She's Got Flair: Get to Know Belle Brush Entrepreneur Nancy Costello
Portrait by Kasha Spica
Every business has an origin story. For Nancy Costello, salon owner and entrepreneur, the seeds for her successful businesses were planted in school. “Growing up, I hated my hair,” she recalls. “I have naturally very, very frizzy hair. Going right back to primary school, it was something that I was really self-conscious about.”
As soon as young Nancy heard about hair extensions, she was fascinated. By the time she was in college, the hair extension industry in Ireland was still in its infancy. When Nancy couldn’t find anywhere that did the specific type of extensions she wanted, she decided to do a course. “Two hours into the course, we had a break and I rang my mum and said, ‘I have found what I want to do for the rest of my life’,” she recalls. “I just knew it.”
She started offering hair extensions while still in college (“I was doing consultations in the GMIT car park” she laughs), and still counts some of those early customers among her clients today at Belle Hair Salon, where she and her team work with their own extensions, offering a variety of methods and selling a range of products.
“We had more international orders in one day that we had nearly in the history of the business.”
Expanding Belle Hair
In 2017, Nancy launched a second business, The Belle Brush. She still finds time to work on the salon floor and help others discover the confidence that hair extensions gave her. “It’s something I will never take for granted,” she says.
“When I do team meetings in the salon, I always say, ‘How lucky are we that our job every day involves trying to make somebody feel better about themselves?’”
“I see my mission as making hair care easy and making people feel better about themselves through their hair,” she continues. Her early experiences mean she is very aware of how much hair can impact someone’s happiness and confidence.
“I deal with clients from the age of 17, right up to 70 – I have older women sitting in my chair who might just get four little extensions either side and they will literally start crying, wondering why they didn’t do it earlier.”
“Growing up, I hated my hair”
The Baby Belle goes global
In recent months, Nancy has become synonymous with one of her products, the Baby Belle, the smaller sibling to her Belle Brush. Featuring a patented design, as well as incredible flexibility and gentleness, it’s great for a wide range of people – from those with hair extensions to little kids and yes, even A-list celebrities. It was the Baby Belle’s appearance on actor Nicola Coughlan’s Vogue Beauty Secrets YouTube video that propelled the brand from local success story to international headlines.
“Nicola has been a client of ours at the salon since before Derry Girls,” says Nancy. “As nice as you think she is, double it; it’s why she’s gotten so far.”
Over the years, Nicola has been recommending Nancy’s brushes to many of the hair stylists she worked with (“she got us on the set of Bridgerton!”) or met on her travels.
When Vogue featured Nicola in its popular Beauty Secrets YouTube series, she raved about the brush once more. “I love this!” Nicola gushed on the video, holding up the brush for all to see. “It’s a brush from a really small business in Ireland.” Within hours, sales started pouring in. “I was on holidays when it happened, and was hyperventilating from the excitement,” laughs Nancy.
“The next day, I posted a TikTok talking about it, and then that went viral. Then I did another video about going viral, and that went viral too.”
Juggling motherhood, business and burnout
The weeks that followed were a blur, which Nancy describes as “chaotic,
in the most beautiful way”, adding that “you couldn’t put a value” on the knock-on effects that mention had. “We’re a small business, it’s my husband, my best friend and myself, and it just gave us this massive boost – we had more international orders in one day that we would have had nearly in the history of the business.”
The Belle Brush is seen by many as an overnight success story, though Nancy has been in business for over ten years, and weathered the ups and downs that come with that. “I’ve been very honest about what a hard time we were having,” she says, referring to the videos she shares across Instagram (@nancy_belle_) and TikTok (@nancycbelle).
She has almost 50,000 followers across the platforms, and posts candidly about the realities of running the businesses. “It was a hard time – I had a little baby, he wasn’t sleeping, my business was suffering but we were still slogging away in the warehouse,” she says. “And then this happened and our whole life changed. This moment helped us all fall in love with our business again.”
“It was so different when we started out, without the same supports,” she continues. “So now, when people say, ‘God, you’re doing so well’, my answer
is – it’s about time.”
Nancy’s beauty and wellness faves
For good hair days
You’ll never catch me without the Belle Brush Smoothing Brush (€22.50, thebellebrush.com). It’s the only tool that truly tames my flyaways.
For a daily boost
An absolute essential in my daily routine is Revive Active (€59.95, chemists nationwide). I swear by it for keeping my energy levels up, especially as a mum to a toddler who doesn’t sleep!
For a great glow
A product that is new to my routine but has already earned a permanent spot is Poco Universal Glow (€30, pocobeauty.com). It’s a staple now, and I can’t imagine going without it.
For energising movement
For fitness, my favourite place in Galway is French Vanoli in Oranmore for reformer Pilates. I started last year and haven’t looked back since.
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