Cape Town hairdressers have expressed their frustrations at the ongoing power cuts caused by load shedding and have to find innovative news ways to continue business.
The festive season is a period in which many events and celebrations take place. This sees an opportunity for hairdressers to leverage on the influx of clients who want their hair prim and proper for the festivities.
This festive season however has seen a decline in business and inconvenience for both hairdressers and customers, said Nkuleko Komna, the regional manager in the Western Cape of Legends Barber.
“We lost close to 60% of revenue that we should have made. We had to turn clients away due to load shedding.
“We had to push a contingency plan to install a generator. Due to the amount of power that the equipment for the store uses, we cannot use every cutting station.
“The only style we can do during load shedding is bleaching hair, ‘chiskops’ that require a blade. Our neighbouring barber store in a mall did three times better financially than the Long Street barber store. We have spent more on new contingency equipment in December than we have on any other month.”
Rene Coetzee, a Cape Town hairdresser whose services encompass her travelling to the client and doing their hair in the comfort of their homes, said load shedding has significantly affected her business in a negative way
“I’ve had to come up with ways to still give the bride that runway wedding hairstyle and keep her happy and stress-free.
“Sometimes the load shedding stage changes abruptly, which inconveniences the plans even more. In such instances there is nothing much we can do. I have now also come up with heatless hair options for clients, to assist in the load shedding dilemma.”
Francis “Rasta” Kajuma, a barber and dreadlock stylist from Samora Machel, said load shedding is heavily affecting barbers and salons in the township as it gives thieves leeway to break into their salons due to the darkness of load shedding.
“Even if we buy generators, it does not end there as we need to buy petrol to fuel the generator. It is very tough for us barbers in the township. We are struggling and some of us are considering closing our businesses.”
Energy expert Chris Yelland has said that though nobody can tell the future, the current energy position of South Africa portrays a grim picture.
Yelland predicts that mid-January will see increased demand for electricity as many operations will resume work, and this could potentially increase the load shedding levels in the country.
Eskom’s media desk has said that load shedding is implemented as a last resort and if the need arises Stage 8 load shedding can be implemented in the near future.
“Each stage of load shedding represents a shortage of 1000MW of generation capacity.
“Eskom can implement Stage 8, representing a shortage of 8 000MW of generation capacity, should the need arise. The timing and magnitude of any load shedding depends on available capacity meeting demand at that point.”