What do Fab Empire Skincare and BellaNaija Have In Common?

A lot of people have been sending me emails about my blog not being very engaging because I rarely include images. Don't worry guys you will get your images today...

Bella Naija Weddings

I was scrolling through Bella Naija Weddings on Instagram recently and I noticed something, the majority of women on the page are fair skinned. Then I pay attention to the couples, 8/10 times its a dark skinned male aside a fair skinned female.

Ok, so here's the logic. BNW have 1 million followers the majority of which are Nigerians, and their counterparts in diaspora.  If we then look at the gender ratio the majority of their followers are women.

Let's face it, regardless of tribe or religion, the majority of single women in Nigeria are under pressure to find a spouse and start a family. Since we can see these beautiful ladies on BNW have secured their spouses and just happen to be light skinned then maybe, just maybe I too can improve my chances of finding a spouse if I bleach/tone/lighten/whiten/brighten my skin...

WRONG! WRONG!! WRONG!!!

I don't know who started BNW but I hope they read this...

The funniest thing women don't understand is that enhancing your body to make yourself more physically attractive - whether by having cosmetic surgery or altering your skin tone will indeed attract attention from the opposite sex...
Once you have achieved your optimum skin tone and begin to notice an increased number of toasters, ask yourself what exactly are these men looking for? Do they seek a spouse like you? Or are they just drawn to your yellowness and coke bottle like figure?

Fab Empire Skincare

Now let us move on to fab empire, a popular skincare company in Nigeria who boast the award for the best skincare brand in Nigeria and claim all products are made from 100% plant extract. The first thing I noticed on their website was the youtube reviews. They managed to get two Caucasian ladies (from the UK and the US) to talk about their products for 40 seconds - Interesting marketing strategy...

Firstly who are these women? Why are their names and clinic details not available so I can actually look them up and verify they are registered dermatologists. Secondly, how do I know they tested any of the FES products in their labs? It's pretty obvious the reviews were scripted and the women, paid to market the 'natural' products. I'm sure you know the typical Naija mentality right... If the oyinbos know about it then the cream sure pass.

LOL

Anyway, take a look at the images below.

























Kids Choice Cream Treatment (Image)

Kids Choice Cream



Half Caste Treatment (image)

Half Caste Cream



Snow White Cream Treatment (Image)

Snow White Cream

What I find most shocking is the fact that people are paying millions of naira for these cosmetics. N230,000 for a twenty-ounce tub of snow white cream? That's the equivalent of 796 GBP. My whole cosmetic range costs about half of that annually.

The half-caste cream is N75,000 that's around 260 pounds. Why on earth would you even think of using such a derogatory outdated term as the name of a cream? And if you see the customer reviews I don laugh O  'It made me look like a mixed race in three days.' I do wonder though how comes each product listed on this post has a similar amount of reviews which are all five stars...

Fab empire also promotes the skin bleaching of children with their kids choice treatment at only 12,000 naira, around 41 pounds.

Contrary to the claims by the two dermatologists, there are several ingredients on the FSE list that are far from natural. One of the ingredients is oxybenzone which serves as a sunscreen. According to the Environmental Working Group

'there are several suspected dangers associated with Oxybenzone. Despite its sun protective abilities, it has been shown to penetrate the skin and cause photo-sensitivity. As a photocarcinogen, it has demonstrated an increase in the production of harmful free radicals and an ability to attack DNA cells; for this reason, it is believed to be a contributing factor in the recent rise of Melanoma cases with sunscreen users. Some studies have shown it to behave similarly to the hormone estrogen, suggesting that it may cause breast cancer. It has also been linked to contact eczema and allergies.'

Even if the quote above made headlines the majority of brainwashed individuals purchasing them would continue anyway. Shebi we have to die from something?

In the words of my mother 'If you like to win one hundred awards' it does not make any difference. Some blame the consumers with colonial mentality whilst others may blame the rogue traders getting rich from selling a dream, or we can look to societies across the globe promoting this white Ideal and ask why it is still happening...

As human beings, we are naturally inclined to like things that are visually appealing it's not rocket science. However good looks will only get you so far, it will always grab the attention of the opposite sex but that doesn't mean the man will want to keep and eventually marry you... Did you consider that you may just become an object for show? Eye candy perhaps? or the trophy wife? With the rate of the divorce nowadays I think it's time we start to look beyond the physical, don't you?

Not All That - Part 2

Two years on, counterparts from secondary school without any form of higher education earn substantially more than me. I had a conversation with some friends recently concerning the lack of progression within the teaching profession - particularly for ethnic minorities. My question then is, if you manage to finally gain some sort of senior position after passing through a multitude of hurdles, are the copious amounts of stress actually worth the pay packet?
Upon hearing my dissatisfaction, my friends reassured me suggesting that I apply for an independent (private) school, relocate to an Emirate city, or return to university to complete my masters degree.

I bumped into my one of my old secondary teachers... After teaching for fifteen years, she was appointed as deputy's head... Apparently on 80k.... she said she gets five hours of sleep per night at the very most... Her last comment was something along the lines of 'Just don't expect your quality of life to get better with salary increments.' Interesting... Although when I pause to think of it, if my choice of career was based on income alone I certainly wouldn't have become a teacher.

The Conversation 

A dialogue I overheard on my last trip to Lagos inspired me to draft part one of this post.

Now back to my original point. I am aware that life in Nigeria can be difficult for your average citizen. When you have limited income, little, or no political influence it's frustrating. It is said that things get done a lot quicker when you have the status and connects to match...

Imagine your home being completely cut off from the national grid for twelve consecutive days, no complaints system and where complaints are lodged no action is taken. Could that ever happen in the UK?
When you see ordinary people being stopped for no genuine reason; ordered out their vehicles, stripped, beaten, and ridiculed like animals by those who deem themselves police, life carries on as normal and nobody is held to account. I read a story about an abandoned newborn left in a cardboard box. She was heard crying by members of the public who did not want to rescue her out of fear that they would be accused of child abduction. The baby eventually died.
I occasionally hear reports of corpses lying bloated by expressways. I thank God I have never set my eyes on such - that kind of image would haunt one for a lifetime.

To the Nigerian citizen who believes the only way to make it in life is by going abroad, you shall not miss it in Jesus name. I understand why you feel that way. To create a livelihood in Nigeria is challenging, to say the least, and often a time individuals feel as if all odds are stacked against them. However, Nigeria will not change if you leave, Instead of being complacent and watching these daily atrocities go by without batting an eyelid thinking to yourself 'that's Naija for you' challenge it, find a decent solicitor, ask for the oga at the top, read up on the judiciary, do you know your rights as citizen? Abeg stay in your country and create the culture that you want to see for yourself!
Add an ounce of value to every person you meet in every interaction you make.
Let us enlighten ourselves so that we can make informed choices and bring about changes step by step.

I love it when I visit http://www.movebacktonigeria.com/ and read the success stories. It makes me excited and the reason for that is, despite a series of unfortunate economic events Nigeria is still churning out millionaires... (I'm not talking yahoo boys, runs girls or stolen government money O)

Remember the grass is always greener on the other side. I leave my house in darkness and return home in the same darkness. The winters are not very enjoyable and keeping homes heated is expensive... Then you jump on the train and a drunken reveler spews 'go back to your country you black c*nt.'

How I wish I could...