How it all began!
I didn’t start Hilltop Electrolysis & Laser because I liked beauty. I started it because I knew what it felt like to hide.
I began struggling with facial hair at puberty. My mom, a beautiful Irish redhead with NO hair anywhere, didn’t have any experience in removing unwanted hair and really didn’t understand how severe it felt for me, so I did what so many people do: all the wrong things. Shaving, waxing, plucking, bleaching you name it I did it! . By the time I finally found an electrologist, my moustache (lovingly) could have given Burt Reynolds a run for his money. I didn’t feel feminine in the way I wanted to, and hair became this heavy, quiet shame I carried around.
Electrolysis changed everything. Bi-weekly appointments slowly gave me my confidence back. So when my electrologist announced she was moving across the country; with half my moustache still living its best life, I panicked! She saw it on my face and said, “You’d make an amazing electrologist. You’re empathetic, patient, and you get it.” That tiny sentence cracked something open. When I couldn’t find anyone within 100 km to continue my treatments, I did the wild thing: I went to school, bought a machine, and cleared the rest of my own ladystache. Most people thought I was crazy and it would just be another “hobby”.
At the time, I was working in the school system, supporting students—including many 2SLGBTQ+ youth—who just wanted to feel safe, seen, and respected in their own skin. That work never left me. When I opened Hilltop in 2016 (with zero formal business experience and a whole lot of stubborn determination), I built it on the same foundation: advocacy, safety, and dignity for every person who walks through the door.
Hilltop started with just me in a small studio and has grown into an award-winning, trusted space clients travel to from all over Ontario. Along the way, I’ve made mistakes, learned hard lessons, cried over spreadsheets, questioned myself more than once and kept going, because the “why” never changed for me. Today, I’m lucky to have an incredible team beside me: kind, skilled humans who share the same values and treat every client like they matter. Because they do.
Giving back is part of who we are. Every year, we take on pro bono and reduced fee cases for people who truly need help navigating, gender-affirming care, hormonal conditions like PCOS, or situations where hair is more than “cosmetic.” We support causes close to our hearts, including ongoing charitable donations and community initiatives, because this business only exists thanks to the trust of the community around us.
I’m endlessly grateful for my family who backed my “wild” idea to become an entrepreneur, for the clients who chose Hilltop when it was just a dream, and for every person who lays in our beds now. Hilltop is more than a studio; it’s the place I needed when I was that younger version of me, hiding my face. Now I get to help make sure you don’t have to hide yours.
YOU belong Here💜
Much Love
Brookes Brown
