How I made my biggest break as hair stylist – PoshClass boss

Onyinyechukwu Ekenedilichukwu Onyeibe is a top hairstylist whose service is highly sought-after by high-class individuals and top celebrities. She is the Chief Executive Officer of Poshclass Beauty Lounge. In a short while, Onyinye has successfully built her brand to the top. Popularly known as HairbyPoshClass and across all media platforms, it is now a household name and a hair styling brand that caters to the needs of everyone and every hair beauty enthusiast who wants to look beautiful by having their hair well played, installed and styled to perfection.

She provides hair styling services for local and international brides, destination glamour photoshoots, Red carpet events, and everyday hair needs. The Hairbyposhclass brand also offers tutoring, mentorship and masterclasses both physically and virtually ranging from beginners to upgrades, general classes and one-on-one classes. She has organised masterclass events in Nigeria and across certain countries like Ghana, Zambia, Canada, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Angola and counting.

Hairbyposhclass has also made the day for brides both locally in Nigeria and across countries Like South Africa, Liberia, Morocco, Ghana, Canada, etc. In Nigeria, Hairbyposhclass studio provides services in a variety of ways for clients who want a convenient hair solution, including services such as glue-less wigs, customization of frontals, installation of wigs, general hair care and beauty, etc. Onyinye derives joy in fulfilling hair styling requests and does that with great passion and creativity.

The Hair by PoshClass CEO in an interview talked about her brand and how she pulled through in the beauty world.

How long have you been in the business of hairstyling?

I have been in this business of Hair beauty styling and care for roughly seven years professionally.

What inspired you to do hairstyling?

I have done hair all my life, right from when I was a kid. I’ve always done my siblings’ hair. It’s something that we have naturally in my family. My sisters do my hair, I do their hair. So we did it growing up as something that was like a hobby. So it continued when I went to secondary school and in my university, I would do my friends’ hair just for fun even when I was not even being paid for it.

There was a time in my university days at the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) when we went on a strike in my 400 level. It was like a 6-month ASUU strike or something and I didn’t want to go home which was Lagos where my parents resided and which happens to be where myself and my siblings were born. So I didn’t want to go back to Lagos because I didn’t know when the strike was going to end, and I knew that if they ended the strike, I would have to now travel back to school immediately. So I was like, let me just stay back in school and just see what I can do.

So that was when I started trying different styles on my mannequin hair. I would watch YouTube videos, So it was just something I loved to do. I didn’t even know that I could make money from it. So, I downloaded over 100 YouTube hair tutorial videos and then I would watch and practice on my mannequin hair just like that.

So after doing that, when I was now tired of doing all of the watching and practising, and since the strike was still on, I started to message some makeup artists in close proximity to do a collaborative shoot. And that was how it started. For my first collaboration, we did a shoot using one of my coursemates and after that, I did more with a few other makeup artists in Owerri. When I was done with Owerri, we were still on strike, I then decided to go to Port Harcourt for these collaborative shoots. I was not been paid for it, it was just a collaborative shoot then. I sent messages to some makeup artists in Port Harcourt and they agreed to do the shoot with me. I think the first person I shot with in Port Harcourt was Jojo’s Touch. I did the shoot with Jojo’s Touch, and then I did with a few others like Alrosal Artistry, Ada Art and a few other shoots.
Fast forward to a few months later we resumed school, I was in my lecture hall, when one of the make-up artists called and said that a bride wanted to book me to do her hair. I was like someone wants to book me to do her hair? Something I was just doing for fun. I was shocked so I told them a price, they paid and I was like okay. So the bride then was in Owerri. After I did that I posted her and before I knew it I had a lot of bridal bookings from Port Harcourt. It was then it dawned on me that I could make money from doing this and that was like my final year.

Interestingly, there was a day I had an exam and I had a bride on that day, so I had to quickly rush to town, do the bride and rush back. I was panicking because everybody was like they were almost entering the exam hall, you know how schools can be, once they close the exam hall you cannot enter. So I had to quickly do the bride, and thankfully I arrived early before they shut the door. So this was how everything started.

The bookings continued like that for me and when I graduated I already knew I couldn’t be heading back to Lagos when already I had something I earned from, so I was able to painstakingly convince my parents to allow me to stay back and not start relocating back to Lagos. It wasn’t easy doing that especially because I wasn’t even planning to stay in Owerri but to move to Port Hacourt which to my parents was an entirely new city altogether… So somehow I convinced them, graduated and relocated to Rivers State’s capital city and today the rest they say is history.

Tell us about what inspired you and why you love this particular path of Hairstyling?

I would say, I always loved to do it. It was always just a hobby for me. It was not something I knew that I could make money from. I would always follow these American and Russian hairstylists. And when they post hairstyles, I would always be wowed by them and be like, wow, I should do something like this. So I would say it was something I just really loved. And when I visit Instagram, I see brides with their hairdos and the whole makeup and bridal glamorous settings. It was just so fascinating seeing everything, and I felt like yeah, that’s something I surely would want to be a part of. So all of that was what pushed me into downloading most of the videos I downloaded, started learning and trying out what I have learnt.

Who was the person that inspired you?

I will always remember the impact that Hair by Ehis had on my hairstyling journey. Learning from My boss inspired me, especially when it comes to frontal installation. Georgiy Kot also played a big role in inspiring me, as well as several other talented individuals that I may not recall at the moment.

Who are the big names you have worked with over the years?

I’ve worked with several celebrities in quotes, and for me most importantly, everyone of my clients is a special person and we demonstrate these qualities in our services. Nonetheless, I have been opportuned over the years to work with Maria Chike, Beauty Tukura, Liquorose, MizWanneka, Elizabeth Chioma Good Hair, Mo Abudu, Omotola, Deola Art Alade, Diary of a Kitchenlover, Simi, Mercy Eke and a host of other personalities I might not remember here to mention. When it comes to experience, I love and enjoy doing hair as an individual and to a very large extent, this makes me easily receptive to my clients. This is why every session you have sitting on my chair is always an awesome experience. So whether it’s working on celebrities or working on the brides, or red carpet events, even during my teaching and instructor modes, be it locally here Nigeria, or thousands of miles away, I always enjoy them all the same way.

What are the challenges that this hairstyling business has in the interim and having carved a niche for yourself in the industry, are there possible remedies and or solutions?

Yes, of course there are loads of problems and challenges which are our everyday realities, and the sad aspect of it is that they are mostly all as a result of our geographical location which is Nigeria and or a fact of one being a Nigerian. One of these challenges I have faced as a hairstylist in Nigeria, is electricity.
Another problem again which also is a Nigerian factor is the issue of being contacted for your services in various parts of the world, and in almost all of them you will need to undergo scrutinised processes that would naturally take months for your temporary visas to be approved in which case maybe the event you are scheduled to attend has already elapsed, and or sometimes the visas are not even approved.

The third one which yet again is a Nigerian factor, most equipment we use in our everyday hairstyling activities is mostly sourced abroad, even down to the products. Most times here in Nigeria, the regulatory bodies who are saddled with the responsibility of checking to ensure that what is being brought here for sale is of a high-quality standard, usually fail to do this simple job and in that case, everywhere is flooded with fake versions of these equipment. And in a case where you try to now maybe source it through many of these online market platforms like Amazon, you then get a barrier saying you can’t purchase cause its available in Nigeria.

For me, the only remedy would be the provision of basic social and infrastructural amenities through good governance where ONLY the right thing is ensured and done. With good governance in place can solve half of these issues and more in a twinkle of an eye.

What is your advice to those who want to go into the hair styling space?

For me, I would say consistency… that’s the watchword. Once one is determined and consistent, irrespective of all the challenges and heart-wrenching occurrences that one may come across in their pathways to the top will be overcome. As I would always tell my students and mentees, it’s not always easy starting up at first. One thing I have always noticed is that a lot of people do not want to put in the work, but they just want to start and get there immediately, forgetting that nothing comes on a platter of gold. You cannot just get from 1 to 100 in a day, you have to give yourself time to grow, it’s not magic. You put in the work and then you get the results like you have to do shoots, you have to upgrade yourself and take classes. I remember the first physical training I took, I had to travel all the way to Abuja to take that class, and at that time I was not financially buoyant to do that, but because I knew what I was going for and what I had envisioned to get if I took that class, I forced it on myself. I had to break the bank and take out my savings just to be able to go for this class. I travelled all the way by road to Abuja and I took that class, and when I came back, almost immediately, I started reaping the fruits of the class that I did.
So I would encourage hairstylists to take pieces of training as often as they can. Don’t ever say never. Even until now, almost every year I try to take as many trainings as I can from different people. One should always be open to corrections and also try as much as possible to collaborate with your fellow makeup artists, photographers and influencers. e.t.c. and the sky will definitely be your starting point.

How can those interested in patronising your services reach you and what should they expect?

I am Onyeibe Onyinyechukwu and I am the CEO of Poshclass Beauty Lounge popularly known as HairbyPoshClass. HairbyPoshClass is a hair styling brand that caters to the needs of everyone who wants to look beautiful by styling their hair well and neatly. We style hair for all purposes including but not limited to brides, photoshoots, events, everyday hair and all. We also do both in-studio services and home services. So for clients that would want to have maybe a hair that they can just throw on their head and then go to work, or even clients that are not in the country, we also make Glueless hair customisations and deliver to clients within and outside Nigeria.
So yeah, we take bookings of all personalities from all walks of life. Beauty enthusiast looking to slay as well.

Can you tell us at what point did your career took a wide leap?

The turning point in my career was in July 2019 when one of my clients who had earlier purchased her hair from Mizwanneka came to me to do a glueless installation for her. This was while I was still in Port Harcourt. She came from Owerri and had an event, so I installed her hair and I posted it on my Instagram page, as my usual habit of tagging vendors, and I tagged Mizwanneka’s hair. At that time, I had never met Mizwanneka before nor had our paths crossed before. I had never spoken to her. She was just someone I followed on Instagram and really liked because of her energy and how hard-working she was. So I tagged her as I would have tagged any other vendor while I posted on my Instagram page.

So the next day, I think I had a shoot or something. So while I was doing my thing, I started receiving calls, and when I say calls I mean a lot of phone calls from people I didn’t know but they were all making inquiries for installation appointments, It seemed so weird because I usually don’t receive those kind of bulk calls and inquiries from people for my services. So as they trooped in I kept wondering what it was that was happening. After some time, my sister called me and she was like, Posh you’ve blown ooo. Mizwanneka posted you on her page! That was when everything dawned on me that someone had indeed posted me somewhere that made all these calls start coming to my phone. I couldn’t even find the post on my Instagram notifications that’s to show you the kind of traffic it generated! That explained what happened with many new followers and comments from people on the post she reposted. I was amazed because I didn’t expect it, especially from someone I hadn’t even met before. She wrote extensively under the post, saying
“This is how to install your hair, this is how your hairstylist should install your hair, don’t take your hair to a carpenter who won’t make your hair look nice.”
This was a major turning point in my career because, before then, I always had time to do collaborative shoots. However, after that incident, I was always busy and barely had time for photo shoots. Everyone who bought her hair started coming to me in Port Harcourt, booking me to style their hair. I even stopped having time to sleep because I was always working.

What really is the fun thing about you when you are at it, what are those major things that keep it interesting for you?

I would say the major thing is, that I enjoy working with everybody and I must say every one of my clients has been one pleasant experience or the other with very few exceptions. Meeting people of different backgrounds and energy too is fun for me and is what I look out for especially their expressions after every experience. Very importantly, anybody who knows me knows that I am a lover of content creation, So I don’t joke with my content at all and most of my clients always come correct with their content too so this is one thing I always enjoy. I always enjoy filming them before the hair is done, during the process of hair-making and styling and after the entire process of glamming up.