Suki Suki Naturals is an African Natural and Indie hair care line that is passionate about the healing and restorative powers of natural and essential oils.
Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, the company’s philosophy is to teach women to take better care of their hair and provide them with the right tools and information to do so, while using natural ingredient to make better, cleaner and healthier products.
We caught up with owner Linda Gieskes to talk all things business, natural ingredients, trends and, of course, hair…
How did Suki Suki Naturals come about?When I decided to grow an afro back in 2010, I could not find anything on the market that would help me grow and cultivate my hair. Whenever a friend or relative travelled overseas, I would ask them to bring me back some products. This was obviously not a sustainable way to care for my hair because the products were expensive. I therefore started to experiment with ingredients in my kitchen and explore ways of using them to promote hair growth, hair health and length retention. As my hair grew, family and friends noticed the difference and I started sharing my concoctions with them.
Describe your brand in three words? Honest. Authentic. Simple.
Your favourite of your products and why? The Miraculous Oil because of how potent it is… it’s a great product to treat scalp issues, to promote hair growth and to moisturise the length and ends of your hair. I love how complete it is.
Were you surprised at the lack of products for ethnic hair types? I was surprised and disappointed by the lack of quality products on the market. When you start understanding what ingredients your hair needs, you realise that the commercial brands contain very little of those key ingredients, compared to what they represent on their labels.Having products that are honest in what they claim to do while benefiting the beauty of ethnic hair types is my vision for Suki Suki Naturals.
How are the ingredients you use significant? Just how the food we eat on a daily basis affects our overall health, the ingredients we apply topically to our hair and skin, also affect our health. Our ingredients are natural, and a large variety of them are organic. Used over time they are beneficial to your hair and body and are worth investing in.
What is different about your products to other brands? I really love to put an emphasis on the fact that the brand was born out of a personal need and grew organically from that need. Suki Suki Naturals was not the product of a trend, but started off as a personal project and adapted to satisfy demand for it along the way.
What is the story behind the company name? Suki means ‘hair’ in Lingala, one of the native languages of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the country of my birth. ‘Suki Suki’ literally translates to ‘hair hair’. I’ve always loved the words and how they sound, so deciding to call my brand ‘Suki Suki Naturals’ made sense. I also loved the fact that ‘suki’ has various positive meanings in different languages, for instance in Hindi it means ‘happy’ and in Japanese it means ‘to be fond of’.
Current trends you love? As a hair trend, I am loving the variation of the middle parting trend that has a bit of texture to it and is a bit messy. It is not as neat and polished as ladies who have fine or very straight hair. YagazieEmezie does it quite a bit and I fancy it.
As a beauty trend: I am really loving highlighting.
As a fashion trend: I’m loving the low-slung trousers.
Current trends you hate? Any trend that appropriates a culture, as opposed to appreciating it.
A good hair tip you can offer our readers? My hair type is 4a and my top natural hair tip would be to finger detangle your hair when it is completely drenched, in the shower. I love this method because it’s quick. I have so little shedding and I don’t even need to use a wide tooth comb. This allows me to moisturise and retain length. It is definitely here to stay.
Why is buying African products best? I believe that the best way to grow any economy is to manufacture local goods. Africa has, for a long time, depended on countries outside of the continent in order to import goods. This perpetuates our support of external economies, as opposed to growing and supporting our own. I believe that instead of being so dependent on external forces, we should invest in our own resources and people, and learn to understand our own markets in order to build our economies.
What are you currently working on? I’m formulating new and exciting products in order to complete and complement my line.
For more info on Suki Suki Naturals visit their website at sukisukinaturals.co.za
