I drink hot water three times a day to stay young–Eryca Freemantle

When Eryca Freemantle turned her posh car into the filling station, she had no sense of foreboding. She did not feel the need to look back as she opened her handbag to pay for the fuel she had just bought and so she was unaware of the huge metallic Volvo car that drove straight at her as she backed the driveway. The car rammed into her, sending her head first into the pumping machine, her scalp came off when they tried to extricate her lifeless body from the glass. When she came to after spending weeks in coma, what was left of her were over 200 facial injury marks, a dangling right foot, a hairless scalp and a shattered self confidence.

Years of recovery later, she attempted to go back to modelling but was turned down by her former employers. “The industry at the time was not ready for a black woman without hair” she explains. Undaunted by the rejection, she picked, dusted herself and turned her pretty face towards another angle, determined to make something out of her life. ”I went into the study of corrective make-up and camouflage, I became very good at it because I was my own number one client. That was the beginning of my work to teach people to overcome the special challenges that life might throw at them”

Freemantle it was who taught Seal, the award winning Rhythm and Blues crooner to turn his scars into a trademark. ”He had come to me at the time, long before winning the Grammy, wearing dreadlocks which he used as mask for his scars. I encouraged him to take off the locks and start taking pride in his looks. I tell my clients that even if they are born with scars, it does not take anything out of them, I would tell them, this is how you were born, you have lived with it; you also have to deal with it.”

When she tells the reporter that she has a 26-year-old son, the instant reaction is a look of amazement. Her teenage appearance belies the mid life reality of her age. At 45, Freemantle does not look a day older than 20. Refusing to wear wigs because of her sensitive skin, she chooses to go around in skin cut, this and her slim frame coupled with her heart shaped face adds to the overall illusion of youth. Asked how she could manage to look so unbelievably young, Freemantle responds by reeling out a list of diet routine that would be almost impossible for a Nigerian woman to follow. ”I eat vegetables mostly. I could eat fish occasionally but not red meat. I drink hot water three times a day. Hot water purges and purifies your skin. We always wonder why the Chinese stay so young; it is because they take hot water with their meals. My meal does not contain salt because to me, most foods have natural salts in them. My meals also do not contain sugar. I don‘t drink or smoke.”

Freemantle who shies away from talking about her personal life is dark on the issue of her love affairs especially where it concerns the father of her two children. She is quick to reveal that at the time of her ordeal, her immediate family stood by her like a rock. ”Members of my family helped me learn to walk by teaching me to put my right foot forward first, this they did for two years. They revived me and helped me restore confidence in myself which had gone along with my face that had become totally unrecognizable.”

Her current expertise and skill is a testimony to the ease with which she has been able to put the ugly episode behind her and move on. ”At present, I am setting up a foundation to teach young people corrective make-up. As part of our job, we also encourage who have gone through similar experience to come out of it and move forward. The foundation also empowers women to make use of natural products like Shea butter as ingredients for make-up.”

Her multifaceted job also include lecturing at the London school of fashion and cosmetology and this she does from a respectable position as a member of the London guild of fashion and beauty. She talks about her foray into the black continent.” I am home. My objective is to bring my expertise to where it could be best appreciated; I think I can relate with the Nigerian women very well because I can understand their make-up. They are very strong and I understand that fashion is very important to them apart from the fact that they are very intelligent.”

At present, she is working as the industry intelligence consultant for prominent players in the industry like Tara and Sleek International. The only daughter out of six children, she says her greatest challenge has been to stay alive.” Whatever comes to me does not constitute a challenge; I leave challenges behind in order to build myself into the woman I am now.” Born to a construction engineer and property developer, Eryca has also mastered the art of designing and building houses with ease, she is a chef as well. ”I and my partner have brought a food franchise into Nigeria, it is called JERK kitchen. It is Jamaican, people like it because of the spicy nature of the meal and they eat against the backdrop of reggae music.”