Gone are the days when one would shave all the eyebrows and then draw them back with a Sh10-eyebrow pencil.

Today, many people are investing thousands of shillings just to look good.

From expensive gym memberships, body contouring, expensive human hair wigs, and cosmetic procedures such as boob jobs, beauty is available to everyone and anyone willing to do it at a cost.

However, the cost of beauty has steadily increased with major beauty houses such as Mac, L’Oreal, and Clinique making their entry into the Kenyan market.

Perfumes costing upwards of Sh10,000 are being aggressively marketed in Kenya with big perfume houses such as Lancome and Tom Ford including Kenya in their global marketing plans.

Many influencers today openly share the beauty procedures they have undergone and what cost they incurred.

Vera Sidika and Huddah Monroe are on record talking about butt and boob augmentation procedures.

Catherine Kariuki of the fashionable step mum blog has confessed to having a mini-gastric bypass, a bariatric surgery procedure meant to aid weight loss by reducing the size of the stomach and the absorption of food.

Maureen Koech-Foley, the CEO of luxury human-hair wig line Lily Hairline, has shared about having laser procedures to remove skin tags.

Nancie Mwai, founder and creative director of fashion and beauty line New Level, at one point shared her laser hair removal journey on social media.

With influencers openly sharing their beauty and cosmetics journey and make-up, clothes, and spas popping up everywhere, the beauty trends are drastically changing with the cost of looking beautiful rising exponentially. 

Lily Makena from Indulge Spa has over two decades of experience in the beauty industry.

She shares that people are more receptive to beauty procedures today than they were some time back.

Although most of these procedures such as body wraps have been around since the 90s, they are only gaining prominence recently.

This may in part be due to the increase in the number of middle-income earners and the penetration of digital presence that has highlighted the importance of looking and feeling good.

“Social media is slowly setting trends and leading to the increased growth of the beauty industry, as it allows people to share how they look and what they have done to achieve it.

This leads to increased awareness of beauty procedures. It also leads to increased social approval.

People are more willing to do something that increases chances of social approval, whether that is in real life or online.

People, for instance, never used to invest in mani-pedis (combining both a manicure and pedicure).

Now more people do as technological advancements have made nail art more permanent and many people do not want their friends to judge them and find them wanting just because of a nail job,” Makena tells Spice.

Technology effect 

This need for social approval and to fit in is what has fuelled the numerous online beauty and cosmetic shops, new clothing, and thrift stores.

Wigs—both synthetic and human hair—have seen increased patronage with some human hair wigs costing as much as Sh250,000.

Both high-end and low-end human hair wigs are finding a market, as storeowners find innovative ways to keep their customers.

Leah Kimotho, the co-founder of human hair wig store MakeUp Cloud Kenya, shares that they have a ‘lipa pole pole’ plan where a client can pay for their wig in instalments.

She says that this has broadened their client base as they can net more people including those who may not be able to afford to pay a lump sum.

She adds that their clients, though mainly composed of the youth, also include more elderly people with the difference in consumption being the styles they pick.

“The younger ones prefer more colour, longer length, curls, and some love to wear their wigs with glue. In that way, they enjoy experimenting with a variety of colours from blue to blonde.

The elderly on the other hand, are quite particular on the style they like. They don’t prefer a wig that is hard to maintain, so a short wig works better for them as they can wear it in seconds. We always try to cater to a variety of age groups,” Leah elaborates.

The age factor

Celestine Gitau, a trichologist at Hair Hub Trichology, agrees with Leah saying both the young and elderly seek beauty treatments services.

She shares that in the five years she has been with the Hair Hub, she has seen an increase in young people seeking for hair and scalp treatments.

Older women, on the other hand, go for traction alopecia—where the hairline is affected by too frequent braiding.

They also go for beard removal, as women tend to grow a beard once they hit menopause due to the decrease in estrogen production.

She also shares that the number of men seeking treatment has also increased over time.

“Some time back, the ratio of men to women who came to the hub was about 1:5.

Over time, the ratio of men to women is almost the same as about four men come in for every five women we serve.

Most men come in to seek solutions for androgenetic alopecia (early balding) commonly experienced by men, but can also be experienced by women,” she intimates.

She adds, “Several treatments are available for different hair and scalp problems.

These include hair transplant, platelet-rich plasma treatments, medication, or at times a combination of several treatments.

Some men also come for beard transplants where one can get a moustache or a goatee.

Cost is determined by the number of treatments and the treatments themselves, which we determine after an in-depth consultation.

The treatment costs could be anywhere between Sh2,500 to Sh350,000.”

Dr Kennedy Carson Opiyo, a dentist and founder of Lake Basin Orthodontic Centre, says everything has its aesthetic value including dental procedures.

She recently treated singer Akothee’s daughter Rue Baby, who is also a Miss World Kenya 2019 finalist, to braces for teeth alignment and teeth whitening as she wanted to look good.

“Kenyan dental habits have changed from seeking pain relief services to looking for aesthetical dental services.

Technology has made this possible as more and more practitioners have been able to install and apply various technological advances in their practices.

Various aesthetic procedures like teeth alignment with braces, veneers for discoloured teeth, crowns for root-canaled teeth, teeth replacement, and teeth whitening are all common procedures.

The cost of procedures varies. Veneers for instance can cost from Sh10,000 per tooth for direct veneers, and from Sh25,000 for ceramic veneers.

Braces are from Sh60,000 and Sh200,000 per jaw depending on the type of the braces and the misalignment treated,” shares Opiyo.

Newer procedures

As we are getting used to the new beauty procedures available and their cost, newer ones are being introduced in the market.

The Source Medi Spa on Riverside Drive, Nairobi, offers vampire facials, where a facial is done using own blood at Sh60,000.

Stretch marks can be derma-rolled away for several treatments, each costing Sh40,000. They also offer intravenous nutritional therapy for around Sh20,000. 

The intravenous nutritional therapy where one can get a vitamin dose on a monthly or biweekly schedule is becoming increasingly common, with celebrities such as former Kenyan models Bidanya Barassa, Emma Too and Liz Ogumbo frequently getting vitamin booster shots and intravenous drip at Reviv Kenya, a new beauty clinic in Nairobi’s Kilimani area.

While many celebrities are quick to get beauty procedures, they are equally quick to warn people to carefully consider why they want to do the said procedures rather than blindly follow in their influential footsteps.

They all agree that doing it for extrinsic reasons such as to keep a man, as the wrong way to go around it.

The reasons should be more about self-esteem and personal evaluation more than it is to do with the outside world.

Huddah Monroe for instance expressed regret on social media over having done a boob job for her man who eventually left her. She said she should have done it for herself instead.

Rue Baby is happy with her dental work as she did it for herself and it helped her feel good about herself. 

Mabel Mbaka, a social media influencer and a mother of three, has openly shared that she had a boob job as she wanted to look good and feel good after her children left her with sagging boobs.

She shared on an Instagram live that she is not recommending that people do it, but if one has the money and wants to do it, then they should go for it regardless of what society says or thinks.

So, you do the math and decide whether you are willing to pay the price for looking beautiful.