Ebony Hair Design

44 Years of Excitement in Business!

Interview with Avril Kannemeyer, Former Owner of Ebony Hair Design

My early career as a hairdresser was made difficult by the apartheid system, but I was able to overcome all the restrictions of my colour and grow into a highly-qualified stylist with a Masters, and later into a major hair salon owner. One can overcome great challenges if you believe in yourself!

I started in hairdressing in 1969 at age 16 with a four-year apprenticeship at Salon Emile in Plein Street, Cape Town under Susan Page-Bakerud, doing a night college hairdressing course in Bellville since there were no lectures during the day for apprentices of colour. I successfully qualified with my Trade test through Susan Bakerud. Later I moved from Salon Emile to Woolworths in Adderley St as their first in-house hairdresser of colour, and from there I worked and managed various salons in the centre of Cape Town, all with their own challenges and learning experiences!

An exciting break came for me in 1974 when I landed a job at Capab as an assistant wigmaker and styled the hair of the artists in English and Afrikaans drama groups, SABC TV, opera and ballet. I connected very well with the Afrikaans drama actors Marias Wyers who played Othello, and opera singers like Mimi Coertse. Isn’t it one of those funny things in life, that this small “coloured” woman styled the hair of the famous opera singer, Mimi Coertse, in Tuynhuis at the height of apartheid in the late 70’s!

Training and education build a good business.
1978 was an exciting year for me for business! I opened a small salon in Athlone, and as a new salon-owner, I looked at all the training that I had and how I could enhance that and improve on the techniques to help others to get better training and get into a college to increase their skills. I fought hard to get my first apprentice, an African woman from Langa, into the Wynberg College. I carefully used my own experiences to build on the training techniques I had learned, educating all my employees in straightening and chemical services, in preparation to qualify as hairdressers.

In 1981 I did my Masters in Hairdressing through the Cosmotology Association, and opened a bigger salon. In November 1999, we suffered a huge disaster with a fire completely gutting my salon with big losses, with a further blow of my insurers only honouring part of my claim, having gone bankrupt themselves! But Ebony had built up an amazing brand with such incredible goodwill in the community and, in record time by December 1999, I reopened a much bigger salon in another building. The success of running such a big salon was the decentralised management with team leaders running sections of the salon.

2010 was a year for travel and teaching. I took my training expertise internationally to countries like Dubai, Turkey, Tblisi Georgia, Lebanon, and Pakistan, with Maria Laghland the owner of Ladine, to teach about relaxers and straighteners.

I downsized in 2013 and opened a much smaller outlet in Rondebosch. The very sad part of that decision was to part with many of my staff who had very long service and were very loyal. I have always prided myself in the low turnover of staff at Ebony.

In 2022, I decided to make a huge change in my life and handed over the salon to new owners to take the business to a new level with new ideas and new capital!

Q: What qualities or experience do you feel are most important to be a successful business owner in the hair and beauty industry?

My success is in being very intuitive to the needs of my clients: willing to learn from my clients, all walks of life like doctors, nurses, professionals, with no hour too early or too late to see to clients’ needs. It’s important to be a qualified hairdresser with a good understanding of the industry and a total commitment to the clients and the staff. To create excitement among my staff on their success and achievements helps build teamwork and partnership.

Q: What is the biggest business mistake you have either made yourself or seen others make in the industry?

My biggest mistake in business was not to take the chance and franchise the Ebony hair brand with outlets throughout the country.

Q: What do you think the biggest challenge is that our SA industry is facing today? (and do you have ideas on addressing it?)

After Covid and lockdown, the big challenge for the hairdressing industry is to make clients feel much more special. Salons need to service their clients better than anyone else and provide the best possible expertise and quality to them. Your clients are your foundation!

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