No Longer a Woman’s World
With rising rate of unemployment in the country, more young men have devised means of survival through hairdressing, writes Peter Uzoho
Arecent survey by Jobberman, an online recruitment firm, showed that about 45.72 per cent of Nigerian graduates are unemployed. According to the survey, the disturbing rate of unemployed graduates in the country is cause of concern, just as it appealed to all stakeholders in the public and private sectors to intensify training and job creation programmes.
According to statistics by the National Bureau of Statistics, the rate of unemployment rose to 9.9 per cent in the third quarter of 2015, from 8.9 per cent in the second quarter of that year and is being projected to rose further. These require urgent measures by individuals to be engaged in the society as well to contribute to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Therefore, gone are the days when it was firmly held to certain jobs, craft, occupation and responsibilities are exclusively reserved for the men, while some are for women. The days when tasks seen as difficult are for men, while the easy ones are for the women and when a hair barber must be a man, while the hairdressing profession must be no other than a woman.
Hairdressing is now a job that men are competitively doing with women. It is no longer women’s job. It is no longer a mere menial job, but rather, a career that those in it value so much. Men who are into it see it as a job more secured and even more profitable than most white collar jobs.
Findings from THISDAY’s recent visit to some hairdressing centres being operated by men in some areas in Lagos, revealed that a set of young men who through hairdressing have been able to turn their fortunes around.
According to Mr. Bright Emiana, a male hairdresser, the art is like every other work that people do and get paid. He explained although he is a male, it doesn’t matter to him whether it is a female hair he is making. He stressed that what is important to him is being paid for his job.
“I like my job. I feel happy doing hairdressing. I like taking care of ladies’ hair. Hairdressing is like any other jobs that people do and they’re paid and they are happy doing it. So, I don’t care what people say about it,” Emiana said.
Speaking about how he became a professional hairdresser, Emiana said: “When I finished secondary school, I was thinking of what do next because the fund to further my education wasn’t available. My mind went to hairdressing. I knew there was no hope of going to higher institution, so I decided that I’ll go and learn how to make female hair. I saw people already in the business who are men and are making it, that gave me encouragement to go ahead with the plan.
“So, I went and registered as an apprentice with a man in 2012. I learnt it for two years before I set up my own business in 2014.”
Recounting the challenges he faced in the work during his apprenticeship and now that he has started his own, Emiana said: “When I told my friend that I wanted to go and learn hairdressing, he was laughing at me. Even when I started attending the training, my fellow guys would always jeer and mock me, saying that I was doing women’s work. At a point, I felt like quitting. But my boss advised me not to mind what anybody was saying then.”
“Even when I started my own, I faced the same challenge. Customers were not willing to patronise me. Customers would come to my shop thinking that it was a lady that owned it, but when they saw me they withdrew. Another challenge I had on the job was how to please women because they are always difficult to satisfy in hairdressing.
“But with the training I got from my former boss, I have been able to manage them. Today, I thank God that everything has settled. I get customers everyday in large numbers and I am making money on this job.”
Continuing, he said: “Nothing will make me think of going out to look for a white collar job anymore, because I don’t think they would be able to pay me as much as I make here. How much will they pay me that will be higher than what I make here? Some of my class mates in secondary school that are now graduates are still not doing anything. They are all looking for government jobs that may not come”, he added.
Also, another male hairdresser, John Anang, told THISDAY that he is proud of the job he does. He said he feels happy making hair for ladies, adding that he plans to make a long lasting career on the job.
“I’m a hairdresser. I’m not ashamed of my job and I don’t want to know what people say about me and my work. All I know is that I’m in the job and will be in it for a very long time,” Anang said.
He added: “I have passion in hairdressing, in fact it started from my childhood. I liked touching my elder sister’s hair. Any time she wanted to loosen her hair, I would be the one to do that for her. Even while I was in secondary school,I learnt the work in my cousin salon ,after school hours.
“When she realised that I had become perfect in making ladies’ hair, she started leaving the shop for me. Later, she said she would be paying me. So, that was how I saved money to start my own,” he explained.
He went further to say that he had his own challenges doing the work, pointing that he was mocked and derided by his mates, both boys and girls, even his own siblings, as they kicked against it.
”My mates were making jest of me that I was doing women’s work .They were calling me ‘woman dresser’ instead of hairdresser. Sometimes when I get to their gathering, they would say I should go and stay with women that I’m no longer a man. That nearly discouraged me but I refused to bow to their criticism,” he added.
He revealed that what has kept him going in the job is the quality service he renders to his customers and his ability to keep to appointments, stressing that those are the major factors that determine success or failure in the job.
Another male hairdresser who begged for anonymity, said that he joined the job due to the rate of unemployment in the country, pointing that he did not want to end in penury.
“I am from a very poor family and I have seen that there is no job in Nigeria. So I needed to provide job to myself so that poverty will not kill me and my children that are coming”, he stated.
THISDAY also spoke with some ladies on how they feel when a male hairdresser is taking care of their hair.
Miss Oluwapelumi Olarewaju, who resides in Ikeja, Lagos, said she feels better having a guy making her hair.
”I feel better when a guy is making my hair. You know guys are very good and they are caring. They are also gentle. They know how to manage our mood more than our fellow women and they have patience. They do perfect work, so I prefer them to ladies,” she added.
Miss Monilola Adebayo, on her part said that she likes going to male hairdressers because they are so good at fixing and twisting of hair, and that in a salon operated by a male, there is no time for gossip.
”I like going to male hairdressers because they know fixing and twisting very well. Guys don’t have time for gossip. They concentrate on their business and they don’t waste much time,” she added.
The above findings have shown that although the increasing rate of youth unemployment in Nigeria has remained a source concern to everybody, people can change their story by thinking out of the box. People must come to terms with the reality that gender does not determine the work one does to earn a living and take their destiny in their hands.
The senator floated the project to help the students. He is an education-friendly senator, as well as a lover of the youths. As a former governor, he also knows where the shoe pinches, because he has been in the system. And he did this without favouritism to anybody