African aesthetics have had a strong moral foundation. For most tribes, the words “beautiful” and “good” are the same, with meaning drawn from context. Beauty has not only been to please the eye but also serves as a representation of the individual’s ability to uphold the moral values of the community.

While the human figure and its silhouette has long been celebrated across the world in various forms like art, song and dance, Africans have a unique relationship with aesthetics. As a people, adornment and enhancing their features has been practiced for centuries. Altering the appearance of their silhouettes through tribal scarification markings, tattoos, head shaping, neck stretching and lip stretching to name a few, have been intended to be striking and unmistakable tribal identifiers.


Different Shapes of Beauty

As a result, “beauty” has never been universal among African tribes, due to their diverse makeup. After all, there are approximately 1,000 languages spoken alone on the continent with many more tribes than languages.

Each culture possesses its own uniquely distinct set of aesthetic values. For example, exaggerated strong muscular body shapes, refined facial features, elaborate hairstyles and scarification patterns represented ideals of civilized beauty for the Baule in Ivory Coast. For the Yoruba people of Nigeria on the other hand, skin texture in particular smooth textures, symmetry was deemed more aesthetically pleasing. Big silhouettes, however, are largely considered to be beautiful on the continent. The choice of body part changing with the times, tribe and culture over the years.

While scarification and body manipulation to exaggerate some body parts is increasingly becoming a rarity today, models like Adetutu Oluwabusayomi Alabi, also known as Adetutu OJ of Nigeria, are finding a place in the modelling industry despite scarification.

Much like the explosion of color cosmetics reported in my previous column, Africans from high income groups and fast-growing African economies like Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Zambia are topping the list of clients who are demanding aesthetic treatment.

Aesthetic experiences and perceptions are being influenced by more than tradition and rituals.


Visual Expression as a Life Force

The aesthetic beauty of the modern male and female African is more than the age-old ideals of how big a lip plate she can adorn, the intricacy and uniqueness of her chosen lip plate design and its connection to their people, place and community.

The new African aesthetic is an evolution of the old values beyond their link to expression or polysemy.

Globalization, and an increase in disposable income, rising literacy rates and the shrinking economic and social gaps, has meant that the perception of aesthetic beauty in modern Africa is starting to find a new home and expression in aesthetic treatments.

South Africa was one of the first and largest markets on the continent for aesthetic treatments in the early 2000s. In fact, the country was so popular that it was named the destination for a “Surgery Safari.”
Aesthetic procedures are performed at a fraction of what it would cost to perform in Europe or North America. A simple Google search of aesthetic treatment Africa brings up a host of service providers including inclusive medical tourism packages for more invasive aesthetic procedures for Sub-Saharan Africans and overseas western clients.

According to a recent report on the South African aesthetic devices market by Mordor Intelligence, the South African aesthetics device market is anticipated to record a CAGR of 11.5% from 2018-2026.
The first changes to African beauty aesthetic ideals came with colonial and post-colonial encounters. The influence of education and exposure to new cultural experiences, music and arts meant that all facets of African aesthetic and identity where challenged breaking the link between moral excellence, social order and physical perfection.

Ethnographic studies create a compelling case of the links between philosophy, tradition, culture and the appreciation of aesthetics. Today, the dance between art, adornment, physical appearance and beauty have created something unique.


Surgical Procedures

Nigeria is now home to the likes of Lekki Hill Plastic Surgery, which has one of the country’s most successful full-time cosmetic surgeons. This practice offers less invasive aesthetic treatments up to invasive plastic surgery such as liposuction, tummy tucks, chemical facials and energy-based skin treatments. Contouring appearances with injectables in order to change facial profiles but not ethnic features is popular. Liposuction and tummy tucks are their most sought-after treatments as well as chemical peels for clearer skin.

“Nigerians have been having plastic surgery for a long time. My aim of creating the practice was to reduce medical tourism out of Nigeria and reduce the burden of managing complications from procedures performed elsewhere,” said Dr Femi Oladeji, medical director and consultant at Valuedseed Healthcare. “With aesthetic treatments now available in country, it makes these treatments more accessible to Africans.”

South Africa’s Laserderm Medical Aesthetics Centres, a nine-location business in Gauteng and the Western cape (the country’s commercial hubs), offers services from laser hair removal to medical vaginal rejuvenation. The 24-year-old chain of clinics has been the leader of non-surgical medical aesthetic procedures with laser aesthetic device treatments in South Africa.

“The African patients I see are seeking invisible results,” said Dr. Ifeoma Ejikeme, founder and medical director of Adonai Medical Clinic, a British Nigerian and a founder of the Black Aesthetics Advisory Board. “They do not want drastic changes but clear and even complexions while looking their best version of  themselves for their age.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has meant that many office employees are now working from home and spending more time in digital meetings via Zoom and Microsoft Teams. That creates greater demand for clear complexions and even skin tones. It’s a desire of consumers around the globe and the African consumer is no different.

Clearly, while the African aesthetic market remains comparatively small, aesthetic treatments look like there are here to stay as a result of the growing number aesthetic clinics and treatments making their way to major cities throughout Africa. That spells opportunities for companies formulating skin care treatments to meet the needs of post-op patients.

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Zeze Oriaikhi-Sao
Malée, Founder
[email protected]

Zeze Oriaikhi-Sao is an entrepreneur, influential speaker, sought-after brand consultant and freelance columnist with a focus on Innovation, sustainability and leadership in the cosmetics, luxury goods and start-up industries. As the founder of Malée, Africa’s first global luxury fragrance and body care brand, an advisory board member at Innocos, the world beauty innovations summit, Oriaikhi-Sao has established herself as a leader in the African-made luxury goods market. She has been featured on CNN, The Telegraph and The Daily Mail. She hosts the podcast Third Culture Africans, and inspires a vast audience with entrepreneurial and lifestyle Insights at zezeonline.