Natures Gentle Touch – More Than Just Hair Products

By Ayomide Tayo

Recare Cosmetics International is a leader in African skin, hair and personal care researches. It designs, develops and markets personal style products especially for Africans. Recare International was founded in Nigeria by Nigerian Entrepreneur Chika Ikenga.

In a booming and competitive market, Recare has been able to hold its own and carve a unique niche for itself. Apart from manufacturing hair products that have gone through the most stringent tests and quality control measures; leaving millions of women nationwide more than satisfied, the company prides itself as a lifestyle and relationship company. According to Austin Umenia, the company’s Communication Manager ‘Recare is more than a product brand; it’s a personal and relationship company. We offer information and education which help our customers take to an informed decision. We are a lifestyle and not a product.’

With a homegrown haircare range that has become a hit with consumers, a Lagos-based institute that’s fast becoming a hub for the beauty and lifestyle industry, and a corporate philosophy that seeks to educate and empower beginners and young beauty professionals through the Natures Gentle Touch Institute’s various offerings, Recare has, over the years, become a leader by kilometers, for everything haircare, beauty and style.

With that mentality, Natures Gentle Touch, which is a hair care brand of Recare, not only enriches your hair but your life as well. Natures Gentle Touch has a special (patented) ‘herbal blend’ that strengthens weak hair and prevents damage – two out of the three major complaints from women using hair products.

Established in 1997, Recare cosmetics was founded to ‘Empower people and communities, releasing inner beauty through creativity and style, ensuring aesthetic excellence, promoting African beauty and raising the bar in every aspect of the beauty and style industry’.

One of the hallmarks of Recare is that they offer solution treatment and care to needing consumers.

There are a lot of women who have always had one problem or the other with their hair products due to lack of knowledge. Natures Gentle Touch offers to bridge the knowledge gap by giving advice to millions of women who have been victims of this knowledge gap’ CEO Chika Ikenga says.

In trying to reduce this knowledge gap, the company established the Natures Gentle Touch Hair Institute.  The institute is at the core of the company’s corporate social responsibility scheme.

Established in 2006, the institute offers hair styling and beauty education to individuals who are new to hairdressing and practicing stylists looking to improve their skills. The institute brings together a faculty of accomplished hair stylists and instructors from different parts of the world. The team of creative educators and hair dressing artists deliver inspiring courses that enable you integrate fashion, beauty and wellness into your life. Located in Victoria Island in Lagos, Natures Gentle Touch Institute is the largest hair institute in Africa and for five years has trained thousands of people. These people have entered the hair industry with knowledge, facts and solutions to debunk hair myths and misinformation that is prevalent among consumers.

“As part of our corporate social responsibility scheme, we offer scholarships to numerous people who are desirous in becoming hair stylists. There are a lot of people who have been empowered thanks to this programme. Besides this, the institute also runs a hair clinic, which offers analysis, solution and treatment to individuals with hair care needs. With innovative technology, Natures Gentle Touch Institute has been able to accurately diagnose hair problems and offer solutions and treatment. In the institute, the customer care lines are open 24 hours of the day to attend to customers who have hair problems’’.

The Natures Gentle Touch Institute offers a Diploma in Hair Styling and Artistry. The beginners’ course that is for individuals without prior knowledge lasts for eight months. Internship and fieldwork is part of the programme and 40% of the course is practical. There are also short courses, programmes and workshops for professionals.

The courses are so in demand that people travel from far and wide to be a part of the institute. Take for example Mrs. Alade Lekien Anne who enrolled into the institute in February. She is a victim of passion because not only did she leave Port-Harcourt where she resides to spend eight months to become a hair stylist in Lagos, she also left her husband and two kids to achieve her dreams. The graduate of Management from the University of Port-Harcourt says ‘it’s been interesting, really, really interesting. A lot of things that I thought I knew I didn’t know at all. We are taught more than just hair, we are going deeper into structure of the hair, chemistry, anatomy and how they all come together.’ Despite being dedicated to the courses, she never fails to call her family on a daily basis. After her programme, she plans to establish her own Salon in Port-Harcourt. Her story, just like that of a male banker who during his break time leaves his office to attend classes at the institute, highlights the prize people are willing to pay to become world-class hair stylists.

As part of its CSR, the institute also offers scholarship to students who need help financially. Presently there are students in the institute who are on special scholarship. An example is Mrs. Agnes Eikore who got to hear about the Institute at a Women’s Development Programme and Ms. Ajosin Blessing who after leaving secondary school was a given a scholarship into the institute.

With such a philosophy, it is no wonder that Recare has been scooping major awards. Recently they were awarded the City People Awards 2010 Relaxer of the Year- Gentle Touch and the Eloy Awards Beauty Brand of the Year.

Early this year, the first black Miss World, Agbani Darego signed on as the company’s brand ambassador. ‘She is a talented woman and role model to many which fits in with Natures Gentle Touch brand values. She is also internationally recognized and that is an important link for us to have, since we are a global brand. She truly embodies the spirit of the Natures Gentle Touch philosophy’, says Chika Ikenga, CEO of Recare Africa Limited.   The former beauty queen joins international model Oluchi who is also a cherished ambassador for Natures Gentle Touch.

Also at the Institute, brand ambassadors, Agbani Darego and Oluchi act as mentors to the students. With their wealth of experience in the fashion and modeling industry, they are able to share invaluable tips, advice and knowledge to these students. With such mentors guiding them, the students have a considerable edge over their counterparts who learn styling informally as apprentices in hair salons.

Within the past two years, The Natures Gentle Touch Institute has gradually become a style haven. Many hair stylists, hair technicians, celebrity stylists and fashion and style columnists regard the Institute as a Mecca of sorts where they can easily get access to the latest trends in hair styling and artistry. Also celebrities are now flocking in their numbers to the institute to get their hair fixed by the leading hair technicians in the country. In a matter of years, the institute will be synonymous to everything hair related in the country.

Recare is taking giant strides to make Natures Gentle Touch Institute the leading style establishment in Nigeria and to set up other institutes in not only Nigeria but in other parts in Africa.