After doing an article for Headspace Salon, a few weeks ago, I had the privilege to meet yet another amazing hairdresser and hair salon. Wilma Dunckley is a hairdresser at the well known Marcus@ Hair Transformation, based in Howick. Meeting Wilma, and just having a conversation with her, I instantly knew that she’s not just another hairdresser, working to earn an income. Wilma has been in this industry for thirty years now, she is passionate in what she does, humble and teachable. Wilma grew up in Pretoria, but has been living in Howick for the last twenty years. She was involved in quite a few different salons over the years, majority of them being in Pretoria and Hilton. Beginning of this year she was looking for new opportunities and made contact with Marcus Venter. Marcus himself, has been part of this industry since the age of eight years old. Barely tall enough, he would stand on tomato crates and assist in a salon. Together with Jess, they are a team of three hairdressers, with their two assistants helping them. Together, they have a rich amount of knowledge and experience. Wilma’s hairdressing journey started off in Pretoria. She did an apprenticeship and after two weeks of being there, the owner felt assured that Wilma will be going in the right direction with a career choice. She finished her studies while working at this salon, and she can assuredly say that she loves her job, and is in the right industry. She joined Marcus and his team, just a month before lockdown, and although she has been in this industry for years, nothing could prepare them for 2020. We all know that the beauty industry took some hard knocks for many this year. I asked Wilma a few questions to understand what they have been going through in this time. What has been the most challenging aspect of 2020? ‘Lockdown was most definitely the most challenging aspect. Our industry was closed down, and we were not able to generate an income. It was difficult to understand why our industry had to close down. Hygiene is such a vital part of our business, and we always make sure that our environment is on the right standard. Initially we were told that we will only be able to go back on level one. That caused a great fear, because we are currently not even on level one, as we speak. The uncertainty caused fear, and a threat to the industry. Unfortunately, I also had to go into debt, just to get through financially in this time.’ What has been your most positive experience during lockdown? ‘One of the most amazing experiences, was that we had clients spontaneously paying money into our account, to support us. I had some clients that have been with me for twenty years, that asked me for my banking details. Some paid money in, without having any expectation of anything in return, where others paid upfront for treatments to come later this year. The support, the phone calls, the generosity and kindness of people, was amazing. We are really thankful towards our loyal and supportive clients.' Any advice you would like to give to clients or people in the beauty industry? ‘Our biggest challenge has also been clients dyeing, and doing their own hair in this time. It is so much more difficult to fix hair that was done with box color and damaged. I would advise clients to not do that. It’s so much harder to fix something that was used incorrectly. The advice I would like to give to others in the industry, is to have respect for one another. We should rather be working together in an industry and not break down, but rather build each other up.’ What have you been placing your hope in this year? ‘I have been placing my hope into the integrity of the industry. We would love to deliver a quality service for each person coming in. That people would feel valued and receive what they pay for, or even more.’ I really felt special and honored visiting this little gem of a salon and spending time with them. They honestly do go out of their way to value you as the client, and I for one can most definitely recommend this salon. Marcus is quite well known in the industry, and also a renown Redken Color Master. He also came up with a great concept and had special masks made, to use in a salon. It's a mask that sticks onto the face, so that you are still able to wear a mask when getting your hair colored (see picture above). For more information, feel free to make contact with him, it's such a brilliant concept.
I would just like to thank this team for allowing me to come in and spend some time with them, and also doing a little hair transformation for myself. Wilma, you are really so much more than just a hairdresser, and I can see why you have such a loyal client base, being with you for so many years. Wilma's heartbeat, is to assist a client in feeling good, refreshed and transformed when they leave the salon. This salon really do live out their name. I speak God's blessing over all of you. May this business flourish even more in the years to come.
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about me
I'm a passionate photographer based in the KZN Midlands - enjoying life to the full and spending time with my awesome family and friends... photo credit: www.peartree.co.za
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