Beauty , body massage. Her handiwork sends you to cloud nine

Not so many black African learners inquire about somatology, but expectations are that in few years’ time it is going to be the hit career path. PHASIKA NDABA, hand-in-hand with her daughter, BAVELILE NATASHA, has honed her skill in the discipline and has crafted a business that steadily brings money into her bank account and leaves her clients dizzy with youthful ecstasy. While somatology could be regarded as art, it is not as popular as other beauty treatments known to man. Thembi Masser allowed herself to be eased into the fantastic world of waxing, facials and manicures..

Somatology is defined as the combination of all clinical treatments that result in a beautiful you, the art of massaging bodies thrown in, as well as the skill to improve and maintain the wellness of the body.  Phasika, owner of Isidingo Beauty Salon, is a somatologist. Her business is in Lake Field, Benoni.

To be a somatologist you do not need maths and science in your matric.

Beauty care, skin care, reflexology and massages can be done in a beauty salon, a beauty clinic or a beauty spa. Treatment in a salon, clinic or spa includes skin care, skin facial for men and women, children, young and old, waxing, pedicure and manicure, facials and so on. Reflexology is ‘knowing about your body’, she explains. They also do a full body scrub with a wrap-the body is wrapped with a detoxing mask. “To be healed completely, a client has to free to be touched.”  Isidingo offers a Swedish massage as well, aromatherapy and hot stone massages.

Waxing, for instance, is not only for women, but for men and kids as well. “It is for anyone who can handle pain,” she says. “We have a lotion that numbs sensitive areas.”  Phasika says male participants in the Warriors shows in Midrand, north of Johannesburg, are regular clients. “They come in to be waxed all over their lithe, muscular, bodies. They come in for full arm, full leg, full back and full chest waxing. Female models are another breed that need smooth bodies in order to do justice to their profession. They have to be careful not to rip their skin open because their skin tone has to be uniform all over.  “It is mainly men who have own businesses who come in for beauty treatment. Sales men who sell new and expensive cars, people who regularly buy merchandise in Dubai, boutique owners, doctors, male models.”

Men come in for facials as well. Most probably because facials include a body, head and neck massage. The nicest treat that excites clients is that when they are doing facials they have hands all over them. Phasika says all three ladies take part in pampering the client. So it is all six hands at the same time on the body of a client for a whole TWO hours.  

       

She has been in the business for more than 12 years and for four of those years she has owned her own salon.

When she started she worked for her mentor, Audrey Hattingh. Hattingh took her away from her domestic work and gave her a job as a receptionist and cleaner. Then she was promoted to the beauty section where she made people feel younger and well-rounded. “I was a domestic worker from when I was in grade 8,” she remembers. “I helped my mother in her chores and later found my own domestic employment.” She did domestic work right through matric and still when she was at Isidingo Technical in Daveyton.

“I am from a strong family; my grandmother was very strong. It is in the system, this workaholic ethic. My mother comes from a family of 12 children, but as for me, I do not know my own father. The only thing I know about him is that he was an Indian guy. So I want the best for me and my children: Bavelile and Sello.  Two is enough for me.”

Phasika works closely with her daughter, hand in hand, side by side. Bavelile, 22, attended the Hydro International College in Edenvale, doing beauty courses.  She boasts, “I do the best manicures and body massages. My skinny body builds allures in the minds of many clients,” she laughs. “My skinny hands give strong, fulfilling massages.”

Isidingo Beauty Salon is situated in an Indian area, and Phasika’s clients are therefore mainly from Indian families. She is happy with the surroundings, with her clientele, with the money and with herself. “I will not go to the northern suburbs of Johannesburg, where most people says I should (they say the money is good there, hey). I make enough money here.” To be successful in business, she cautions, you have to know your market. A somatologist gives people confidence in how they look and feel. They want to be beautiful, have verve and a spring in their step and of course, they want to look and feel young.” So her market is in at Lake Field where she is at home with the locals. “Going elsewhere means starting from scratch to know the people and their culture and to be familiar with their local way of doing things.”       

When a client arrives for a consultation, Phasika gently massages their palms or feet to diagnose problems in their bodies and to know what treatment to give them. A full, whole treatment takes two hours. Men, as tradition dictates, are never given a frontal massage except for only their limbs (at this she laughs uncontrollably).

Her stint at the technical college has helped a lot so far. While she did not go to any college to study somatology (it is not offered at any college as a course), she did business courses at Isidingo Tech College. Her business English and business skill courses ensured she runs her business on a sound footing. The business is in good hands, so to say. “I do my own books. And because of the experience I have gathered in the business, I have no partners. It is easy to be tripped and loose your business if you are not careful.”

She has no celebrity clients, except for one woman who is Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s companion. Another celebrity is the author of High Heeled Healer, whose name she forgets. In the four or five years she has been in her own business, only about five black Africans have come in for treatment. And they were all women. “Black men want to pay cheaply for a good course,” she complains.  Her very first client, a white man, was nearly an ordeal.  “I was shaking, I was trembling. It was during apartheid. But I pulled it through. Massaging is an art and an exercise in itself. Your arms get so much exercise as do your legs and upper body.”

Do we have funny requests in here?  “No ways,” Phasika laughs. “We make sure that there are always more of us in the offices when one of us is busy with a client. Fortunately for me, my male clients, even ladies, have never asked for a happy ending (again a big, knowing laughter fills the room). However, my friend tells me at her salon some women have turned up dirty and unhygienic.”   

This September Phasika and her team are expected to give beauty treatments to about 1000 people who will attend the Saybor’s family wedding at the Emperors Palace in Kempton Park.

QUICK FACTS

Phasika Princess Ndaba

Age 41

Born in Sweetwaters, Pietermaritzburg.

 Maria Memorial Primary

HB Nyathi High in Daveyton

Subjects: English, Zulu, Afrikaans, biology, history, geography

Tertiary: Isidingo Technical in Daveyton

Business courses

Divorced (happily, her daughter adds)

Top right: Phasika with Bavelile, centre, and colleague Wilhemina
Centre: Client having a make-over and
bottom, manicures, make up, pedicures; all the things that make you beautiful