Staff Reporter
A few years of stormy battles with her little daughter each time she had to take her to the salon for a hairdo could have been a blessing in disguise for Bloemfontein mother Naledi Diradingwe who recently opened a hair salon exclusively for kids.
Tiny Fros Salon, situated at Bloem Plaza in the city centre, opened its doors on July 7.
Diradingwe, who prefers to call herself a mumpreneur, is excited about her venture and she says business is promising.
“I noticed there was a gap in the market because I used to struggle with my daughter each time I had to take her to the salon,” she told The Free Stater in an interview.
“I believe she was not comfortable seeing a lot of adults around her and having someone do her hair at the same time.
“I realised many other parents were experiencing the same challenge, so I decided to start a child-friendly hair salon.”
The salon, which she describes as revolutionary, strictly caters for children aged 0-13 years old.
She said to give it character and uniqueness, the salon has been painted with child-friendly colours and has a big play area where the tiny clients can burn off some energy while waiting for their hair to be done or taking a break.
“As a mother I know that children do not sit still for too long and a certain measure of distraction, ‘bribery’, patience and entertainment has to be induced to get perfect results when working on their tiny afros,” Diradingwe said.
“My daughter is turning five this year and it’s only now that she likes the idea of coming to a salon.
“I have also seen it with the other kids coming here.
“They really enjoy it because we have just made the environment ideal for them with the colours that we used, the seats, in fact, the whole set up.”
Asked how she was working around the COVID-19 issue given that fixing hair is a close contact exercise, the mumpreneur said they are implementing strict hygienic standards with each client and they have also started home visits.
“The whole place is sanitised regularly and we also sanitise before and after dealing with each client,” she said.
“The parents will be there to witness it and, I must say, most of them are happy with what we are doing.
“This week, we also started doing home visits for those parents who feel more comfortable with that.”
Diradingwe said the business was initially supposed to open in March but was delayed by the national lockdown.
And when the country was moved to a lower level of the lockdown, she did not think twice about resuscitating her dream.
“I was determined not to let this virus kill my dream hence I jumped to action as soon as our President (Cyril Ramaphosa) announced that salons could be opened,” she said.
“The safety of our staff and our little princes and princesses during these unprecedented times is our highest priority.
“We have ensured that we adhere to our country’s COVID-19 regulations and implementing the necessary precautionary measures to curb the spread of the virus.”
And despite a slow start, Diradingwe is confident business will pick up as the country recovers from the pandemic.
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Can I have numbers