Great run for SA hair-care brands
With salons closed, home styling became the new normal
● Covid’s cloud has had a silver lining for South African hair-care entrepreneurs, whose products are being embraced by major retailers and flew off the shelves during the hard lockdown.
In 2017, Game began stocking the NativeChild natural hair-care brand, less than two years after Sonto Pooe launched it from her home.
Starting with a formula for hair growth using castor oil that she developed in her kitchen, Pooe’s range of 29 products for women can now be found at Pick n Pay, Clicks, Ackermans, Wellness Warehouse and Cosmetic Connection.
In November last year Pick n Pay, just months after starting to stock NativeChild, named Pooe “small supplier of the year” thanks to the brand’s phenomenal sales.
“I knew there was a need but didn’t realise how big a need there was,” she said.
Cold shoulder for chemicals
Pooe said consumers were seeking hair products free from harsh chemicals such as parabens and sulphates.
The popularity of her products, she said, was due not only to their being made with the highest quality raw materials but also to the fact that they were affordable.
The shea butter used is imported from Ghana, the castor oil from India and speciality ingredients from Germany. The hair growth stimulating castor oil is R38.90 for a 100ml bottle and the most expensive product is the whipped shea butter cream at R149 for 250ml.
“Our margins are much lower than other brands, but it was a conscious decision so more people can access good-quality products,” she said.
The success of a fast-growing business does not come without its challenges.
“Every day I am fighting fires and balancing production with demand,” Pooe said.
When she started the business in 2016, Pooe was working out of a cottage in her garden.
She now has three warehouses for products manufactured in Johannesburg and employs 50 staff.
Sales exploded after the lockdown was imposed in March last year, she said.
“Every three months when a new big customer comes on board, we need to expand and find more warehouse space.”
Taryn Gill, CEO of The Perfect Hair, employed a different strategy to meet burgeoning demand, partnering with a distributor to manage the company’s supply chain. The distributor ensures products arrive on time at the stores where they are needed.
Tricky times with trichology
She started her business in 2014 and spent 14 months developing a formula — free of all harmful substances — with chemists and trichologists (experts in diseases or disorders of the hair and scalp) at the hair and skin research laboratory at the University of Cape Town.
She said this development period was the most financially trying time of her life, but she has not looked back since signing on as an exclusive supplier with Clicks in 2016.
The Perfect Hair products can be found in 400 Clicks stores now and by the end of the year they will be available in 600 of the retailer’s outlets nationwide.
“Clicks was the first retailer who really cottoned on to the potential of the black haircare category,” Gill said.
“They opened their shelves to local brands and gave us a shot.”
The lockdown also boosted sales for The Perfect Hair — Gill went from supplying 200 products a week in March last year to 1,500 a week now.
She attributes this to hair salons being closed for several months last year, which meant women switched to doing their own hair care at home.
Gill has turned her focus to developing new ranges. These include Curls ’n Bloom, a range for a pharmaceutical retail brand to be launched in June; Soft Sista, an affordable range for discount stores; and SuperCurl, a premium line for middle-class and affluent consumers.
All are set to be launched before the end of the year.
Naturally good
Every three months … we need to expand and find more warehouse space Sonto Pooe CEO, NativeChild
My Natural Hair, available at Checkers, Shoprite, Beauty on TApp, Takealot and Clicks, is also looking to create a premium collection for a more affluent customer.
Gill also works on low margins.
The brand has 16 products in its range, from its 50ml trial-size shampoo at R30 to its 500ml large conditioner that retails at R150.
Justin Veldsman, brand manager for My Natural Hair, said its range was the first South African brand to be given retail space in Clicks, in 2016.
Manufactured in Cape Town, the company’s range is also free from harsh chemicals and holds a “good manufacturing practices” certification.
This certification covers all aspects of the production process to ensure that the products are safe for use.
In March/April last year, at the start of the lockdown, sales volumes for My Natural Hair products soared 44.7%, representing a 247% increase in sales value.