They come from far and wide just to have their hair done at Nairobi’s Kenyatta Market. They are mostly middle-class women who drive or are driven for kilometres on end to Kenyatta Market, once famed for meat, but equally so for hair braiding, lines and twisting.
The women are posh, but this apparently incongruous location is not. Imagine top politicians and wives of popular public figures brave the dimly lit market to get the latest braiding hairstyles. And no, they don’t even mind sitting on rickety plastic chairs and inhaling heavy, stale air from nearby pubs.
Kenyatta Market is where, just like meat traders who go out searching for customers away from their butcheries, the hair stylists also ‘hunt’ for customers all the way from Mbagathi Road due to the fierce competition here.
Compared to high-end salons where braiding can cost an arm and a leg, the lure of Kenyatta Market hair braiding business has to do with the speed with which one’s hair is done. The headache from all the pulling and tugging comes later.
Kenyatta competes with Umoja and Kariobangi markets that are famous for weaving.
“We ensure we are competitive,” Elizabeth Muthoni, a salonist told City Biz , adding that, “All our customers want quick, professional services and that is what keeps us ahead of others.”
Muthoni points out that hair braiding services are in high demand during holidays and the festive season when just two braiders can plait up to seven customers back to back.
Elizabeth Mutundi, another salonist explained that some customers go for hair braiding when they have only hours left to a crucial event or journey. “They trust that they can be braided and in good time to run other errands after that. There are those we tend to three or four hours to their flight or a family event. Three or four of us can handle a customer together and in an hour, we’ll be done,” says Mutundi.
Caroline Mumbi has been a regular customer here for over five years and says, “I don’t have to spend hours and hours being braided elsewhere when here it can be done in a couple of minutes.”
Kenyatta Market hair services does not come cheap.
Just listen to Linet Akinyi who has been in the hair braiding business for 19 years: “We charge braids, lines and twist services according to the sizes the customer wants. It can range from Sh1,000 to even Sh10,000 or more.”
She adds: “We have regular customers, but we have to compete for those coming for the first time. The secret is to offer them a nice deal and before you know it, they become regular customers.”