A hair care company which has used a unique product to create a £30 million turnover in just 18 months is set to move into Silsden and create up to 25 new jobs.

The firm -- ghd (good hair day) -- was set up in January 2001 by three entrepreneurs and has quickly outgrown its Ilkley headquarters. It has now applied for planning permission to build a £2m, 23,000 sq ft warehouse and office facility at Belton Road, Silsden.

The company took the hair and beauty industry by storm in 2001 with its ceramic hair straightening irons and is now set to launch a whole new range of unique products in 2003.

The irons are used by a host of celebrities, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston and Madonna, and have been recommended by top publications including Vogue, Glamour, Elle, and Cosmopolitan.

The original idea for the business came from former hairdresser Robert Powls, 55, (pictured) who had the Headlines salon, in Keighley, in the 1980s. After selling his salons in 2000, he took a business trip to America, where he came across the revolutionary ceramic hair straightening irons.

He sold the idea to friends Martin Penny, 50, a former environmental consultancy owner, and former plant and tool hire firm owner Gary Douglas, 48, who were both looking for new business opportunities.

It was during one of the many meetings that the three had at Robert's house when the name for the company was established. Robert's wife Susan said that the irons had such a positive effect that they gave someone who used them a good hair day -- the initials of this phrase then became the company's name.

The business was started from Robert's Ilkley home, and after eight months of making a loss the ghd ceramic irons took the UK hairdressing industry by storm.

The firm made a profit of £135,000 in just four months. Sales of the irons have risen from just 20 per week to over 20,000 per week in 18 months. The company had a turnover of £424,000 in 2001, £11.5m in 2002 and is projecting a turnover in excess of £30m in 2003. It currently employs 27 people.

The company has expanded its operations into Europe and Australia, and is soon to hit the United States.

The three directors -- all of whom have an equal share in the business -- believe the success ghd has experienced is due to luck, finding the right product at the right time and a unique combination of the skills that each of them possess as individuals.

The firm is now set to launch a new range of products, which will include straightening and waving treatments, ceramic brushes, shampoos, conditioners, hairsprays, styling gels and an extended range of ceramic styling irons.

The new products will be backed by a multi-million pound marketing campaign which will further strengthen ghd as a major hair product brand as it takes on global hair-care companies like L'Oreal and Wella.

Robert said: "We are bursting at the seams where we are now and want to be in our new premises at Silsden by the end of the year. As soon as planning permission is granted we will start building.

"I had a salon in Hanover Street, in Keighley, for many years and helped to train many of the town's current salon owners, so it will be nice to be back in the area and to meet some familiar faces and old friends."