4 April 2024
When you walk into Hair Essentials, a hive of activity greets you from all fronts, a testament to the salon’s hugely popular appeal and a sense of loyalty that keeps Hair Essentials clients coming back for more.
Set up on two levels, the lower space offers manicures and pedicures on one side and all manner of men’s and women’s hair treatments and cuts on the other.
From the perpetually warm welcome to the amazing work Benson ‘Ben’ David and his host of hairstylists do, Hair Essentials is THE place to be for your haircare needs. The joint serves ALL hair types from afro to mixed-race, caucasian, and Asian.
The man behind the brand, Ben, works his magic on many happy male and female clients’ hair needs in the upper quarters of Hair Essentials. In Botswana for over two decades, Zimbabwean native Ben is the consummate professional who greets each client with a beaming smile and a warm heart.
While the father of four is a dab hand at what he does and clearly loves his craft, he initially wasn’t sold on the idea of becoming a hairstylist. The reluctant hair whisperer set out to become a chemist, but fate had other ideas!
Once he followed his destiny, Ben threw himself into the hair industry. At every turn, destiny threw curveballs Ben’s way. If he had had his way, Hair Essentials would have been Hair Infinity. The moniker carried a lot of value for Ben as it tied in with his vision to scale up his salon into an open-ended value chain development process. Alas! On registering the company, the name Hair Infinity was already reserved.
Undeterred, Ben soldiered on, setting about to turn Hair Essentials into the trendy hair place of choice in Gaborone. Hair Essentials opened its doors on 4 May 2012 and operates out of Gaborone’s CBD. In the following interview, we were lucky to chat with Ben about his long road to the world of hair and what makes him tick.
Where it all started
YB: So, Ben, tell us how you got to where we are in your profession as a hairstylist.
BD: So, after I finished high school, my mum wanted me to go into higher education. She was very straight down the line and wanted me and my brothers to do something, anything, rather than stand on street corners at the risk of falling in with the wrong types.
My heart was set on Cosmetology. In my juvenile mind, Cosmetology was something to do with the manufacturing of cosmetics. I saw myself in a lab with a white coat surrounded by test tubes.
YB: So what made you ‘see the light’?
BD: The career guidance lady I was talking to at the time was keen to know why I’d gone with Cosmetology, highlighting that in Zimbabwe, people wait for years to get a placement in this line of work. Having said that, at the time, there was a huge government drive to promote gender equality in the Hair and Beauty Industry. She explained that with Cosmetology being a female-dominated space, I’d probably get a call sooner than most, and indeed I did!
YB: So what happened from there?
BD: I got the call a fortnight later. Ordinarily, you were attached to a place of work for your apprenticeship. I thought I was being taken to Baker Avenue, the site of The Lever Brothers, where they manufacture soap and cosmetics. Instead, I was driven to a place called Nice & Easy Unisex Hair Salon, where I started my placement.
So I get there, and I’m introduced to Justin, the manager and the rest of the staff. I kept thinking, why are they being so polite, introducing me to all these people? I just wanted to get to where we were going. Little did I know that was my place of apprenticeship. And so it all started.
Written in the stars: a family of artists
YB: So how did you feel when you realised your apprenticeship had nothing to do with Cosmetology?
BD: When the penny dropped, I wanted to quit. I was dejected. Growing up, I was always artistic. But I would never have thought I’d end up doing hair.
My whole family was very artistic; I was painting and sculpting while my elder brother and younger brother were sculptors as well. So when I went home and told my mum, it wasn’t much of a surprise to her because I used to cut her hair with scissors way before I trained professionally.
But I was still not convinced it was what I wanted to do. My mum, a staunch Seventh Day Adventist, was very insistent; I was to stick with it because it was better to do something than loaf around doing nothing.
She was dead set against me hanging around street corners doing nothing. She said until I found something else to do, I would have to carry on with the hair apprenticeship.
So reluctantly, I went and started the apprenticeship. To my astonishment, I gradually started falling in love with the trade. Having said that, I came very close to quitting at one point. I was still not convinced it was the path I wanted to follow.
So, I had the bright idea of trying to apply for another apprenticeship in fitting and turning, working with cars because another area that had also fascinated me was mechanics. When the career lady caught wind of this, let’s just say she gave me a dressing down I’ll never forget. She whipped me back into shape, insisting I continue with Cosmetology or risk losing it all.
The apprentice: a shaky start
BD: I had to graft. I was what you call a messenger boy – from sweeping and mopping the floor to buying lunch for the senior staff. I literally had to start from the bottom rung and work my way up. I did find myself wondering why I was getting professionally trained only to end up doing bit jobs in a hair salon. In hindsight, I now realise all that was character building, teaching me discipline. I doubt I’d be anywhere as disciplined now had I not done all that.
A turning point
BD: Once I started my Cosmetology apprenticeship in earnest, I turned out to be a fast learner, soaking up everything like a sponge. The more successful I became, the thirstier I became to learn more. Within my first year, I was really coming into my own in terms of creativity. I was energised to come up with innovative ideas.
That in turn made me more keen to succeed, to make a real go of my career in the hair industry.
Alternating between college and my apprenticeship worked well for me because I could apply everything I learnt in college and when at college, I could show off what I’d learnt on the job. The two-tier system worked very synergistically to produce well-rounded hair artists, including me.
YB: How did things turn out once you threw yourself into Cosmetology?
BD: Now fully committed to the industry, I felt I needed to do a Marketing, PR and Advertising Diploma. I paid for the course myself. I would work all day and afterwards, I’d attend classes at a private college near where I worked. I did it alongside my Cosmetology qualification (hair and beauty studies). The lessons ran from 7-9 pm. I felt that with my marketing skills, I’d be able to confidently sell hair products to the masses.
When I started working, I found pairing marketing with my hairdressing really paid dividends. I started steadily building my clientele.
It was at that time that I caught the eye of the wife of the Kenyan ambassador. Every time she came to the salon, I would give her a lot of hair advice. So one day she told me they as the Diplomatic Women’s Association of Zimbabwe, regularly held fundraising events.
She asked if I would mind coming along to one of the events to give the ladies hair tips. Of course, I jumped at the chance, not realising the magnitude of this thing.
YB: How did the event go?
BD: I decided to prepare a winter hair care presentation. So on the day, the speakers before me focused on serious topics, with one talking about personal development and another about etiquette. It was so serious, I lost my nerve. Listening to them address the audience, the nerves started kicking in! I was second-guessing my presentation.
When it was my turn, I was shaking like a leaf, heart pumping, voice trembling because I had never done any public speaking. I had written a speech, but decided to ditch it and freestyle. I also changed it up to make it more interactive by inviting the ladies to throw questions at me.
Even later at lunch, the questions kept coming. They all wanted my number!
YB: Wow, I bet business at the salon exploded after that!
BD: Oh, that event was a game-changer! Off the back of that, we started getting high-calibre clients – my boss was speechless! Among the attendees, there was a lady who worked with the Black Like Me products. She invited me to go to schools to teach young girls how to care for their hair using Black Like Me products.
Then everything just changed from there. My boss made me supervisor, and I was the youngest member of staff. By the time I left, I was the salon manager.
Written by YourBotswana writer. Photos by Gary Ashworth
