I made £2,400 in 5 weeks from hair-plaiting

Make cool cash from hair-plaiting

• Written by  Olaoluwa Mimiola

HAIR plaiting is one of the most popular 

services available in the hairdressing 

industry. Its popularity may not be 

unconnected to the fact that it has a 

unique way of adding to the beauty of 

women. Another reason could be its 

affinity to tradition and culture of many tribes and societies, in Africa.

The wonders hair plaiting adds to beauty, among other things, show why the female folk go the 

extra mile to do it, thereby making hair plaiting a big business.

Hair braiding is an art, and the styles of braids range from box braids to micros and cornrows. 

It takes great talent and skill to braid hair. To make millions from your work as a professional 

you must be very good at the art, creative, neat and committed to coming up with new ways 

of doing the old things, and perfectly well.

Start up cost
Start up cost for hair plaiting business seems considerably low and affordable, for those who 

want to start on a large scale and those who want to start on a small scale.

The most essential equipment for a hair braider is cutting comb, which costs about N10; 

two combs, one tale comb at N20 and a big comb, N200; a small scissors that costs N50 

and a big one at N150; one medium-size good hair cream, which goes for about N350; two 

needles (in case one broke) at N5 each; two rolls of thread (in case one is insufficient), which 

is N10 each and a small mirror, N10.

Going a step further, you will need to rent a shop, big or small, depending on the scale you 

are starting from, and furnish it with chairs, a considerably big mirror, dryer and some 

weavons (make sure you buy the ones in vogue, since you are just starting and you don’t 

know the type your customers will like most). Then brand your shop, with a signpost outside 

the shop.

Learning
Learning the terrain takes between six months and one year, depending on your seriousness

and how fast you can grasp the training. You can practise what you have learned at the end 

of each day of the training with the hair of your siblings, friends, or dolls. This will help you 

master the art faster. Make sure you learn the art from a creative, good and neat practitioner, 

because you cannot give what you don’t have.

Reputation and marketing
Marketing yourself and building a sellable reputation for yourself is easier in hair braiding, once 

you are very neat and good at it, because one well-done hair will bring about 12 other customers 

to you. This is because women do appreciate good things on fellow folks and go a step further 

to broadcast it.

To create your initial portfolio, offer to plait the hair of friends and family members for free, or 

at a reduced price. You may also go a step further by offering business cards to each client, 

open a promotional blog or website, set up social networking accounts, distribute news releases 

to local media outlets or submit photos of your work to be featured in hair styling and braiding 

magazines and websites.

Cost and potential earning
Your charge is determined by your expertise, the value you place on your services, your location, 

the financial status of your clientele and your strategy. Taking all factors into consideration, you 

can charge between N1,000 and N5,000 per braiding, while normal hair plaiting could be charged 

at minimum of N250. While the number of customers you attend to per day depends on your 

speed, expertise and volume of hair your customer wanted. A good and neat hair braider can earn 

an average of N12,000 in a day and N3.7 million in a year.

One interesting thing about hair plaiting or braiding is that you only spend about 10 per cent 

of your income on the equipment you use, while the remaining 90 per cent is intact as your profit. 

You may even have the whole money you charge as profit if you are selling weavons, because 

you would have gained what will take care of the things you use for your customers from the 

sales of weavon.

But ensure that whatever you sell alongside hair-plaiting is not outside the industry. Selling 

other things outside the industry is likely to cause distraction, while distraction will have 

adverse effect on your neatness and expertise. Concentration matters in hair-plaiting.

I made £2,400 in 5 weeks from hair-plaiting - Funmilayo Daniel-Ohunene

CHIEF Executive Officer of Success Braiders 

Beauty Salon, Olorunsogo, Lagos/Ibadan 

Expressway, Ibadan, Miss Funmilayo Daniel-

Ohunene, is best described as a born-braider.

At seven-year-old, Funmilayo started having 

dreams in which she saw herself plaiting hair 

for white. This she discussed with her mother, 

who tried to discourage her so as to ensure 

she concentrated on her studies. While in the class, she would just be imagining making hair for
people. She did not learn how to braid hair, but at age nine, she started plaiting hair for people.

The National Diploma holder in Business Administration from The Polytechnic, Ibadan, said: “When I 

was nine-year-old, one of my sisters came home for the Easter and wanted to plait her hair, but the 

hairdresser disappointed her. So I made a move to plait her hair for her, which my dad facilitated. It 

was so fine that people started asking her who made it for her. That was how I started. I was making 

hair for the people in the village free until my father took me to the boarding house at 12 years to 

continue my studies.

This was exciting, as I was able to further practise the art, plaiting hair for my colleagues in the 

class.

“While awaiting admission to a tertiary school, I was making hair for people in our village at Okene 

for N20. When I got admission to The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Adeseun Ogundoyin Campus, Eruwa, 

in 2001, I did tiny hair weaving for one of my friends, which attracted others to me. Then I started 

charging N250, later increased it to N500, now I charge minimum of N3,000. During my National 

Diploma days at Eruwa, people did invite me to Abuja, Lagos, and other states to plait hair for them.

“I specialise in Ghana weaving, popularly called suku olori. Whenever I tell my customers that I 

was tired, they would insist I give them my convenient time to make their hair. My expertise and 

unique style of packing suku endeared so many customers to me, including the high-profile ones, 

both home and abroad.

“On my clientele list are princesses of Ile Ife and Ikare; Baba Adedibu’s wife, Bose; Princess Tina 

Ogundoyin and Mrs Yetunde Olokuta, among a hosts of others. People came from abroad to plait 

hair from me. I dream about styles in my sleep, which people really appreciate if I make it for them.

“I travelled to the United Kingdom in 2010 to make hair for some of my customers, while they also 

introduced me to their friends. With a cutting comb (ilarun) N5; a tale comb N10; a cup of hair 

cream N400; two needles N5 and a thread N150, I realised £2,400 in five weeks. I’m never tired 

plaiting hair for people; it is my hobby,” Funmilayo disclosed

Source: Tribune