Nomalanga Shozi: Cheers to dirty 30

“Thou shalt have big hair” is the mood when Nomalanga “The Flame” Shozi steps on the set of her shoot. She immediately demands a beehive from hairdresser Saadique Ryklief. She’s the embodiment of the Northern Panhandle (located in the US state of West Virginia) saying “The bigger the hair, the closer to God.”

By her side is a bag filled with a variety of wigs and soon Ryklief starts working his magic. The challenge is clear: big hair everywhere — cue RuPaul’s Drag Race. Later when we sit down for a chat, Shozi puts it all in context.

Leading up to her 30th birthday in July, one of the ways she is reclaiming her power is by returning to her roots. And larger-than-life hair is what made Shozi a household name. When she entered showbiz in 2016, she stood out thanks to her poodle-puff Afro that rivalled Queen Charlotte’s towering ’do in Bridgerton. Shozi confesses that her hair evolution meant abandoning the Diana Ross-esque updo.

“I hated the fact that people thought that the hair made me — that’s why I disassociated myself from it. Everywhere I went, everyone wanted that big hair, but I wanted my face and voice to be more recognisable than my hair,” she says. “Now I want to celebrate it — for the longest time I felt chained by it and now it’s liberating.”

As a “born free”, Shozi’s hair choices at school were limited to a “neat” appearance: no fades, locs, braids, or natural Afros. She hated it.

“I was forced to cut my hair as a child. My parents shaved me bald until I was 18 and I rebelled. Hair has always been an identity thing for me. As Black people, hair is the way we express ourselves,” she says.

The Port Shepstone native made it big after winning a public casting call that resulted in her joining e.tv soapie Rhythm City. Shozi, based in KZN at the time, travelled between her home province and Gauteng, where the daily drama was filmed, while continuing her on-air duties at the Durban-based Gagasi FM.

“That Rhythm City contract was beautiful — stunning,” Shozi marvels. “It was an incredible rate per day and I was in Joburg five days a week. They flew me in and out, they accommodated me, they gave me a per diem and a personal driver. What more could I ask for? I thought that was the standard, until the next job.”

That next job was a presenting gig on lifestyle and entertainment show All Access Mzansi. “Shout-out to them because they gave me a baptism of fire. They gave me the wake-up call I needed in Joburg,” she says. “They were like, ‘Ma’am, please, this is not your mother’s house. You don’t have a place to stay, and then? You said you wanted a job? Find a place to stay.’”

While Shozi made a decent salary at Gagasi, most of it went towards travelling between Joburg and Durban. At the height of her misery, Shozi remembers having to sleep in the public toilets at the airport because she couldn’t afford accommodation.

“I felt so undeserving of my brand. This one time, I took off my wig, my Nomalanga ‘The Flame’ wig that made me, and used it as a pillow,” she recounts. “I took out all my clothes from my suitcase and arranged them on the floor in one of the toilet cubicles to create a bed. Those toilets stank. I cried my eyes out. That was embarrassing.”

She asked God for a sign that she was in the right industry. The sign came in the form of a call from Paramount Africa — she would later become the face of BET Africa. It was a dream job, taking her from the BET Awards to the Soul Train Music Awards and the MTV Europe Music Awards.

It could not have come at a better time, since she had just been fired from Gagasi after telling them she was too big for the station. She had disobeyed station management by attending a social event in Cape Town when she was scheduled to be on air. While she won best-dressed at the event, she received the boot at Gagasi.

A year later, however, she re-joined the station in a bigger role, hosting the afternoon drive show with DJ Warras. She stayed at Gagasi for three years.

After a four-year acting break, Shozi returned to the small screen last year with a bang, appearing in 1Magic dramedy Roomies and Showmax’s risqué drama Adulting. She is also the host of SABC 1 entertainment show The Sauce. When I ask her about her scorching love scenes with heartthrob and former SMag cover star Thembinkosi Mthembu, she praises his professionalism.

“He’s the most generous actor, but also respectful,” she says. “We have these things called red and green zones when doing an intimate scene. If my breasts are a red zone, the other actor in the scene can’t touch them. If they are a yellow zone, it’s a ‘maybe’, depending on how we feel, and if they are a red zone you can’t touch. He is green everywhere. He was just so accommodating, patient, giving, and respectful."

Away from the limelight, she’s enjoying the fond memories she is creating with her two-year-old daughter, whom she shares with Bandile Mbere, one half of music duo Major League DJz.

“I used to be nervous about my birthdays. Turning 30 in July is the first time that I’m excited. I feel like I’m finally getting to know myself, for myself and not for others,” Shozi says. “Then I have this incredible mirror that reflects everything I do, to keep me in check. That is my daughter. She’s a sponge, absorbing everything and giving it back to me. She is a ball of energy. She’s the softest and kindest child. She won an award at church for her kindness the other day, which came with a cute Bible verse about kindness. She kisses and hugs everyone at church before we leave.”