‘I couldn’t stop pulling out my eyelashes’

Four years ago, Isobel Perl was living with friends in London and thriving. She was working for a big accountancy firm and had a busy social life.

Then the pandemic hit and she lost her job. Aged 25, she had to move back in with her parents in Watford.

She decided to start a skincare brand, despite knowing nothing about the industry. It was a big success until one wrong business decision, which triggered her trichotillomania – a hair-pulling disorder that meant she could not resist the urge to pull out her eyelashes.

Here, in her own words, Isobel explains how she managed to overcome the disorder and get her business back on track.

When I lost my job, I didn’t even qualify for any redundancy pay. It was a really difficult time for me and it knocked my confidence.

I had thought of the idea for my skincare brand PERL cosmetics a few years before, but I didn’t have the time, the money or the knowledge to start it.

After losing my job, I decided to throw myself into it. For the first year and a half of the business, I was running around like a headless chicken. I didn’t have a business plan. I didn’t know who my target audience was. I didn’t know anything. I set up a website and just chipped away at it day by day.

A lot of people doubted me. I look back now and I’m proud I had the balls to ignore them. I was just so excited by the idea. But at the same time I knew I needed a steady income. I ended up starting a job as a project manager at the Ministry of Defence and I thought my business would just be a side hustle.

Then in January 2021, when I started posting on Tiktok, things just blew up and I quit my new full-time job. In the first few months, I went from zero to 50,000 followers and I generated £10,000 in sales, which was double what I had done in the whole six months prior.

People started following me for the journey, I don’t just share the good stuff. I think it’s refreshing to see someone admit to struggling.

Everything was going well until last spring. I started the business in the pandemic and I had never known what it was like to run a business outside of that. Everyone was on their phones and people had more disposable income but then life went back to normal. It was almost like a perfect storm for e-commerce businesses. But then sales really stagnated.

So I decided to spend the remaining £8,000 of the company’s cash on advertising but I didn’t see a return from that. I had to reinvest my own savings back into the business because I had nothing but I still had people to pay and bills coming out.

It was a really difficult time, and it triggered my trichotillomania, which is an uncontrollable urge to pull out body hair. I’ve had it since I was 14 but thought it had gone away.

For me it’s a feeling that there’s an eyelash that needs to be pulled out and it’s a relief when you do that. I couldn’t stop doing it. But then you feel guilt and shame and it’s a never ending cycle.

I decided maybe it was time to quit my business, I was so frustrated and I felt like it had consumed my whole life. I did this post on TikTok explaining my situation and it got two million views.

Everyone got behind me and supported me, the sales went up and it was the best month I’ve ever had in terms of revenue.

I started opening up about my trichotillomania on social media and I got so many messages from people who also suffer from it. I realised I wasn’t the only person that does this.

I was using eyelash serums to try and grow my lashes back but my eyes were getting really sore and red. I realised some of the serums on the market contain a synthetic growth hormone. So I created a lash oil made from natural plant seed oils and people started commenting asking if they could buy it.

By the time I launched it, I had 5,000 people on the waiting list. The lash oil is now my best-selling product, and makes up around 80% of my sales, it has sold out six or seven times and has generated £400,000 in sales since I launched it last summer.

I’ve now got a team of eight part-time employees. We hand-make and pack the products in small batches at a lab near my home.

I really want to create a brand where I can try and end the stigma around mental health. I have always suffered from anxiety and depression but I feel so much better when I’m taking care of myself.

I firmly believe there is a link between doing your skin care and looking after yourself properly to help relieve depression and anxiety. Also most people living with skin conditions find their mental health and wellbeing suffers as a result, so the two things are definitely related.

One day I would love to get stocked in shops. I’m also working as a business coach and mentor now and I love helping other young people who are starting out, because I didn’t know what I was doing when I started. I tell them everything I wish I had known at the start. I just love helping people, it’s a really good feeling.

Looking back, there are a lot of things that I would have done differently but I don’t have any regrets. However, I would love to go back and tell myself to have more self-belief.

I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason. If my trichotillomania had not got really bad after wasting a lot of money then I would never have created the lash oil that is keeping my business afloat.

With the money it is generating, I am working to expand the product range and develop better packaging and invest in more marketing, so it’s definitely been my saviour.

I always say to anyone who wants to start a business to never give up because you just don’t know what’s round the corner for you.

As told to Charlie Jones