Salt Rock hairdresser goes from addiction to styling success

Recovering addict Nikita Schmeltzer is celebrating turning her life around with a new business in Salt Rock.

Unresolved childhood trauma was something she battled with throughout her teen years.

At 19 she saw a line of cocaine being cut for the first time.

“They laughed at me because I was this social butterfly. How could I not know what it was?”

Studying fashion design at the time, her life rapidly descended into chaos.

“I began finding comfort in the wrong places. It really is a vicious circle,” she said.

One constant was her husband, Chesney, whom she had known since school. They met again at a wedding when she was 23, and as she puts it, they were inseparable, like Bonnie and Clyde.

“He was a commercial diver at the time. After he got a two-year contract in Australia, I flew out when he asked me to live with him,” she said.

What she did not know was that Chesney was also battling addiction.

They got married in 2018 and began building a life together with Nikita’s daughter from a previous relationship.

“He was trying to protect me from his own addiction. We had a good life and travelled a lot. But it got to a point where I didn’t know if I could keep going,” she said.

They returned to South Africa to renew their visas and then the global Covid-19 pandemic struck. This eventually turned into a blessing in disguise.

Stranded in Kokstad, addiction took over her life once again.

“It spiralled out of control so terribly that my husband left. After getting my life back on track, I followed him to Ballito where he had managed to get a job after getting his own life in order.”

Nikita then heard of Grace Recovery Ballito, a programme which helps people battling addiction.

She was one of the first through the programme and attributes her sobriety to that intervention.

She recommends the programme even to people who have already gone through other programmes, saying it armed her with the skills needed to stay sober.

Nikita and Chesney are celebrating two years of sobriety and even got remarried in August after learning their first marriage was unofficial.

The pastor who had married them never registered their marriage with Home Affairs, and died during the pandemic.

After several years working as a hairdresser, Nikita recently launched her own salon in Salt Rock.

“I want this business to be a representation of hope and love, a place where you can express yourself. To me, every person is a blank canvas and I want to help them repaint themselves.”

The Artisan Hair Studio, with a focus on French flair, opened its doors last Friday at 61 Basil Hulett Drive, Salt Rock.

Should you be battling with addiction, contact Grace Recovery Ballito at 074 923 9543 or email gracerecoveryballito@gmail.com.

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