Published on 13.09.2022 at 7:25 p.m. by AFP
More and more, women in Côte d’Ivoire are putting on false eyelashes to embellish themselves with these beauty devices, however the installation of these objects can cause health problems. The business around artificial eyelashes is flourishing in Abidjan, the Ivorian economic capital, where the game of seduction is taken very seriously by some women to make themselves beautiful, at all costs, in order to enter the canons of beauty.
Aïcha, in her thirties, who came to give herself a better appearance at the Grand Marché de Marcory, in the south of Abidjan, affirms that it “makes the woman very beautiful” and offers a luminous face thanks to this beauty case.
For users, false eyelashes transform a woman’s beauty and enhance the radiance of her face. A lady who requested anonymity, seated in front of a make-up artist, also adds that “it beautifies the face and makes the ladies even more flirtatious”.
In this market, an average of 80 women come there on weekends to get doe eyes. Ikiman Odjé, an artificial eyelash applicator maintains that those who go to work do not have all the time to put on makeup, so false eyelashes reinforce their “make up”.
The process, she will say, consists of leaving the artificial eyelashes on the natural eyelashes or slightly above with the help of a glue. Specialized in the art of shaping the look to the delight of women, Odjé confides that the prices of the eyelashes vary according to the qualities between 1,000 Fcfa and 7,000 Fcfa
Most customers of artificial eyelashes are unaware of the health risks to which they are exposed. Today, there are even human eyelashes that some claim to bring their beauty to its peak.
When questioned, Dr Thierry Sowagnon, an ophthalmologist, declares that false eyelashes can contain micro-germs which can create infections, cause lesions on the cornea of the eye or cause an abscess. The most serious consequence being loss of vision.
Sylvestre Kacou says he likes what is natural and not artificial. For this man, “it’s not pretty” and “not good” to put on the false eyelashes that girls put on claiming to make themselves look better. As for Mr. Abo “it’s part of personal hygiene”, something he “likes very well, (because) it looks pretty and radiates the face”.
Be that as it may, women are ready to inject large sums into these artifices to make themselves look deliriously beautiful in hairdressing salons. False eyelashes are in vogue and widely used during festive events in the country.