MOST PEOPLE adore transforming their natural hair for the sake of beauty but don’t tell this to Sarah Kamani. She believes that the conservation of afro hair with natural products delineates natural beauty and as well as saves people’s lives. In an interview with The New Times, she talked about how she turned her love for natural hair into a business. Excerpts: When did you get involved in natural, and what inspired you? It was in 2018, a year after I have decided to go natural and cease applying relaxers on my hair. I had never thought that wearing natural hair would inspire others to embrace their natural beauty. That was never my objective, but I loved helping others. After realising that numerous people were asking me for help on how to grow or treat their natural hair like mine, I and my friend decided to turn this opportunity into a business. How many people do you employ in your salon? We are a team of six young passionate men and women and we mostly focus on hair treatment which is the first secret to growing natural hair and can rarely be found in traditional salons. Our salon is called Nappyhood which loosely means a natural and happy sister’s community. Apart from treating hair, what else do you do at the salon? Our main mission is to re-define Afro beauty and help everyone embrace their natural beauty in a simple yet valuable way. We use simple home-based products such as fruits, vegetable oil, and plants. These are unique products that make one’s hair healthier and grow longer. As an extension of the body, hair deserves the same self-care and tender treatment that we give other parts of our bodies. Otherwise, we won’t enjoy our natural hair. We also do Afro hairstyles which we usually call protective hairstyle. Many people think that all hairstyles must involve extensions but they don’t know that those extensions are harmful and the number one hair threat. That is why we go for these protective hairstyles which are gentle to natural hair and promote African beauty. We also focus on teaching people how to embrace their natural beauty by making a very simple and beautiful Afro hairstyles that does not harm their hair. Besides that we also sell natural hair care which is under our brand, Mera Organic. What was it like venturing into this kind of business? First of all, none of us had experience on how to do business. Luckily we all had different experiences on how to treat natural hair. We were aware of all the challenges and how to overcome them. I learned to use my network as the first resource for my sales and marketing. This was made through WhatsApp and phone calls. We started this as a home-based business. Did you learn hair making in school? This is a question most of our customers used to ask me and the answer is no. We are all IT personelle who deal with computers, routers, etc. We all own a Bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology. Doing hair is something I personally never dreamt of doing until it happened. One thing I know about myself since childhood is that I love manipulating my hair and helping people. I believe that what drove me to start this hair care business is my passion for helping people. It is true that the main purpose of doing business is to get money but beyond that, what keeps us focused on our core values is the will to conserve the Afro hair beauty. What would you say is unique about your services? Everything about this business is new because we have decided to use only natural ingredients either for hair treatment or hair styling. We have said no to chemical ingredients and the funny thing is that most of them are available on the local market. Some years back, none of us could know that avocado or Moringa powder could also be used to soften our hair. The whole process is an innovation and the most amazing thing is that by using these products, we are contributing to the growth of our country’s economy. What have you achieved so far? Do you give back to the community? We started this business from home because we had no capital to rent a space. My bedroom was the stock and whenever clients called us for hair treatment, we would go to their homes. Some customers were happy because it was making their lives easier but for us, it was thought-provoking and time-consuming because the material we had was not enough to provide the best services. We kept pushing hard and today we have a fixed location with a team of 6 staff. That is a great achievement. Meanwhile, giving back to the community is something we do with excitement. Currently, we do it as something personal but we are planning to incorporate it into our business strategy. We are planning to teach underprivileged girls activities like hair dressing so that they can also start their own business and generate some money. How would you describe this profession in Rwanda? The natural hair care business is brand new in Rwanda with a lot of challenges because you can hardly find appropriate equipment and natural hair products. Also, most hairdressers, even professional ones, do not know how to manipulate natural hair for hairstyle or treatment. Natural haircare service is different from traditional haircare because it follows many rules and they are new. We also learn every day and in return take our time to teach and assist them in the process. This requires copious dedication and sacrifice. In short, we still have a long way to go. What do you love about this profession and what challenges have you faced? This Job has helped me find my life purpose. It looks small in the eyes of others but for me, its something big. I want to do this all my life just because It makes me feel like I am saving people’s lives. It has been proved that using hair relaxers or chemicals can rescind your hair. So, whoever returns to natural hair is on the safe side. Psychologically, we notice that people who have embraced their natural beauty are free-minded, have self-love, and are nature friendly. This has a positive impact on their wellbeing and it’s the happiness we experience and share with others. The first challenge is to convince someone why they should keep their hair natural and treat them naturally. We are all the victims of the colonial mind sets that we were taught since birth. We were taught that Afro hair is not beautiful and whether we like it or not, we were forced to go for relaxers as an alternative. So, it’s still a big challenge. How can a novice start? Do you offer some training? From my own experience, I think we don’t need a great idea or a huge amount of money to start something. What we first need is courage and vision; the rest come along the way. The challenges and experience lead you to the right path towards your bigger picture or success. Currently, we are not yet able to provide training. We first want to make sure that we have acquired enough knowledge and skills then transfer them to the others to make sure that we are giving them the best knowledge. What are your plans? We are in the growth stage with so many plans, but the main one is to extend our services to other cities or districts of the country. Some people have busy schedules and they often find it difficult to come to Kigali. some of her organic hair products for natural hair. You can reach Kamani on 0787781917 IG:@nappyhood Facebook: nappyhood saloon&boutique
