Nosihle Dlamini and Phumelele Khumalo, the founders of Get2Natural, created their own hair treatment product after trying many that didn’t work for them.

“Black African women have a desire to grow long, healthy hair. However, many women struggle to do so,” says Dlamini.

She adds that many women then turn to weaves and wigs, which damage the scalp and cause a receding hairline.

“Due to scalp damage, they wear more weaves and wigs to cover it up. This makes it worse and an endless cycle of damage is created.”

Get2Natural produces oils specifically for an individual’s low, normal or high porosity hair type (a measure of how well a person’s hair absorbs moisture).

“We understand that ‘one size does not fit all’ when it comes to hair. Our hair butter consists of only aromatherapy oils and natural butters, such as shea butter which is considered gold amongst naturals,” says Dlamini.

All of the raw materials they use come from local suppliers. Once received, they are carefully mixed and aseptic techniques are used to ensure the products remain contamination free.

Due to increasing demand, the pair opened their own salon. However, due to the Coronavirus lockdown, they were forced to close.

“We were disappointed, but not defeated. We went back to the drawing board and strategised how to make products available through contactless streams and increase our online presence,” says Khumalo.

Determined to recover from the loss of closing the salon, they improved and rebranded their products. They also introduced new products into their range.

“Our formulations are now backed by science and the packaging and labels are on par with big brands in the market,” says Khumalo.

They plan to reopen their salon when they can.

To view a tutorial on how to treat African hair, visit the YouTube channel: Get2Natural.

-This article was originally published in the GCIS Vuk'uzenzele.