Nadeen Mateky, the reference for afro hair

Audio 03:36

Nadeen Makety, hair stylist © Nadeen Makety

By: Maria Afonso

8 mins

 Nadeen Mateky enjoys styling, a gift passed down to her from her grandmother.

This artist of Congolese origin sees hairdressing as an art.

Nadeen Mateky takes part in parades, shows the potential of the hair and sublimates the queen who sleeps in every woman.

The African headdress is, moreover, the common thread of his creative process.   

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When I'm not at home, I'm in the studio in creation mode and I have lots of little drawings everywhere, wicks everywhere, pearls everywhere, cowries and it's my little universe, my little world where I am well.

I put on some music and let's go.

Nadeen Mateky has an atypical career.

She was born in the Congo, arrived in France at the age of 4, then she returned to Africa from the age of 8 until she was 13.

It was during this period that his grandmother taught him how to style.

Back in Paris, she works as an accountant but she doesn't like calculations.

She decides, then, to devote herself to her passion: hairdressing.

And today, Nadeen Mateky is known for her hair creations worthy of African queens.    

Hair, makeup by Nadeen Makety © Dorlis

Headdresses, hairstyles and cultural riches  

"When I make hair sculptures, I retrace the history of certain queens of Africa, of our ancestors, of our great-grandmothers who wore their hair naturally and who wore beautiful headdresses, ornaments. My sculptures are inspired by all those ancestral headdresses that all these women wore, "

explains Nadeen Makety.

Hairstyle by Nadeen Makety © epphotografia

"I can do sculpture with just this hair but I always need a material on the side. For example, I use raffia a lot. Sometimes I also use aluminum wire to come up with it. put certain locks on it, to make it rise; tulle too, ... There are a lot of materials that I use. To make these sculptures I provide myself with synthetic hair because it is a very manageable material, in all the way around, and it doesn't cost too much because otherwise I'm ruined afterwards, "

adds Nadeen Makety.

Awareness and convictions 

Nadeen Mateky's mission is to reconcile women with the nature of their hair.   

“Me, I want to remove the image that has always been put in our heads that the black woman, she is good for nothing, that she has dirty hair, 'frizzy' hair.

For me, it's a demeaning term.

It is a way of highlighting myself and also all the women and especially the African woman, given that I myself am an African woman, and to say to them: 'you are beautiful with your ebony skin, you are beautiful with your natural afro hair, you are beautiful the way you are, so accept yourself, ”

says the hair stylist.

Hairstyle by Nadeen Makety © Sabrina Lambletin

“Today, there are people like a gentleman that we call Nsibentum who has been baptized 'cheveutologue' and we often work together. He is there to transmit this know-how to women. He is a man but he talks about the hair like it's a woman. It's very amazing. I think it's a very good thing and I will continue to do so, "

concludes Nadeen Mateky. 

Hairstyle by Nadeen Makety © Davidekue

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