Hair plaiting ‘a goldmine’ in Jigawa

Married women specialized in braiding hair style have made huge profits during Sallah period in Dutse, the capital of Jigawa state, Chronicle can report.

The business has thrived in the state metropolis during the just concluded Sallah celebration despite being managed by the married women from inside their matrimonial homes.

A week to Sallah day, patronaizers of this small business could be seen trooping into matrimonial homes of the weavers to dress their hairs. The skill of a hair dresser, to give a perfect hair style, determines the number of patronisers she may get.

Chronicle gathered that most mothers booked in advance for their daughters in order to avoid queue and the earlier a mother booked, the better as her daughters would not wait for long before their turn.

Our reporter, who visited few of such houses where women carry out the business, observed traffic jam of customers in some houses despite booking in advance. An average hair weaving last for about 40 minutes to an hour, depending on the style and the nature of the hair of the customers.

Weaving on a customer with high concentration of hair takes longer period to complete as against those with less hair concentration. The nature of the customer’s hair is also taken into account for the duration as some are slippery while some are not.

The speed of the hair dressers also matters as those with high speed take little time to give result as against those that are slow. Speed and perfect job, are the factors that determine the level of patronage a hair dresser enjoys.

Further findings revealed that time is critical in this type of business as both the service provider and the customers, work on schedule as there are line-up of activities especially when the Sallah festival draws closer.

Mrs Balaraba Hudu, a married woman that specialized in hand weaving, said because of her speed and ability to give a perfect job, she experienced high traffic of customers in seasons like this.

Mrs Hudu, a resident of Takur Adua quarters in Dutse, said she was lucky to have grown up female children that take care of her Sallah chores and that give her ample time to concentrate on her customers.

She added that because of the time she had to spent on her customers in order to ensure they have a perfect job, give her an edge over her opponents in the business and hence, the queue of customers.

“I can attend to about 10 to 15 girls in days like this. You have to be extra good in managing time. The cost per head depends on the style. Usually the charges are between N300 to N700 per head. It is really a period for our harvest.”

Hajia Saleema Aliyu, a mother of two female children, said she booked for the weaving of her children hair a week before Sallah but despite that the children spent about three hours in queue before their turn.

She added that although there were other places where there was no long queue, however, one might not get satisfactory result, saying, “the skill is not just there, don’t even talk of the time to be wasted. The weaving done today will looks like as if it is done three or four days ago.

“Funny enough, even the children know such places, when you asked them to go there, they will cry all through. There is less queue and they are less expensive but yet we don’t patronize them because the difference is very clear.”