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It is therefore not a surprise that beauty parlours are a source of employment for many people in various capacities.
Although the beauty business has many women, there are men who have also found careers in hairdressing as barbers and stylists

Twenty years ago, the beauty business was dominated by businesspeople who could marshal enough capital to start the business.
To get into the game, one needed money to rent or buy the premises, get the necessary licensing as well as procure equipment and chemicals.
On top of that, the prospective salon owner had to have enough capital to run the business, insurance and meeting the wage bill until such a time as the business started to get adequate custom.

As a result, most of those who acquired hairdressing and other beauty service qualifications could only hope that they will get good jobs, not even dreaming of one day owning their own businesses.
The situation has not changed and it still takes a lot of money for one to set up a respectable beauty parlour establishment but now anyone with the requisite qualifications and ability can have their own business.
What has wrought the change is the advent of the “rent-a-chair” trend that many salon owners have adopted.

A hairdresser in the city who is called Florence and has rented a chair for several years says that the move has empowered many women and she feels that if she had been an employee she might have left the trade a long time ago.

“I am my own boss and I even employ two other girls who help me with things like braiding, undoing clients’ styles and shampooing.
“We use the dryers and sinks and other facilities that are here but essentially we run individual businesses.
“You have to manage your cash flow so that at the end of the month you have enough for the salon rentals, your domestic bills and also for the payments for your assistants.”

She says that the assistants are normally students on attachment who will be looking for practical experience and are prepared to work hard in the process.
Sometimes one may take on an assistant who has completed her course but this is dicey as the assistant may steal the clientele and go on to rent her own chair.

Florence says it is not all rose as sometimes clients are few but obligations remain the same and must be met.
“You cannot say that business has been low and therefore you cannot pay the rent. It is up to you to make sure that you have a plan to see you through the bad times which sometimes come,” Florence explained.

Another hairdresser thinks that the rent-a-chair system is an advantage to the salon owner as well as the service providers leasing space.
“The owner has no worry over fluctuating income and settles for a lower amount of money but it is fixed and comes at once.
“But we are happy for the chance and I know some people who are driving good cars and have pretty homes which they would never have achieved as employees of another person.”

Most hairdressers interviewed said that they preferred renting a chair to being employed by someone else and getting paid at the end of the month.
Junia Sasa of Fabulous hair salon said she was more comfortable with renting a chair though she started as an employee of one of the salons.
“I have been in this industry for two years and I started off as an employee since I had no clients.
“I decided to rent a chair because I get to manage my own finances everyday rather than waiting for a monthly salary which is very little compared to the effort one will have invested.
“Just like any other business, you might fail to get clients on some days particularly Mondays and Tuesdays because most people get their hairdos’ on weekends.
“On a good day during the week I get US$30 and US$70 on weekends.
“I pay a monthly rental amounting to US$74 to the salon owner, which is very much reasonable since I am getting profit.

Another hairdresser renting a chair from the same salon, Pretty Paradza concurred with Junia and cited that she was benefiting from it.
She added that renting a chair was an empowerment to the hairdressers since they operated as indigenous people.

The rent-a-chair practice has also resulted in employment for other people in related and support industries.
Traders in hair and nail chemicals who would not get custom from large salons move around the salons and are also making a decent living from the resulting business.

Food vendors also value the salon business as they go around feeding the beauticians and their clients.
Hair styling implements, weaves and other extensions, hair prays and make up kits always find a ready market at the salons which have the rent-a-chair facility.
Clothes, accessories, toys, vegetables, fruit and goods of every other description are sold in the salons.
“In the old days almost everything was on a credit basis as the people would be waiting for the month-end; it was not very profitable.
“But now you bring your stuff in the morning and you can collect the money in the afternoon or the next day because the people get cash everyday,” said one man who sells vegetables around various salons in the city centre.

He said most of those who rent chairs find it easier to pay him during the month as the month ends are dedicated to rentals.
At that stage the vendors rely on the clients.

Renting a chair has not outdone the old system of hairdressers and nail technicians working for the salon and getting paid on commission at the end of the month.
However, there are some hairdressers who neither rent a chair nor work for a salon but work under a 50/50 deal with the owner of the saloon without paying any rentals.
This means that if the hairdresser braids a client for US$30 she gets US$15 and the other half goes to the salon though the equipment used would be hers.

A survey by the Saturday Herald recently, indicated that some salons like SHE n’ HE still stick to the old ways of employing hairdressers without giving room to those who would want to be independent.
Maggie Dupwa who works for the salon said being employed by SHE n’ HE was not by choice but was a way of building a clientele base.
“Its pointless for me to rent a chair now considering that I am still new in the industry hence there is need for me to hunt for clients,” she said.

Nyadzisai Maketo who works for the salon said she envies her workmates who are renting chairs as they were making more profit.
“Despite the fact that I work so hard I only get 40 percent per client which means that I have to work extra hard to earn more at the end of the month which I find it very difficult considering that clients are attracted to those hairdressers renting chairs who have established their names,” she said.

Ebony salon, which charges US$120 for renting a chair, is probably the biggest rent-a-chair salon in the city as all of the numerous beauty service providers are autonomous.
Tarisai Maingidze who rents a chair for hairdressing said that apart from the salary that she gives her junior at the end of the month, she was free to help other hairdressers and gets a US$1 for every service.
Hairdressers, who operate from one of the most famous salons, Red Rose said that they are charged US$240 per chair.
One of the hairdressers who preferred anonymity said even though the rent was too high comparing with other salons, it was worth it.

“I don’t regret operating from Red Rose considering that we get more clients and our prices are also different from those charged in other salons as ours are a bit high.
“On a normal day I can go home with US$100 to US$150 and during some weekends I make a minimum of US$300,” she said.

Most hairdressers charge US$15 to US$20 for weaving, US$25-US$30 for braiding, US$15-US$20 for chemical relaxing and US$3-US$5 for a set.
Renting a chair in most salons like Gianni costs US$150, Klipperz and Kellers charges US$100 and Magma costs US$120.
One salon owner made it clear that the rentals charged to those renting chairs differ with location of the salon, working conditions, environment and the standards of the saloon.
The best thing to come out of the rent-a-chair system is that those taking up careers in the beauty industry now have more options and it is within their power to succeed to the limit of their ambition.