It was not so much her own passion as it was her late mother’s that took Rehana Agard into the hair care and beauty industry. A hair stylist needs heads to ‘work on’ and her mother, whom Rehana says, visited the hair dresser with monotonous regularity, was only too willing to accommodate a daughter whose interest coincided with her own passion.
Having worked in the industry for twenty years, she exudes the persona of a self-assured professional. That professionalism reflects itself, chiefly, in her preoccupation with the relationship between stylist and the client. Clients, she believes, engage their hair stylists on the basis of an abundance of trust and confidence. “You have to earn that trust, otherwise you are in the wrong business,” she says. That has to do with the fact that among those assets that parades her beauty, a woman’s hair almost invariably comes first.
These days she plies her trade from the Bamboo Salon and Barber Shop tucked away inside the Apple Mall on Robb Street. As a hair stylist and treatment practitioner, however, she has ‘been around’ for a while, gathering experience and honing her skills through exposure to training at institutions like Hair Motions.
After a few years she was ready to ‘hit the road’ on her own and that she did through various beauty establishments.
There is a bewildering array of ways in which hair can be fashioned and treated and over time and with training, Rehana says, she has developed a pleasing level of competence in the disciplines associated with transforming hair into works of art… Brazilian relaxing, keratin treatment, waxing, streaking, relaxing, Jheri curls, perms and lining of brows. All of these, she says, are taught skills, practiced specialisations that equip you to have your clients “leave the chair” imbued with a sense of having been uplifted.
The essence of the industry reposes in the fact that women, increasingly, are regarding the way they wear their hair as an essential tool for marketing themselves. That is what, Rehana says, drives the industry. Rapidly evolving styles and preferences and an ever-growing preoccupation with hair care continue to create new niches in an industry which, globally, has grown to become a multi-billion dollar entrepreneurial empire.
To stay ‘in the game’ and to grow, Rehana says, you have to keep abreast of trends. That, she believes, is a critical tool for survival and growth. She has done so by staying abreast of trends, not just here in Guyana but in the wider world. The rise in demand for ‘Brazilian hair’ (Rehana explains – and our research bears her explanation out – that what is frequently described as Brazilian hair is, in fact, imported from Peru and other countries) for example has made access to the internet and to the various on-line shopping options important tools of the trade. ‘Brazilian’ human hair, she says, having become the current favourite hair type amongst the range of hair weaves, every hairdresser worth his/her salt pays an interest in the industry.
Over time, Rehana says, she has learnt that the essence of increasing market share does not repose, exclusively, in offering attractive styles. Acutely aware of the broader value that women place on their hair, she is, she says, mindful of the “hair care” dimension to the service she offers. She explains that as women become more aware of the relationship between their hair and “the rest of themselves,” they have become more mindful of hair health considerations. Accordingly, she considers it an essential part of the service she offers to provide advice on hair care and hair treatment and what the outcomes of that advice might be.
She understands, she says, that a great many women may well be excited about the physical attraction of one or another hair styling or treatment option while being, perhaps, less mindful of the longer-term health-related consequences for their hair. Accordingly, she considers hers a two-fold duty… to make her customers “look and feel good,” on the one hand, and to help them to protect their hair, on the other. “In this business the service is as much about a relationship of trust between ourselves and our customers as it is about anything else,” Rehana says.
Rehana can be reached at:
The Bamboo Salon & Barber Shop
The Apple Mall
Robb Street
Georgetown
Phone: 677-8252
