For most women, getting their nails done is part and parcel of their beauty routine.
They invest so much emotions and time to go through the routine. But for some women, it is totally a different case altogether. Doing their nails comes only during special occasions, such as weddings and parties.
Whatever the case is, Marea Sekgabo enjoys making the womankind look more beautiful. The 22-year-old graduate from Gaborone Technical College from Moiyabana is the right person to see when one wants to get those nails manicured. Not only does she do nails but she also does other beauty enhancing activities. She states that she attaches eyelashes, does pedicures and professional make up.
Sekgabo says that it took her a year and four months to complete her beauty course. For her, choosing to pursue a course in beauty was a natural decision since she says that she grew up loving beauty.
Sekgabo says that she has managed to perfect her craft through the practical’s she has done at school, a one-month internship and just getting side jobs while she was still in school.
However, the young lady says that she is not practising all of her craft because, mostly, her clients get manicures.
She has now been hired by Linconquee Hair Salon since November after she completed her Certificate course and works from eight in the morning and knocks off depending on whether she has clients or not.
Sekgabo says that her job is quite unpredictable in terms of getting customers.
“Sometimes they come in large numbers and sometimes they don’t. I usually expect more to come around monthend and less people to come during midmonth,” she says with a smile.
She mentions that her customer base is mainly the younger generation who are more into fashion and keeping up with latest appearances. For every manicure, she charges P150 and says that customers can come to the salon at the Main Mall or she can actually make an arrangement to travel and see them.
Mid way through the interview, Sekgabo decides to show me she is not all talk and offers to get my nails done to enable me to see her work and be the judge. So the process of getting a manicure started by her getting my nails filed and her opening up the cuticles by pushing up the skin on the nails back a bit. This she tells me is the first step and lays a basic foundation.
She then proceeds to size up the nail tips and attaches the tips using nail glue on both hands. After that she proceeds to file both my nail and the tip to bend them together. This, she explains, she does to blend them together. She then applies a coat over that to seal the blending and applies clear nail polish then put my nails in the nail dryer to get the nail polish dried up.
Sekgabo explains that is just the process she goes through to get her clients manicured.
With a witty smile, she explains that it might seem simple but it actually requires a lot of skill to perfect the craft. On taking a final look, it’s obvious to see that the young woman does take her craft seriously. She states that she takes practice with every customer whose hands she works when doing the nails.
She goes on to say that she wishes to move on into teaching young Batswana how to do manicures as well, citing that at college she was taught mostly by lectures who are not Batswana. She also says that she wants to continue with beauty and get a higher qualification despite encouragement from home to pursue a different career path that will allow her to work in a ‘decent’ office.
