Shore Thing: Merwave

www.merwave.co.uk

Instagram: merwaveofficial
Words by Sian Anderson
Photography by Samantha Orton Photography

Abi Reid didn’t set out to start a business – she just wanted her hair to behave.

She says: “My hair always looked frizzy.

“I was ordering every product off the internet – it was arriving every day – and it still just looked rubbish.”

Spurred on by lockdown in 2020, Abi stepped away from daily blow-drying and let her hair do its natural thing.

With frustrating results.

Eventually, she realised her hair wasn’t straight or curly – it was wavy.

And that helped Abi realise that none of the products she’d tried were right.

She says: “All types of curly hair are put into one group – whether it’s curly, coily or wavy – and it just didn’t make sense.

“That’s like saying everyone should wear the same make-up shade; it just doesn’t work.

“Once I realised I had waves, I knew I needed a product that was less heavy than those for curls.

“I just wanted someone to say, ‘here’s the product, and here’s how you use it’”.

But nobody did.

Abi realised there was a gap in the market and, alongside husband Tom, decided to create the product themselves.

Merwave was born.

As was baby number two.

Abi says: “It was 2020 – the same year we fell pregnant with our second child.

“As it turned out, we grew a baby and a brand at the same time.”

The couple had a great skill set between them; Abi had worked in marketing and Tom in e-commerce.

They found their supplier and made a start.

Tom says: “We told them exactly what we wanted, and then it was just trial and error: there were loads of samples coming over.

“It was a process of tweaks and refinements until Abi was happy that her waves looked wonderful.”

From the beginning, the idea wasn’t just about the product, it was about perspective and the journey hair can go on, with the North East coast having always played a part in the Whitley Bay-based brand’s identity.

Abi says: “The seafront is at the bottom of my parents’ street – it’s just part of my life.

“We do pull on that – beach waves, Merwave – it all links back.”

Budget in the early days meant product marketing came organically.

The couple leaned into instinct over polish, with Abi filming videos of herself and stopping strangers in the street to talk about their hair.

Tom says: “We couldn’t just spend £400 here or £400 there, so Abi ended up doing most of the videos.”

“To begin with, the feed looked very much like a personal account, and I think that worked.

“The street interviews were the ones that really allowed us to scale.”

Abi adds: “I would literally go up to random people and ask them if they thought they might have wavy hair.”

It clearly resonated, and the Merwave community grew and grew, to the point it has become central to how the brand evolves.

From the early days, Abi and Tom were sending samples to their most engaged customers, gathering feedback and refining products in real time.

Tom says: “Our top customers are always really involved and give us honest feedback, so we can continue to tweak new products to make sure they work for them.”

Abi Reid, Merwave founder

And that same community is now involved with their new campaign: The Awakening.

Abi and Tom gathered 20 of their community at Harbour House, in North Shields, for a photoshoot, with the idea of showing off real waves and how natural and great they can look.

Abi says: “The whole purpose is to push the message that you might have secret waves.

“It’s about helping people recognise what’s already there, embrace it and feel confident.”

That evolution is reflected in a recent rebrand, which shifts towards something more considered and tactile.

Abi adds: “We wanted it to feel beautiful and simple; something that would appeal universally.”

Inspired by the sea glass collected by their young son, and shaped by their coastal surroundings, the new design is led by soft tones and fluid forms.

Tom adds: “It’s timeless – it won’t feel outdated.

“We live by the coast – the sea, the colours, even the sea glass in our house – it’s not branding, it’s our life.”

With a clear proposition and a more considered design, the brand secured a listing with Boots after identifying a gap on the national retailer’s shelves.

Tom says: “We went into Boots, looked at the shelf and thought, ‘there’s nothing here for wavy hair’.

“So we showed them what was missing.

“It was sort of a ‘wavy hair goes here arrow’, and it worked.

“We had a meeting within a month.”

Alongside UK retail growth, the brand is looking further afield.

Abi and Tom Reid, Merwave founders

“WE LIVE BY THE COAST – THE SEA, THE COLOURS, EVEN THE SEA GLASS IN OUR HOUSE – IT’S NOT BRANDING, IT’S OUR LIFE”

With a European fulfilment base in the Netherlands, Merwave is preparing to expand into new markets – beginning with a launch in the country before rolling out more widely.

Behind that growth, the couple’s working dynamic has remained deliberately informal.

They don’t sit side-by-side all day.

Instead, they carve out their own spaces: Abi often films content from home, with Tom operating from a co-working space.

The real conversations happen elsewhere, with car journeys the place where board meetings are held, ideas are tested and decisions are made.

However, as the business has grown, so too has come the need for structure.

Through the Scaleup North East programme, the couple have been working with adviser Craig Huntingdon, who scaled a wall covering manufacturer globally following a management buyout in his early 20s before going on to become an Aldi trading director.

With those experiences, Craig has brought an external perspective to what was previously a largely instinct-led venture.

Tom says: “Craig is like a voice of reason.

“He’ll challenge you – ‘have you thought about this, this, this?’ – and that’s invaluable.”

It’s part of a broader shift from start-up to something more considered.

Tom adds: “If someone’s already built a £25 million business, you want to learn from that.

“Otherwise, you’re just making it up as you go along.”

While Merwave now reaches far beyond the region, its North East roots remain central to how it operates.

Abi says: “Everyone knows everyone here.

“Once you start to meet people, they’re really willing to connect with you – there’s not much gatekeeping.”

That sense of Northern openness comes with its own contrasts.

“WE WENT INTO BOOTS, LOOKED AT THE SHELF AND THOUGHT, ‘THERE’S NOTHING HERE FOR WAVY HAIR’ – WE SHOWED THEM WHAT WAS MISSING, AND HAD A MEETING WITHIN A MONTH”

Abi adds: “There are fewer people doing what you’re doing here, which makes the community feel tighter and the connections more meaningful.”

It was something brought into sharp focus during a recent visit to Downing Street, where 50 female founders from across the region, including Abi, gathered in London.

She says: “It was amazing.

“It made me think how strong the North East community is, and how much more we could do by bringing people together back home.”

For a brand that began with a bathroom routine and a handful of samples, the pace of growth has been quietly transformative.

From retail expansion to a campaign built on real women, Merwave is entering a new phase.

For Abi and Tom, these are exciting times for the brand from the Bay, but the focus remains the same: build carefully, stay close to the customer and keep things simple.

What began as a personal discovery is now reaching far beyond the bathroom mirror, with Boots stores nationwide and European expansion lifting Merwave to a bigger stage.

Abi adds: “There’s a lot more we want to do.

“We’re just getting started.”