Of course, you and I both know the trials and misadventures of fine and coily hair go a lot farther back than that, but the story of van + veronica really began with one woman weeping over yet another newly-purchased stockpile of overly-confident, greasy haircare products that smelled too much and worked too little. That woman, you guessed it, was me.

My husband and I used to joke that if we ever got the courage to go party-crashing, we would do so as our alter egos, Van and Veronica. I thought a lot about them that day in the bathroom, since the one-size-fits-all haircare party had become one I was seriously fed up with. When my husband gently reminded me that I knew what I wanted and always had, he was right. “If they don’t make what you want,” he said, “go make it yourself and maybe you’ll be able to help someone else too.”