Beauty business thrives in Africa

Mercy Ndhlovu and Nose McCabe run a beauty salon "under the open sky on the edge of a street near a Johannesburg shopping mall.

They are at work day from early to late, and not far away, eight other stylists waiting for customers. Mercy Ndhlovu gets her first customer at. She wants a style called twists, which consists of a hair piece attached to the hair close to the head and turned inwards, Ndhlovu said.

"Looking good is important for all women, regardless of how or where they live," said the Zimbabwean.

Beauty is big business in Africa, where more and more companies are trying to attract customers with special product line for people with dark skin and curly hair.

The skin care products, hair care and makeup products are called ethnic-series, and they have been on the market in South Africa since the end of apartheid.

Most of the companies are targeting black middle class consumers, but there are also cosmetic products for people who have less money to spend on these items.

There was a time when both black and white consumers were dependent on hair and skin care products made only for whites.

Many African women at the time just using water, soap and vaseline on their skin. European cosmetics giant L'Oreal took a leap into the African market for ethnic cosmetics 10 years ago with the acquisition of Carson. Its products include hair relaxer and specially formulated creams for men aimed at moisturizing dry skin.

L'Oreal operates from South Africa with affiliates in Ghana, Morocco and Egypt.

Philippe Affray, L'Oreal manager in Africa, said that the continent is an underdeveloped market with about 1 billion consumers who yearn for quality products that meet their needs. The market has been ignored for too long.

Market research shows that South African cosmetics industry alone experienced a double digit growth every year for the 2007th It may be a few more years until the entire spectrum of modern cosmetics is inserted into the African market.

But as before, notably in South Africa, there is distrust among many people. During apartheid, some companies put bleach products to black consumers. Today these skin whiteners is not permitted, because they lead to serious health problems.