Shaun Pulfrey founded the hair-care brand Tangle Teezer after working as a professional hair colourist.
Pulfrey developed the original Tangle Teezer while working in the hair industry. He noticed that ordinary brushes could pull and damage hair during detangling, and he designed a brush with flexible teeth intended to move through knots more gently. The invention was first known as the detangling brush before the Tangle Teezer brand expanded.
Pulfrey's product was initially rejected by judges on the BBC programme Dragons' Den, but he continued developing and marketing it. Theo Paphitis later invested after the product returned to the programme, helping the company move toward wider commercial success.
The inventor is sometimes mistaken for the Dragon who backed the business. Shaun Pulfrey was the founder and inventor; Theo Paphitis was the investor. Tangle Teezer subsequently became an international brand with multiple brush designs.