Interview with the Director of Davroe

Mary is the current managing director of Davroe. Mary has transformed the Davroe brand into what it is today. Davroe is a brand that focuses on replacing all the “nasties” with calm ingredients that are gentle on the skin, natural, are 100% vegan and eco-friendly. 

Mary started out as a receptionist for a company called Dresslier. Dresslier is the parent company of Davroe, which started in 1987 which helped develop Davroe into the natural plant-based brand we know today. Mary has recently celebrated her 34^th year at Davroe and has achieved her successes through hard work and a hands-on approach.

Firstly, can you tell us a little bit more about yourself, have you always been in the hair care industry?

Yes, I have been in this amazing industry since the age of 15 when I started working for Dresslier as the Telephonist/Receptionist. 
 
Can you tell me a little history of Davroe? How did it start? 
 
Davroe was first formulated in 1987 as small concise protein-based hair care range for salons. When John and I took over the company in 2007 we needed to do something different to the brand. It was at that time that we decided we would remove sulphates, parabens and petrochemicals.  This was a big decision as many salons weren’t interested as there was the perception that perhaps these types of products wouldn’t work as well. They didn’t lather as much and didn’t leave the hair squeaky clean, which as we know that’s not good for the hair anyway. 

Has Davroe always been a vegan brand? 

No When Davroe was formulated in 1987 and up until we took over it contained beeswax and wool keratin protein which are animal bi-products. In 2007 we reformulated these products out of all formulations. 

Why should people vegan products? 

Quite simply we choose not to use them as there is no need to use them, there are amazing natural and plant-based products that are just as good even better. We are happy to leave animals alone. 

Does the quality of vegan products differ from ones that have animal products? Is there a quality difference? 

We feel that we have and will continue to produce amazing hair care products without animal or animal-bi products in our formulations.

How long have you been involved?

I have been with Dresslier for 34 years, 12 as a Director and 22 as an employee in various positions along the way. 

What do you like most about the Davroe products? 

I love that we were the first salon professional brand to remove all nasties and have a vegan product in Australia. 

What do customers like most about Davroe products?

Our customers love that we are sulphate, paraben and petro free as well as being Vegan and Cruelty free. Another thing that our customers love is that we are an Australian owned company and we manufacture all our products here in Australia. We are the manufacturer, there aren’t many Australian brands that can say that.

What different ranges do you recommend for each hair type? 

The great thing about our products are that they can be mixed, if you have fine hair but dry, you can use our Volume shampoo and Moisture conditioner. Our treatments can be used together and I can’t even tell you how many times I hear hairdressers mixing our styling products to achieve different results for different clients. 

Anything else to add?

I love what we do and the support we are able to give our suppliers, salons and customers. In particular, I love that we are able to support grassroots sports for kids, many charities like the Little Heroes Foundation and emerging designers through Fashion Palette which showcases in New York Fashion Week and Sydney as well as Face Fashion in Melbourne and Miromoda in New Zealand. These runway shows give us the opportunity to showcase our Davroe products to the world.