A PORTHTOWAN-based therapist has launched her own salon on the north coast with the help of a £25,000 Start Up Loan delivered by SWIG Finance on behalf of Start Up Loans.

Experienced hair stylist and Reiki trained energy practitioner Roseanne Browning is the proud owner of Boho Rose Collective, located a stone’s throw from the beach in the north coast village.

Start Up Loans is part of the government-backed British Business Bank and offers personal loans of up to £25,000 per director at a fixed rate of interest and free mentoring to help anyone start or grow a new or early-stage business. SWIG Finance is the bank’s business support partner for the programme in the South West.

Inspired by childhood holidays, Roseanne moved to Cornwall from Yorkshire in March last year. She and partner Kyle Ashley now live in Porthtowan with their three children, aged between five and 21 months.

“It was my dream to move here,” she says. “Then Kyle saw the premises and said, ‘This is you.’ I took our baby for a walk, thought, ‘yep, this feels like mine,’ and asked everyone I could who the landlord was. It was like something was pulling me there - that’s the magic of Porthtowan.”

Once she had the keys, Roseanne was keen to put her own stamp on the salon, using her Start Up Loan to aim for a natural look with wood, bamboo and earthy textures, and a complete refit for the kitchen, flooring and lighting.

“I wanted it to feel like a living room,” she said. “When I worked from home, I did things my way and my clients always loved being there.”

A hairdresser by training, Roseanne has developed and integrated the alternative treatments she loves so much into her salon work. She sees cutting hair as less of a service and more of a meaningful ritual where identity, energy and personal transformation meet.

“I’m passionate about creating a space where people feel held,” she explains. “Through gentle styling and energetic awareness, I help release stagnant energy so the body can soften into a state of self-healing. I believe people are deeply connected to one another — that’s where the collective comes from.”

All furniture is on wheels to enable it to be moved aside, providing a larger floor space for workshops such as community circles, intimate yoga or sound bath meditations. Outside practitioners will be chosen carefully to complement Roseanne’s ethos, and she hopes to host inclusive “pay what you can” events.

On the shelves are a curated selection of products, artwork, crystals, candles and books, sourced both internationally and from local artisans and creators wherever possible. Roseanne works with the Green Salon Collective to ensure waste products including hair and foils are recycled into eco-friendly products.

Her long-term goal is to launch a podcast about Porthtowan, its residents and businesses. “There are so many people doing amazing things here and across Cornwall, people’s stories have a deep sense of magic.”