The honest answer, for a long time, was a shrug. Babalon is the answer.
Carolyn trained in Cape Town, moved to New Zealand twenty years ago, and spent two decades working in other people's salons before opening her own on Main Road, Redcliffs. The chair is hers. The hours are hers. The unhurried hour-and-a-quarter-for-foils-because-that's-how-long-foils-take is, finally, hers.
A protea, in flag
colours.
The Babalon mark is a King Protea — South Africa's national flower — its petals tipped in the red, blue, yellow and green of the flag. It isn't a decoration. It's the country Carolyn was trained in. The craft she carries was learned there. New Zealand sharpened it. Cape Town built it.
If you grew up the same way — biltong from the Indian shop on Marshland Road, a braai when the weather permits it, a Springbok jersey somewhere in the cupboard — you'll feel it in the chair. If you didn't, the work is the same. The flag isn't a filter. It's a story, and it's hers to tell.
For the Saffa community
in Christchurch.
There are roughly thirty-seven thousand Afrikaans speakers in New Zealand. A meaningful share of them are in Canterbury — Halswell, Rolleston, Cashmere, the eastern bays. If you want to book in Afrikaans, you can. If you want to talk about home, the chair is the right place for it. If you just want a properly placed half-head of foils, that's what Carolyn is here for.