South Africa: Male grooming enhancing business in beauty sector

Pretoria based celebrity hairstylist, Patrick Missile has based  a portion of his business in helping balding men. He started creating wigs known as toupee  for his male clients nine years ago. 

But he is only one of the many springing up across South Africa in the business of  men’s grooming. 

"I feel like there were a lot of requests from guys. Even though I was a wig designer from the  beginning and serving ladies, I later found out that it was important to introduce myself to the  male sector. It really helped people gain their confidence, to boost their personality and their appearance. It was very important and it meant a lot to so many." Missile said.

According Euromonitor, men’s grooming is finally taking off in South Africa and the region  as a whole. It is one of the strongest growing sub sector in beauty and personal care, posting a  nine percent value growth in 2018.  Entrepreneurs like Patrick say the growth of beauty for males will help blurr gender roles. 

Brothers Beard in  Johannesburg is one of the outlets helping black men grow and maintain their beards naturally. Its founder Vizolet Kuwana believes growing and keeping clean beards is trendy .  "Male grooming is such a buzz word and is the reason I resigned from my full-time corporate job  two years ago to pursue this. So, as it stands, people talk about the numbers saying it is a fifty  six billion dollar industry and that men want to look good". he said.

"In my experience, I think from a beard  lens, men are not only looking for Linkedin connections but also connecting beards. They also  want to smell like flowers. They want to be pampered. So, you are seeing more and more men  who are conscious about their appearance and wellness."  Kuwana explained.

Wandiswa Ntengento, Johannesburg, South Africa. Africanews.