DANNY GRAY

"If you learn one thing from this, it's that if you have something inside of you that tells you to do something different, don't listen to the doubts and hold yourself back. Go for it and see what happens."

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Growing up

Danny enjoyed life growing up. He was captain of the football team and popular at school. All until he was 12. Three boys made fun of his appearance on the school playground, and his life was never the same again.

This short stint of bullying led to an obsession with his appearance that has lasted for his entire life. At just 12 years old, he underwent major cosmetic surgery to have his ears pinned back.

As a teenager, his obsessions got worse. Worrying about the smallest details in his appearance, hair, and clothes. He would spend hours getting ready whenever he needed to leave the house.

Danny Gray as a child
Danny Gray - War Paint Founder

“if you're going to do it, you have to give it 100%”

STARTING WAR PAINT

While working full-time and raising a young family, Danny built War Paint at every spare moment. He was learning the ropes of what it takes to build a cosmetic brand and scraping money together to make it happen.

After over a year of development, Danny left his full-time job to launch War Paint in November 2018. The brand was already making higher sales in the first few months than Danny had anticipated, and he knew he was onto something great.

But it wasn't all smooth sailing. In May 2019, an advert went viral on Twitter gaining millions of views in just 24 hours... For all the wrong reasons. Thousands of comments were posted slamming the advert and every aspect of the brand. War Paint was accused of promoting toxic masculinity amongst men. It was a terrifying moment, and Danny thought it was the end of War Paint.

DANNY'S FAVOURITE PRODUCT