My story
As a Kenyan, I learned the art of African hairstyles in my home country, trained myself in the hair styles of different regions and countries and can now conjure up everything from braid hairstyles to Rasta hair to hair extensions
Trained in traditional hair art, further trained for European needs
There is a big difference whether braid hairstyles are worked with frizzy, thick African hair or straight, slightly thinner European hair. I can both. In my home country I completed full training as a hair stylist, including many further training courses. Since I have always worked on real people, I am trained in dealing with African hair. I work with both short hair and long hair styles: Braid hairstyles or Rasta hair can be worked with both.
This is a little more difficult with European hair. The finer, straight hair does not have the volume that African hair brings. That's why I usually incorporate hair extensions here. They don't necessarily have to lengthen the hair, but rather thicken it.
Traditional handicrafts on a living model
When most people think of African arts and crafts, they first think of colorful clothing, artistically colored fabrics and wooden kitchen utensils. In my Afro Shop I uphold a completely different craft: Coiffure Afro means the art of artfully styling and styling Afro hair. In western industrialized countries, these Afro hairstyles are also known as braids or rastas. However, I prefer the technical term hair weave: the hair is woven and fixed in fine patterns. I work with both my own hair and natural hair as strands and synthetic hair strands that I weave into the natural hair.
Samwela
I completed my training for Coiffure Afro in my home country of Kenya.
I worked there, trained in different Afro hairstyles in different cities and came to Switzerland in 2012.
Afro hair presents hairdressers and stylists with special challenges: it has a firm structure, is rougher and curlier than European hair and gets tangled extremely easily.
Try to overcome this with hair weave techniques. The art is not just about creating the most aesthetic styling possible. The artistic claim must also be implemented carefully, gently and, above all, painlessly.
Every Afro shop in Europe therefore has the appropriate hair care products, such as cocoa butter and coconut oil.
Here in Switzerland I offer Afro hairstyles from different areas of Africa, both for Afro hair and for all other heads.
