Lifestyle
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More men are now wading into businesses formerly dominated by women to earn their livelihood
| By Chinwe Okafor | Feb. 3, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT
OLAYIDE Adesina, 19, is more at home working as a hair stylist. He goes the extra mile to make them look more beautiful. “I know that women take pride in their hair and I make it beautiful for them and they come to patronise me at all times. Hair fixing and styling is one job I love to do because I love fashion and it also gives me time to take care of myself more than white collar jobs where your employers want you to be at their beck and call at all times,” Adesina said.
Like Adesina, Ejike Anah, a professional hair stylist, loves to work in a beauty parlour. “I am a graduate of business administration but the passion I have for fashion and beauty made me to learn the art. There is also a lot of money in the job. If I go to anywhere in the world, I’ll not lack money because hair making job is a profession that sells anywhere in the world. Sometimes, I make as much as N20, 000 in a day but not always, though the minimum can be between N4, 000 and N6, 000 but I make much money during festive season.”
Anah sees life as a male hairstylist as both fun and stressful because he has to convince some of his clients that he can make their hair better. According to him, some female stylists cannot compete with him because he puts in a lot of efforts to get good results. “Even ladies now frequently abandon female stylists and flood to my salon for me to make their hair,” he said.
Adesina and Anah represent the growing number of men who are moving into businesses traditionally done by women. More men now own hair salon, restaurant and spa. They are into the business because they see it’s an avenue to make money. Besides, many women also prefer to go to to salon run by men because they believe that men do the job better than the women. In popular cities and towns across Nigeria, one is likely to be amazed that a neatly opened and equipped salon or restaurant is managed and manned by a male instead of a female.
Onyinye Ukah, a student of Lagos State University, is one of those women who patronise beauty salon run by men. She prefers going to male stylists to fix her hair because they are faster, more serious and eager to give out new styles to their customers so as to keep them coming. “Although their prices are a bit higher but most of them are perfect and give the best and smooth finishing to the hair,” Ukah said. Similarly, Nnenna Okechukwu, a graduate of Imo State University, said that male hair stylists are better and more serious to bring their best out in whatever they do.
Some men are similarly into local culinary, a vocation which was previously dominated by women. Emeka Onu, a food seller in Lagos State, is one of those who believes that the kitchen is not meant for women alone. He said he learnt the art of cooking because he loves the do-it-yourself thing. “During my high school days, I chose to do Foods and Nutrition instead of the many other subjects which were optional. My friends made mockery of me that I was going to end up in the kitchen but I didn’t see myself as a failure because I knew that cooking was a profession which I would embark on.
“Even when I left high school and didn’t secure admission immediately, I moved to Ondo state and stayed with one of my brothers who was a bachelor then, there I did all the cooking and mastered it all before I left for higher institution to study Business Administration,” Onu said. He added that he loves what he does and that he takes care of his family from his business. He is not alone in this profession because many of the male folks are venturing into the profession.
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