The multimillion-rand African hair industry is thriving on the street corners, taking its inspiration from Hollywood and tribal life
Valentine Cascarino
Elizabeth Moloto, who hails from Orange Farm, is a newcomer to the pavement salon business. Having closed a small “Westernised” hair salon in the township, she took to the streets of Johannesburg.
First she joined other hairstylists at the Bree Street taxi rank, but when the competition got tough she moved her business to Joubert Street, outside Edgars department store downtown. Today Moloto has settled her business in the city council market in Yeoville, on Rockey Street.
“Running a Westernised hair saloon is quite expensive,” she moans. “The hairdressing machine is expensive,” she says about the standard, upright salon hairdryer.
She continues: “Hair products are expensive, the hairstyles themselves are time consuming, requiring me to charge expensively. But in an African pavement salon the most expensive equipment is the brains to create amazing styles.”
Herein lies the vital clue to success with streetcorner hair. With basic ingenuity Africans have created a fashion industry that turns over as much, if not more, than the most sophisticated in the Western world.
In fact, of all the aspects of traditional African life, the most rapid evolution is taking place in the hairstyle industry.
The art of African hairstyle sculpture – passed down from one generation to the next – requires manual dexterity, creativity and patience because many styles are elaborate and time-consuming.
With the informal hair sector being what it is, there are many Molotos in the cities these days drawing on their talents to make a steady buck.
“I discovered that most people were beginning to have their hair plaited in styles I knew nothing about,” she says of her journey. “When I enquired I was told that they’re done on the streets of Johannesburg so I set off to learn them.”
With her self-taught skills, Moloto claims she gets an average of five clients during week days and up to 10 clients during weekends. “This has given me a profit of about R300 daily, which used to be my weekly income in the township salon.”
So, as a result of inventiveness, city slickers who venture out to have their hair styled outdoors are faced with some pretty daunting choices. Those who want to look good had better find out the names and shapes of styles before the hairdresser starts cutting.
These are as diverse and thrilling as the African tribes that gave rise to them. In Africa, hairstyles have been used as mediums of creative self-expression, to commemorate certain ceremonies, to show marital status, to show honour for battles won and to distinguish various age groups.
In the past sisa (clay), the bark of trees or cloth pads were used to enable the stylist to perform miracles of braiding and threading.
Until recently, bone, wood or metal combs were used to straighten the hair and make it softer. Metal combs were thrust into burning coals until red then used to gently comb the hair, after which an ointment was applied to polish and heal burnt areas.
Such primitive methods of treatment have given way to the modern hair product that allows hairdressers to invent a growing galaxy of styles. Today the South African market is flooded with hairstyles, many from West and Central Africa, whose multitude of ethnic groups boast over 400 flamboyant hairdos. The most popular, however, are the braided and threaded styles even found attached to white scalps these days.
Braiding is usually arranged in between four and 12 neat ridges, while threading is the traditional art of wrapping hair with thread in order for it to rise from the scalp in spikes. It originated with the Igbo of eastern Nigeria.
Elaborately styled braided or threaded hair depends on the length of the hair. Long hair is always an advantage as short hair allows a limited number of styles.
Moloto explains that to thread a style known as “bampa curl”, which originates in Zaire, hair is blended with wigs and braided starting from the back of the head towards the centre. The same process is repeated from the front towards the centre, after which the two adjoining patterns are threaded to curl wigs. It takes about two hours to finish and costs R100. Moloto claims this style, which was brought to South Africa last year, can last for up to two months and is mostly done by middle-aged women. She says hairsprays have to be used to enable the style to always look new.
“Condross”, a hairstyle worn by popular Kwaito group TKZee, is said to have originated in West Africa. A line is made down the centre of the head, dividing hair into two halves, then little sidelines are made to enable the hair to be braided in a concave or convex manner. It takes about an hour.
The simplest perhaps is “singles” in which hair is divided into various portions and each is easily plaited either fat or slim. This is mostly done by businesswomen who don’t have much time to spend in salons.
Another fascinating style known as “crown star” requires hair to be divided into 13 strips and braided to form a star and the ends curled. The front section is braided upwards forming “U” shapes and the braids at the back meander up to end at the crown.
Women are not restricted from entering men’s salons. Here, traditionalism gives way to Eurocentricity, and one finds styles such as the “German cut”, the “English cut” and the “fish tail”.
A favourite with the ladies is the “chiskop” and another is the “ladies kutz”, which bears a close resemblance to the “German cut”.
Some men’s hairstyles originate in West and Central Africa, like the “asako style”, “love garden”, “fulani style” and “suku”, to name but a few on the endless list.
One can’t help wondering why it is that hairstyles from these two African regions dominate the market.
“Hairstyles from these regions are easy to cut and they look quite decent and consume less time. That’s why we charge just R5. But doing a traditional Masai hairstyle, for example, is an arduous task that may take over 20 hours,” says Desmond Mathibele, who runs a hair salon in downtown Johannesburg.
The particular attention that has always been accorded to hair as a valuable beauty product is said to have ushered in these dramatic hairstyles. From Egypt where the wig was first made as early as 3 000 BC to Southern Africa where the Zulus began tall ochered coiffures; from West Africa where the first braids were made and spiced with coins and brass ornaments to East Africa where the Masai spent leisure hours on grooming and self-adornment – the hair industry seems determined to grow and grow.
And the more new styles are invented, the more consumers stand a better chance of choosing a suitable hairstyle to match their profession.
These days, the most visible pavement hairstylists are the Mozambicans, who often entertain customers with fascinatng stories from their world. They say it’s one of the rarest tricks to increase clientele in an industry where one sometimes finds as many as a hundred doing the same job in front of the same shopping centre.
“The competition here is a tight-rope one,” says Paula Nampito in a thick Maputo accent. “To keep customers coming you don’t only have to be an expert hairstylist but you also have to provide what your competitors can’t provide, like engaging with your customers in relationship conversation and offering advice on how best to treat a man. It fascinates South African women.”
Nampito visits her husband and two children, at home in Maputo, monthly. She says in Mozambique there is little or no profit in the hairstyle industry compared to the daily R400 she earns in South Africa. When asked why most Mozambican women end up in the streets as hairdressers, she says there is very little here for them to do. Most can’t speak English and are not properly educated.
“My husband earns peanuts in a shoe factory in Mozambique,” Nampito says. “He takes care of the children while I’m away. He’s not worried that I’m alone in South Africa. We both have to make money to give our children good education so that they don’t end up in the same fate.”
Stylistically, Ghanaians and Nigerians rule the waves in the men’s pavement salons. Like the Mozambicans, they too are teaching local South Africans the art of cutting hair and, surprisingly, charging no fee for this education at all.
“When a South African wants to learn how to shave, we start by teaching him how to shave simpler styles like chiskop. In return he sets up the tent at the roadside every morning and dismantles it in the evening. If he’s quick in learning, he may be on his own after a month,” says Francis Abbrey from Ghana.
He acknowledges that there’s no profit in running a barber shop, since all hairstyles are done for R5 and one can hardly get more than 15 clients daily. He says shaving hair is the only way to make a living in South Africa since he can’t find a job despite having an honours degree in chemistry.
“Shaving hair is part of the Ghanaian culture which I was reluctant to learn. My father forced me into it when I was still a boy, now it’s paying dividends since it’s my only way to stay alive in a foreign land.”
Finally, one wonders where it’s all headed for these denizens of the streetcorner.
Moloto’s ambition is probably a good indicator of what many wish for when they look to a future in hair. Moloto says that after having generated more money, she would love to open a mega hair salon in Johannesburg that will cater for both African and western hairstyles.
In the meantime, they all hope for good weather so that they can continue to make a meagre profit, contributing to the glamour of the African city street.