Ten years Three branches One name the community gave us

In 2015, Ndumiso Chiya started cutting hair in Waterloo, north of Durban, at just 21 years old. He built the shelter himself, set his prices, and relied on nothing but the quality of his work to bring people in. No formal backing. No advertising. Just skill, consistency, and a standard he refused to drop.

Word spread the way it only does when something is genuinely good - one person telling another. The clients kept coming, and they kept coming back.

As the reputation grew, a word kept coming up. Every time a client stepped out of the chair and caught their reflection, they reached for the same word - slaqa. In isiZulu street language it means you look really good. You look sharp. You look fresh. Ndumiso heard it enough times that he stopped looking for a name. The community had already given him one.

In 2016 he made the decision that defined everything that followed - he dropped out of college to pursue Slaqa full time. He opened a second branch in KwaMashu, hired his first team, and set the standard that has held across every branch ever since: every client leaves with more than they paid for.

By 2019 Slaqa had grown to over 25 staff across two branches, attracted media coverage, and built a client base that extended beyond the township into wider Durban. Growth was never chased - it was the natural result of consistency. Every chair, every branch, every barber held to the same expectation the founder set in that first shelter in Waterloo.

In 2025, Slaqa marked ten years in business with the grand opening of its KwaMashu branch on Bhejane Road - completing a three-location network across Waterloo, Umlazi, and KwaMashu.