Be Comfortable with Your Skin Colour: Black Is Beautiful

I have this somewhat dark complexion and petite figure, placing me at UK size 6 and American size 0 with a height below five feet. I therefore stand out in a very non- conventional way! So it was that I took a trip down the busy balogun market( the market for everything and anything) to get some beauty hints, tips and see what can be done for a young African woman like me.

Balogun market is pretty cool most times as it has lots of clothes, accessories and beautiful things to buy! But I have gathered from local source that there is more to it than pretty accessories and clothes! My mission is to find out what else lurks behind those stall counters. There are always these stories that most women go there to buy special products that make them more beautiful. I am more than ready to find out.



On this day, being petite and dark skinned proves to be a blessing to me, as someone in search of a change or a makeover. Iam perfect for the mission at hand.

I begin my hunt by talking to some of the ladies who stock hair and beauty products. I do so mainly in whisper. I ask them for what my type would need for beauty. One of them directs me to mama Moyin,a few stalls away.

Mama Moyin, although pregnant, is full of energy. She ushers me into a small booth hidden from the street and prying eyes! I feel relaxed and excited at the same time as she welcomes me in. Like I brought gold for her. Well with my heart beating, I make known my request. I quickly ask( still in whispers) for some skin lightening cream. After a quick glance at me, mama Moyin begins to give me an insight into this brighter world of beauty through skin lightening!

Because I had whispered to her that I wanted to move from being this dark young woman to someone very light, she quickly tells me that as a beginner, I would need to go for a strong cream, because my request was radical. Mama Moyin explains that is up to to client to decide how to move across the shades : from skin brightening ( mild) to skin bleaching. The latter would see me totally light skinned as I had requested. Mama Moyin then shows me a 250gram size princess Claire that she sells for 5000 naira. And being officially a prospective client,she is very keen on proffering advice.

She is indeed skilled in persuasion and even gives the sample of someone whom she says has now been transformed into light skinned beauty. Mama Moyin emphatically adds to convince me : Vera has now changed! She looks good", she goes further and share with me that she uses the products herself and swears by how effective and good they are. She insist and lectures that skin lightening is part of any black woman's life. Even our grandmother and greatgrandmothers did this to make themselves beautiful", she tells me.

As I continue to dilly dally about my purchase of the "beauty creams ", she warns me that if I did not purchase now, the price would be six times more the next time I come, because demand is high and increasing. I smile at her and tell her I will come back later. She has that look of conviction that I will return to purchase the creams - like she thinks there is no doubt I need them. We part on cheerful note.
However before I leave, I whisper another demand in her ear." do you have a hip booster? I ask, running my hands over my slender - lower body frame. She shakes her head, rather knowingly, and with silly smile suggests : maybe next time I will have those, too. I leave. Promising to return within an hour.
I then walk on further down the road to a customer friend of mine yetunde who stocks beauty and hair products, I find her stall and ask her about getting hip booster. To my surprise, it turns she actually stocks them. Rumour has it that buying these illegal " hip booster" is increasingly. Becoming rampant in many parts of the markets in Lagos and other parts of the country. Like many of her peers, yetunde hides the hip booster wares" from her other beauty products. And will only reveal she has them if a client asks.
Yetunde reaches out from under her counter and hands me these capsules called C4. I have heard growing rumours about their existence, and thought it was untrue. True to form, I was holding one in my hands as yetunde tried to convince me that they have amazing results. I try to play ball and grumble to her how I am so tired of my size 36hips.

Yetunde tells me c4 tablet will cost just 10,000naira. But promises that within just three days, I will note the change in my body shape! My tiny hips are being promised to grow wider within 72hours! How does it work, I ask? When she explains to me how c4 tablet works wonders simply by inserting it anally,I totally freak out! But I am on a mission, so I try not to show it.
I ask yetunde where the products come from and she claims they come from USA but offers no further details on manufacturers, importing or the ingredients. There is also no packaging. Shouldn't this lack of details on a drug scare anyone off?

It's clearly does not as while I was standing there, listening to an excited yetunde rave on about how the drug is bringing her a lot of customers, middle age lady with an orange hue shade on her skin comes to collect various products including c4tablets. She seems to be a wholesale trader.
I am in sort of daze as I realise that this industry is for real! The TV reports I saw were not rumours! I tell yetunde I will think about purchasing and walk off in awe.
This is real! But I'm determined to find out more about this industry.
I soon met a beauty seller who instantly makes a comment on how dull my skin is. She is very talkative and promises to restore my darkened skin to how it was when I was a baby. I wonder about this promise as I am only a young lady in early twenties! What would she tell an older woman then?
She is making me feel some what uncomfortable in my own skin. The woman does not allow me to get a word in but I manage to ask for a hip and buttock booster.

She quickly urges me to go for the skin lightening as well as hip and buttocks booster! The lady also has the c4 tablets. With hers retailing at around 15,000. She then shows me the miraculous Dr James tablets that enhance buttocks and hip measurements.
Josh skin lightening creams she says, work only when vigorously massaged into the body evenly! She is big on massaging and recommends massaging the skin lightening creams all over the skin for a uniform lightening experience. She again convinces me to lighten my skin as it would greatly improve my looks.since we are now chatting heartily , i ask her if the reports on tv were true about the side effects of hip and buttocks booster. she says that media people just exaggerate and it is not true! she has many happy and satisfied customers.
 what i Noticed Bubbly Josh, Mama Moyin and yetunde were their lack of understanding of the beauty products they stock, their ingredients and how they work. As i walk back home that day i was plagued by various thoughts about these bleaching and lightening industry.

As a dark skinned oung woman , i have been judged and found wanting by these traders , who all wanted to change my skin tone. They alll seemed to have a unified view that a light skinned woman is the epitome of beauty.

I could not help but think of the dangers that these beauty products could bring upon a woman.

According to these unscrupulous, uniformed traders, my friends are lying to me and a dark skinned , petite young woman like me, is not supposed to like anything i see in the mirror! But Guess what, after my mission . I like what i see in the mirror even more.

Please share with every woman who feels uncomfortable about herself and the color of her skin.

......Tnx Guys