A touch of New York City class with a distinctively African twist, and a loyal client list that includes the likes of Oprah, Rihanna, John Legend and Floyd Mayweather – that’s SOHO.

And now this multiple award-winning upmarket unisex beauty salon is open in Rosebank’s The Zone for your pampering pleasure. 

Conveniently located inside the beauty section of We Are EGG store at the shopping centre, SOHO is bringing its luxuriously experiential beauty and grooming offering to Rosebank customers to add to its flagship store in Sandton and its V&A Waterfront salon in Cape Town.  

More than just your average mani/pedi destination, SOHO promises to transport men, women and children into the heart of the Big Apple with its chic decor (including vibrating massage chairs), exceptional service, and quality proprietary product range created with natural African ingredients that are friendly to all skin types and to the environment. 

It’s this commitment to excellence that consistently draws international celebrities to choose SOHO for their beauty needs during their South African stopovers, and also makes it a favourite of the local jet set. Among its accolades are five Professional Beauty Awards and being named Best Salon in South Africa in the 2023 World Salon Awards.  

Ethiopian-born entrepreneur Getty Gizaw, who was educated in Europe, the United States and Canada, opened her first SOHO salon at Sandton City in 2011 after spotting a gap in the market while producing at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. She searched in vain for a salon offering a cosmopolitan pampering experience that is elevated above the ordinary. 

“I’ve travelled the world but Africa is my home, and is alive and bustling with incredible opportunities, particularly in the beauty and grooming arena,” says Gizaw.  

“I wanted to recreate the amazing New York vibe I grew up with and combine that with my love for my birth continent. This led to the creation of SOHO to bridge the gap between the two continents through natural beauty and grooming products and experiential services.” 

She believed the time was ripe for such a venture, with the beauty and personal care market in South Africa estimated to be worth R7 billion and poised to experience a massive boom in the next five years.  

Gizaw says, “We’ve found that there is a healthy and growing demand for Afrocentric beauty requirements – with men making up a third of our clientele.”  

She believes that growing urbanisation and the expansion of the black middle class is resulting in a strong appetite for grooming and personal care that meets the unique needs of African men and women. In particular, she says African consumers are increasingly looking for natural skincare and body products containing no harmful chemical ingredients.  

“This inspired me to use my grandmother’s time-honoured Ethiopian recipes to create bespoke SOHO salon products for retail. These nourishing products are organic, wholesome and incredibly healthy, using indigenous ingredients such as marula. They are rich in antioxidants and are kind to our skin.” 

For Gizaw, her focus is on ensuring her clientele feel like a million bucks when leaving one of her salons – but equally important is the training and empowerment of her staff. She employs 97% women and invests in their continuous upskilling and development to ensure they earn meaningful livelihoods while deriving joy from their working environment. 

She is excited about the opening of the new SOHO store at Rosebank’s The Zone, not least because it heralds an invigorating new partnership. Gizaw was approached by the founders of Young Designers Emporium to open a SOHO inside their We Are EGG location in Rosebank – and it immediately seemed like a match made in heaven.  

“We have strong brand synergy and a similar target market; plus, the YDE and We Are EGG brands focus on promoting homegrown African designers and artisans, which resonated strongly with us,” she explains.  

“Since SOHO has evolved into the manufacturing and distribution of our own made-in-Africa proprietary beauty and grooming products, it was a natural fit for us to be in the same physical and ideological space as these like-minded brands.” 

Having already opened a franchise in Botswana, she is also planning to expand SOHO’s health and beauty products offering into Nigeria, Angola and Ethiopia. Watch this space! 

SOHO is a walk-in salon; no appointment is needed. Join the likes of Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Gayle King, Samuel L Jackson, Naomi Campbell and Forest Whitaker, and local celebs like Cassper Nyovest, Bontle and Connie Ferguson, in experiencing beauty and grooming the SOHO way!