At the forefront of the Self-Awareness stirring the Continent of Africa are beauty experts, today Lari\’s CAFE would be profiling a Natural Hair Consultant, her name; Timi!
Timi was born in Lagos on the 24th of January 1996, she has lived in Lagos all her life. She is actually a native of Lagos, Epe Local Government Area. She\’s a Yoruba girl.
EDUCATION
Timi attended Eduland Children\’s school in Egbeda from 2000 to 2001, and then from 2001 to 2005 she continued her basic school education at Future kids in Ikeja. For her Secondary school she attended Pythagoras college from 2005 to 2008, then Redeemers\’ International Secondary School from 2008 to 2011.
She got her A level degree from Cambridge College Ikeja, got her LL.B. degree in Law from Afe Babalola University and then got called to the Nigerian Bar in November 2018.
CAREER
As a Child Timi wanted to become a Surgeon but then she could never handle injections. She always had to be held down to get an injection so she gave up on that dream pretty quickly. Choosing to become a lawyer was a bit inevitable because her dad is a Lawyer and she got convinced that her aggresively analytical, opinionated, fact-driven and overly logical personality was best suited for a Lawyer.
NATURAL AFRICAN HAIR
Natural African Hair AKA Afro Kinky is now a Huge Trend across the world. It\’s a movement promoting African Self-love. The prevailing mentality being promoted is this; \”Everything that alters the look of your natural hair is Bad\”. This is a bit extremist because it has led to shaming of relaxed hair, straight weaves and hair attachments. As an African Hair Consultant Timi goes against the grain to say that; \”African Hair has the potential to be so many things, it could remain kinky, it could be relaxed, it could be anything. What\’s important is not the style but the health\”.
She has her own belief; \”Everything that hurts the health of your natural hair is bad\”. It is based on this that Tress Care Hair Consultancy was conceived.
TRESS CARE
Timi always loved Hair, she loved the process of caring and nurturing it. It excited her to explore the potential of African hair without extensions.
\”Well, it happened to be hair care I was fascinated by. The fact that the gospel of healthy hair was right under our noses and we have not noticed it from generation to generation is fascinating. The liberation a simple piece of information could give, watching people struggle to adjust to something that seems so little.\” – Timi
Tress Care was born in August 2017 after her father encouraged her to monetize her love for hair. He pushed her to give her skills monetary value. It was immediately registered as a business name with the Nigerian Corporate Affairs Commission. Tress Care is a Sole proprietorship with two employees on a payroll and a few more part-time volunteers. Timi hopes to build Tress Care into an entity capable of running without her daily \”hands-on\” involvement. She intends to do her Masters in Intellectual Property Law; her other passion which she\’\’ll be more involved in.
She developed a skill in understanding the nature of African hair by delving into Biology. It was a fascinating escape from the legal world into the world of Science. Months and years of part-time study through reading, watching videos, comparing works, personal experiments and General research eventually gave birth to her Hair Consultancy business.
She is currently working on obtaining a professional certification in African Hair Care.
Tress Care offers three packages to clients;
1.) Online Classes
2.) Monthly Personalized Consultation
3.) Microscopic Strand Analysis.
The first and second package are offered online but the third, Microscopic Strand Analysis, requires The presence of The client.
BALANCING LAW AND BUSINESS
Timi works as a legal practitioner on weekdays (Mondays to Fridays 9-5) and works at Tress Care in the evenings and on the weekends. Sometimes she gets really busy with Legal work that she is forced to take long breaks from Tress Care. However, thanks to her team at Tress Care, the business is set up to thrive during her short absences.
CHALLENGES
Public perception: Most people don\’t understand the fuss around hair care; they\’re adamant that beautiful hair is purely genes and so they don\’t value Hair Consultancy services. In response to this flawed perception Timi has learnt to be subtle and not shove information down people\’s throat. She understands that expecting someone to believe and have a complete shift in what they grew up believing, is a lot to ask of anybody, so she is focused on working and proving her worth with results.
She started off by giving free consultations, then moved on to charging peanuts, and now she charges more. The more value people receive from her the more they are willing to pay so with every passing day she gains loyal customers who market her skills through testimonies and referrals.
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more details and enquiries you can reach Timi on;
Twitter: @tresscarehhc
Facebook:Tresscare Healthy Hair Consultancy
Instagram: @tresscare