My friend and I, a slim girl, just as I am, are walking down the bustling Nairobi’s River Road when we ask for the location of Mombasa Rest House.kule kwa mafuta (oh, the place of cosmetics)?” poses a matatu tout before making a 180-degree turn to point at a multi-storey building yonder. Bystanders throw curious glances from the corners of their eyes, as if to confirm who the culprits seeking the infamous building are. Apparently, ‘mafuta’, once an innocent Swahili noun, now has a weird meaning.
Body enhancers
It refers to body enhancers – the ones that young women in pursuit of a killer body would use to enlarge their hips, buttocks or even breasts to attain the full figure that is considered the hallmark of African beauty. It is also associated with fertility.“Mami mafuta, mafuta.” They are a bunch of illicit beauticians scrambling for customers.
They all look like they’re up to no good – possibly because they know they are cashing in on illegal trade. They vet potential customers by looking them in the eye. We later learn this is their way of detecting whether you’re a genuine customer or a government official on a crackdown mission. In the 1990s, the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) banned cosmetic products containing hydroquinone, steroids, mercury, hydrogen peroxide and other elements that are harmful to the human body.
Clueless
When we approach Kebs with the products we eventually purchase, the parastatal, whose job is to test goods for quality, and to license the importers of cosmetics that pass muster, disown the products, saying they are pharmaceuticals and do not, therefore, fall under their mandate.
We cannot test these products because they don’t fall within our mandate (and we) don’t have the capacity to break down the components even if we wanted to,”
Mr Danson Maina, the licensing manager, says. Asked how such uncategorised products end up in the market, he says that is not for him to answer.
The National Quality and Control Laboratory (NQCL), which tests medicines on behalf of the Pharmaceutical and Poisons Board (PPB), also distances itself from our samples. NQCL’s senior deputy director, Dr Pius Wanjala, refers us back to Kebs, saying the samples are not medicines but “goods”, which fall under Kebs docket, not theirs. “Those are categorised as goods. They lack the phamacoepea standards that we use but Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) can do,” he advises us.
Infertility
The women on the street assess us for customer potential; if a woman shows interest in what they are saying, they will reveal more details: “Tako (buttock), boobs, hips, or bleaching, tuko na zote (we have them all).” We follow a group of four, who seem to be business associates, into a cubicle the size of a big-roomed pit latrine. The shelves are filled with all sorts of creams and gels; you can barely see the colour of the wall.
Some of the cosmetics samples Nation bought from River Road on March 6, 2020. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Injections cost Sh20,000 for 10 millimetres of the drugs while pills cost an average of Sh3,000.
“This one, if you stop using, your hips deflate to the size they were at the start,” says one woman, pointing at a gel concoction.
As they speak, their third colleague – who happens to carry a humongous behind that she credits to pills – deliberately shakes it for us to illustrate that the pills work. Maggie reveals that the only reason she is yet to swallow the pills is that she is breastfeeding.
We settle on pills. One of the four ladies dashes out to collect three samples; C-4, Cypomex and Dr James Hip-Up and Stretchmark Capsules. The women tell us most women prefer C-4, although our own research indicates that Cypomex is more popular with online shoppers.
C-4 is actually an anti-histamine. Its active ingredient, cyproheptadine, is used to relieve allergy symptoms. It is unclear what Cypomex is made of.
Herbs
We question the prices; one of the ladies says the pills are a worthy investment that will pay off by attracting rich and good-looking men. “You will not regret. Tell your boyfriend to send you money to buy a dress you like – just don’t tell him (that you are using the money to buy these pills),” she advises. “After using these products, you will be hot cake. Men will chase after you like never before.” The women giggle and nod their heads.
Side effects
Some of them have multivitamins too, making it easy to gain weight. However, the growth is not specific to particular parts of the body.
Asked how inserting the pills in the anus helps, he says: “I have never heard of such a method of administering the drug. This is the first time.”
Finally, he cannot comment on Cypomex because there are no specific ingredients listed.
A section of River Road in Nairobi. The street is synonymous with all manner of illegal business. PHOTO | FILE NATION MEDIA GROUP
Tiny stall
Marketing gimmicks
“Minimal enhancements can also be attained through exercise. Once the belly gets flatter, the butt naturally appears bigger and leaner.”
We set out to find user reviews. A university student who claims to have doubled her hip-girth through an injection in a River Road clinic says she does not know the name of the substance used on her, “but it worked”. We ask around and discover she may be referring to steroids or silicone gel. These are said to be commonly used in Nairobi.
Ms Rotich says that although illegal in the US, the dangerous practice of using injections to grow big backsides still booms there. It has been nicknamed ‘Brazilian back’ because the trend is believed to have originated from the beach-rich Brazil, where every girl dreams of rocking a bikini without being conscious of a sagging or imbalanced body.
Plastic surgeon
But very few can afford the services of a plastic surgeon, thus the demand for cheaper, dangerous options.
This silicone can travel to other parts of the body, with potentially fatal side effects.
If silicone is accidentally injected into blood vessels, it can travel to the heart and lungs, causing death. The materials are also soft and don’t stay in a single location, leading to hard lumps called granulomas,” writes Healthline, an online platform where professionals share medically reviewed content.
Attempting to flush these substances out of the body could do more harm than good, leading to scars and inadvertent spreading of the materials. This increases the user’s risk of side effects.
Medical situations
Steroids enhance one’s appetite, leading to increased body weight and laying thee ground for metabolic syndrome. Dr Omanwa notes that excess amounts of fat affect the reproductive system. “Body Mass Index of more than 30 has dire consequences. It affects the way the endocrine system, which produces hormones, works, which in turn destabilises other functions of the body,” he explains. Sadly, steroids are readily available over the counter in Kenya, which should not be the case.
Silicone, on the other hand, induces an inflammation, resulting in the hyperactivity of the immune system as it tries to fight the foreign bodies. That is how secondary infertility sets in.
“To conceive, the immune system has to be quiet (not hyperactive) because pregnancy is another foreign body too. Using silicones and trying to get pregnant don’t go hand in hand,” explains Dr Omanwa.
In Florida, a woman died after falling victim to cement injection. These rogue practices are feared to have ended up in Africa and closer still, Kenya. On River Road, there are more risks than just the questionable composition of the drugs. Unlicensed providers operate in unsterile environments, which could increase the risk of infections and even death.
Testing products
