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Female barbers (clockwise) Kiah, Rita and Angeline (aka Pretty) work on their male clients’ hair

Tafadzwa Zimoyo Senior Lifestyle Writer
At a local cosmetology school, Tabitha Manjoro was one of the only ladies in her class who did not mind cutting men’s hair.

All the other ladies had reservations about the skill yet male students in the same class were more than willing to do women’s heads. It is common to see men plaiting hair in salons, but female barbers are still very few.

Most ladies in salons only get in contact with men’s heads when they wash them after a shave or cut. (And men seem to enjoy the washing part.) This unheralded group of “washers” is regarded as the lot that does the dirty job in the salon and most of them would still be learning the basics of cosmetology.

A lot has been written about male hairstylist and hairdressers but little is known on female barbers and female washers.

Picture this! Diva Dollar (not his real name)’s wife works in a hair salon. One day, when he paid her a surprise visit at her workplace, he was surprised to find her busy doing the hair, not of a female client, but she was actually busy on working on the haircut of a male customer.

Tremors of suspicion immediately flowed through his mind. How could she work on the hair of a man when she is supposed to be styling women? Who is this man anyway?

The way that she was easygoing on her job of giving the man a nice shave, the way she turned his head with soft touches of her hands and the way that the guy seemed so immersed in the whole job being done to him worsened Diva’s situation.

At last, he thought to himself as fury mounted in his chest, I have caught her. Diva Dollar had been hearing all sorts of funny stories about ladies who work in hair salons and how they rank among the “loose” type.

This could only translate to one thing, his wife was giving her boyfriend a haircut. Thanks to some serious explanation by her workmates, some of whom too were also busy giving male clients haircuts, reality finally dawned on Diva Dollar that his wife and similar other ladies in her profession had diversified their line of business to also become barbers.

With cash being scarce to come by nowadays, people in their various jobs and avenues of survival have seen it fit to think outside the box by creating ways that will make their clients part with that precious dollar.

The case of Diva Dollar’s wife, call her Denise for anonymity purpose, is one of such instances whereby female hairdressers have turned to barbers and proving to be masters of both art forms of beautifying one’s hair, or head if you like.

The washers put the icing to cake, but they have also raised eyebrows on their head massaging styles, which sometimes lead clients to leave tips.

Through years of rubbing shoulders with their male workmates who are barbers, the female hairdressers and washers have ultimately learnt the tricks of hair-cutting, gifted with the finesse of trimming some of those intricate hairstyles you see forming part of the collage of many a hairstyle posters.

These styles not only flow from their adept hands, but they have also mastered the ‘tricks’ and language of the trade in a way that has left some of their male counterparts green with envy.

However, it was Diva Dollar’s story that prompted Saturday Herald Lifestyle to go out on a hunt in some of the capital’s leading hair salons and barber shops to get a first-hand experience from female barbers.

Angeline Chara, affectionately known as Pretty-The Lady Barber, at Beauty Hot Spot in CBD said it wasn’t easy being a lady barber. Chara trained as a barber with a local college in town. “After I had trained as a barber I was offered a rent-a-chair business in local hairdressing salon.

“I cut, trim, shampoo and style hair. My skill requires stamina, creativity and flair,” she said Portia Magara of Monalisa salon said her reason for becoming a barber was to try out new things after a lot of women were focusing on weaves.

“After several years focusing on women’s hair, I needed a change, because I wasn’t happy. I always enjoyed the opportunity to do men’s cuts. So I applied to a barbershop. “My biggest hurdle was constantly answering the question ‘can you cut or wash men’s hair?’

“There is a wrong assumption that female barbers lure male clients by their looks because at the end of the day every man wants a best cut and beauty does not count here. My skills speak for themselves,” she said. She has been doing this job for two years now.

“It is an art that is not as time-consuming as hair-dressing, especially when compared to weaves and braids. “Men are always on the go, but this does not mean that they don’t appreciate a good job done to their heads.

“As you know, women are gifted with that soft and tender touch which makes it easy for them to relate to their male clients requests and needs,” she said. She was however also quick to pay tribute to one barber Sekuru Bruce who always taught her how to do a good haircut.

“There were those times when I needed a haircut from Sekuru Bruce whom I worked with while I was still specialising on hairdos on women. He ended up telling me that my requests were becoming too much and told me to try doing it myself.

“The first few days were not easy but with his guidance, I ended doing my own hair cut as well as cutting the hair of my fellow female workmates who preferred short hair,” Portia recalls.

Unbeknown to her, that was the beginning of a new road to Damascus, as she to find out that doing barber work was actually more rewarding and not time-consuming. A word of caution is in place from Portia’s close friend and fellow female barber, Yolanda.

“Being a female barber can be a little bit challenging sometimes especially working on some male clients who regard every woman as a sex toy or as a sex symbol.

“Some of them regard us as people of promiscuous inclinations, yet in reality we are here to do a job. When we see that things are threatening to turn otherwise and go the wrong way of professionalism, we tell the clients in no uncertain terms that most of us are respectable mothers and married women who are not out for promiscuity all in the name of a haircut,” said Yolanda. Apart from the haircuts, they also shampoo the hair of their clients obviously the services going for fee that is worth every bit of it.

“We appreciate what our sisters are doing because you should also remember that at one time we males once invaded their hairdressing arena and now that they have joined us in our barber’s corner,” explained one male barber-cum-hairdresser who declined to be named.

So, the craze is on and male customers are flocking to female barbers for whom some described as favourable because of their hospitable, clean and tender nature as compared to some rowdy male barbers who sometimes drink and smoke while attending to their customers in total disregard of the golden adage which always say that the customer is king.

The female barbers are managing to earn a living not only for themselves, but for their families with some sending their children to decent schools around. Supporting them are the female head washers who take care of men’s heads after haircuts.

These women deal with men every day in the salons and they have a way of making sure that their client returns for the next cut.