: Yes – I had samples in my kit while we were still shooting Stranger Things. I could try them through a full day and see what worked and what needed adjusting. I’d send feedback to the development team, they’d send new samples, and we’d try again. That went on for several years. The cast gave me feedback on everything from how their hair looked and felt to the scent. Scent matters when you’re all working in a small trailer. We agreed it’s lovely to enjoy it in
the shower or when you first apply something, but you should still be able to wear your own perfume or use other products without all the scents competing. The salt scrub was one of the first products I developed because a clean foundation makes such a difference to styling. I’d sometimes find crystals left on the scalp from other scrubs, so I wanted ours to dissolve easily, lather beautifully and be simple to use at home. I think of mousse as the architect of the hair, whether it’s straight, wavy or curly. Getting that structure without a crunchy, dry feeling took a long time. With the dry shampoo, I wanted precise application at the roots, without making the rest of the hair matte or adding unwanted texture. The finishing cream let us keep adjusting: smoothing flyaways, adding pieceiness or
bringing things back together. At hour eight, you still need to be able to work with the hair!
UL: How did your interest in hair design start?
SH: I was in a theatre group in Copenhagen as a child, and I absolutely loved it. As I got older, I realized it was the transformation that interested me most. I wanted to help create the person you were watching, and I felt much more at home behind the scenes. I started hair school very young and trained for four years in Copenhagen. At first, I imagined working in fashion and editorials. After qualifying, I moved to New York and spent years assisting hairstylists on commercials and photo shoots. Then my friend Lindeburg, who had been in that childhood theatre group and had become a director, asked me to do hair and makeup on a short film. I never really looked back. I started working on NYU student films – anything I could get my hands on – until it became a real job. I loved staying with a character, exploring who they were and helping an actor become that person. I’ve always loved drawing and painting, but I’m quite social, so hair brought those things together. It’s like sculpting, except you get to talk to someone while you’re doing it! There’s a real joy in helping someone feel happy, seen and understood. I also love experimenting with colour and finding new ways to make something work. On Stranger Things, I figured out how to give Millie the illusion of a buzz cut with a wig, even though her own hair was very long. That mix of creativity, problem-solving and a little bit of illusion still makes me very happy.
image courtesy of Hindsgaul Hair
UL: What are your star ingredients?
SH: Cloudberry, Nordic cotton and pea peptides. Cloudberry and Nordic cotton are ingredients you also see in Nordic skincare, so there’s a lovely connection to home. Cloudberry is antioxidant-rich, Nordic cotton is a botanical extract from cottongrass, and the peptides are derived from peas. But I’m always thinking about the whole formula. The challenge was giving hair the care it needs while keeping that lightness. I want soft hair with beautiful volume and movement without feeling like there’s a lot of product in it – almost as though you were born with that volume.
UL: What inspires you?
SH: I love anything that feels alive. Hair that moves, texture, something unexpected that makes you look twice. I love a crooked tooth, freckles, the little things that make someone’s face their own. Often, the thing you’re insecure about is one of your most charming features. That comes through in how I do hair. I like a piece going the other way, a little surprise. I like some frizz and flyaways – they catch the light so beautifully. There’s been so much emphasis on smoothing and controlling hair, but I’m drawn to that feeling of freedom. I want to bring out what’s beautiful in someone rather than perfect every little thing. I’d love people to discover that about their own hair, too. I’m a five-minutes-in-the-morning kind of girl! Understanding your texture, with a few suitable products and simple techniques, makes life so much easier than spending your morning fighting it. Helping people see the beauty in what they already have is what inspires me.