*I am BLACK BEAUTY!* Dubois Beauty, Nairobi

Walking down the Dubois Street - the largest wig & beauty products market in Kenya, we arrive at Tabi’s 3-year-old wig store. Here, we are surrounded by over a hundred mannequin heads wearing wigs of different colours and styles, all winking at us. As a plus-size young woman, Tabi does not shy away from flaunting her glitzy brown jacket and polished pink nails, “I am in this business because I loveeeee beauty!”

“Psss…psss…psss” the musical sound of spray slips through my ears. Tabi smilingly teaches us how to maintain the semi-human wigs in her store: “You spray (water) like this, comb it, then it looks good!” She keeps trying on different wigs showing us how it works. “You can dye it… you can blow-dry it… it’s of good quality.” Priced between 1,500-3,500KES, both synthetic and semi-human hair wigs are a lot cheaper than the “remy” (real human hair wig), each sells for 17,000KES (105 euros), or more. Most were made in China, and only some in Nigeria & Kenya.

Hair bundles are also available here. In Tabi’s opposite store, around 5 - 6 diligent female wigmakers are skillfully attaching hair bundles to the wig caps with their sewing machines in-house. A fruit hawker just passes by. Then we get Tabi and each wigmaker a big slice of fresh papaya in plastic wrap. Everyone is happy now (and be willing to be photographed).

Suddenly, a woman in leopard print blouse looms & interrupts our interview, “My name is Emily and my store is over there. What are you guys doing here?” While Paul goes on taking pictures of the wigmakers, Emily raises her voice, “Take photos of me, I am BLACK BEAUTY!” She even tries to direct the photographic process: “Look at the camera! Show your beautiful faces! Sashay! Cheers!” Now everybody laughs, and their bubbly mood spreads across the entire floor.

Indeed, these Kenyan women shape & reshape the hair trends with their dexterous hands and fingers: every day they braid it, twist it, style it, wash it, blow-dry it, moisturise it, wrap it with a satin bonnet before their “Dubois beauty” sleep every night - and then do it all over again the next day.