Interview: T3 hair tools co-founder Julie Chung

She’s been shaking up the industry for over 20 years, and yet you may not know her name. Meet T3 hair tools’ Julie Chung to find out why hair has always been her passion.

As impressive women go, Julie Chung is right up there with the best of them. A practising eye surgeon who just happened to create the hair tool brand T3 as a side hustle, we caught up about her drive, inspiration and the secret to good hair days.

You’ve been pushing the luxury hair market forward for over two decades. Were you always driven to succeed?

“If success means being mission-driven, then yes. I was raised by parents who instilled a deep responsibility to be of service to my community. That led me to medicine and becoming a glaucoma eye surgeon. At the same time, I’ve always believed in the importance of how women feel in their own skin. To me, feeling confident and put together is part of whole-body wellness.”

Were you always interested in hair?

“I grew up in a Korean immigrant household where culture places a strong emphasis on appearance, which probably explains why it’s become such a global phenomenon. Trying to understand my hair was a constant project. As a teenager, I cycled through chemical treatments and Japanese straightening, often using tools that were harsh, ineffective, or frustrating. Looking back, hair felt less like self-expression and more like something to manage.”

The Featherweight StyleMax Hair Dryer was your first launch in 2004. How did the idea come about?

“Directly from my frustration! I have thick, coarse hair, and it took nearly an hour just to blow-dry and another hour to straighten. My partner Kent couldn’t understand why the tools I used worked so poorly. His parents were hairdressers, so he was familiar with how little technology and innovation existed. We realised there was a space: tools that actually worked, were easy to use, and felt effortless. We also saw an opportunity to design tools women would want to own – most looked like garage equipment at the time! The dryer was about solving problems: speed, performance, and design without compromise.”

You mentioned your husband, and impressively, your business is still family-owned. How do you find working together?

“It’s both fun and challenging. When you work with your partner, you really must learn where to draw boundaries. We’re very intentional about when work conversations end, especially in the evenings and during family time. That said, there’s something special about building something together. We get to be creative side by side.”

You left a full-time medical career to make your dream happen. Is risk essential to success?

“I still practise one day a week. One of the most helpful perspectives I’ve learnt is that a risk doesn’t have to be irreversible. There’s almost always a path forward. Very few decisions are as final as we think. As a physician, I took the Hippocratic Oath to do no harm, and that principle directly informs how we develop our hair tools. At T3, health is never secondary. We design for beautiful results and high performance, but always with a priority of the long-term health of hair.”

Why do you think hair is so important to our self-esteem?

“Whenever I speak in front of a room full of women, I like to ask: who here feels comfortable doing their own hair? Usually, very few hands go up. Hair is often perceived as difficult and frustrating, and because of that, when it’s done well, it genuinely lifts our spirits. A great blow-dry, even without make-up, often communicates confidence and intention. Hair has long been a battleground for many women. A good hair day feels like a small but meaningful victory.”

Is there one of your products you couldn’t live without?

“Without question, the AIRE 360. My hair tends to frizz, so how I dry it really matters. The AIRE 360 has eliminated my need for chemical straightening treatments and significantly reduced how many products I use.”

Where do you see the industry going?

“There will be a deeper focus on hair health and personalisation. There’s a growing recognition that differences go beyond hair texture – women also have different lifestyles, priorities, and definitions of what ‘good hair’ means. Tools will be designed not just for performance but with long-term hair health in mind. Your hair isn’t the problem; it’s often simply a matter of finding the right tool to support what’s already there.”