Many heterosexual men these days do not only manscape top, middle and bottom, they also enhance their appearance by exfoliating their skin, do pedicures and manicures.
For some context, manscaping is the removing or trimming of a man’s hair, other than the hair on top of his head.
Men spend about an hour in a barbershop, depending on the style and whether there’s a queue or not, but that is changing, said Johnathan Shiindi, the spokesperson of Legends Barbershop.
“Because of the quality of services we are offering, men are more inclined to look after themselves and just like the ladies, we have men sitting in salons for about three or four hours,” he explained. Dubbed the best barbershop in Africa, Legends has been redefining and normalising male grooming in the best way possible. They offer different types of haircuts, and do line or star designs. The barbers can also wash and blow, apply hair relax treatments, apply colour to the hair, shave with blades or clippers. The shop also offers grooming products like powders, sprays, oil, durags, brushes, sponges.
Speaking to VIBEZ! at the recent Kasi Vibe Festival, Shiindi said it was very important to emphasise male grooming, and the team saw the gap in the market to do so.
“We don’t want to over dominate the market and our fellow barbershops; we are here to work with them. We don’t want to be competitors, but Legends is known for their outstanding services and rated number one for such in Africa,” he stated.
Shiindi said one thing that stands out in terms of delivering good quality service, is their barbers go for extensive training in South Africa for over six months.
During Kasi Vibe, Legends teamed up with Standard Bank Namibia and did free haircuts to willing festival-goers who downloaded and registered for Pay Pulse or bought a pair of Buy-A-Brick socks at the Standard Bank stall.
“We are super energetic about the collaboration with Standard Bank, because we have the aim of delivering 5 000 free haircuts around Namibia, and this can only be done by such sponsors and a collaboration of that magnitude,” added Shiindi.
He said they appreciate the stall that was given to them, and the opportunity to promote their business at Kasi Vibe, adding the energy from the public was immense.
In terms of expanding, the plans are still at a premature level for him to comment on, said Shiindi, but they are still going to intensify their operations in future and want to operate countrywide.
Legends’ Desmond Shipanga said it is important for corporates like Standard Bank to see potential in young entrepreneurs and boost their endeavours, something that rarely happens in corporate Namibia.
“These are young Namibians venturing into offering spaces, and for them to believe in such concepts is amazing. Corporates must find ways of assisting, guiding them. It was very difficult to knock on their doors, but we have proven ourselves that we want to work,” he stated. psiririka@nepc.com.na