Women of colour still need to buy cosmetics abroad

Beige is the darkest colour for powder in Finland

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By Laura Pekonen
     
      When Fay Eskin first moved to Finland, she went to Sweden when she needed a visit to the hairdresser.
      Eleven years ago, the British-born Eskin could not find a hairdresser in Helsinki who would have known how to handle her coarse hair that twists into tight curls.
      "It was expensive", Eskin recalls.
      Then she discovered a salon on Lapinlahdenkatu that specialises in afro hairstyles. At the same time, small immigrant-operated ethnic stores were opening in the Kallio district, importing foodstuffs geared toward Asian, African, and Caribbean tastes.
     
The rear shelves of these grocery stores filled up with cosmetics products that Finns had never known to long for: dark-tinted powders and lipsticks, straightening hair creams (for women) and curling hair gels (for men).
      "With the help of those products, I could control at least one small element in a foreign environment. I could do my hair like I wanted to", Eskin says.
      She opens a jar of Jamaican hair cream that her mother used to rub into her daughter’s scalp in the evenings to help circulation, make the hair grow, and make the hair damp and thus easy to comb.
      "Take a sniff. I can smell my childhood."
     
Black mannequins, dark foundations, shampoos that help untangle curly hair, skin-bleaching products. Everyday items that can be found in any American or British supermarket.
      In Finland, the darkest colour in powders is geared for those with a summer tan – but on dark skin, beige powder looks like dirty spots.
      "I have suggested to large department stores that they begin to carry products designed for dark skin, but they have not been interested", comments Briton Hazel Brevett, who imports dark-coloured make-up products.
      "I can understand them in a way, because there is little demand. But we are a growing group. It is no longer just a matter for immigrants, but also for their Finnish children."
     
Brevett imports affordable make-up products that are sold in a couple of hair salons. She estimates that she has around two hundred buyers.
      Eskin continues to stock up on her make-up when she visits her parents in New York. In Finland, only Joe Blasco products have foundations that she feels are dark enough.
      "Whenever a friend goes to London, she gets a long shopping list to take along", Eskin says.
     
Twice a month, Eskin drives from her Nurmijärvi home to Kallio to refill her supply of hair care products. She buys a straightening product from Maharaja, located on Hämeentie. When the substance is applied to hair once in every 4–5 weeks, curls straighten out and become easier to handle.
      "Heated combs were used in the past, but they tended to burn hair", she recounts.
      Straight hair that flows down is currently fashionable among coloured women. Men, on the other hand, should have small, wet-look curls that require an expensive gel and trouble. That is why many coloured men in Finland keep their hair very short, Eskin explains.
      The slim product range is not a consequence only of a small market. Brevett reported in a Finnish consumer magazine that she cannot find buyers for her imported cosmetics because women of colour in Finland use skin-bleaching products – even if they contain harmful chemicals.
     
Bleaching creams for both the face and knees can be found on the shelves of Maharaja. The knees and elbows often appear darker than other parts of the skin. According to Brevett, the habit has a sad history: light-coloured skin has been a status symbol ever since the days of slavery, and bleaching substances are therefore still widely used in Africa.
      According to Eskin, however, young women living in Finland do not aim for the Finnish look, but for that of coloured celebrities.
      "A bleaching cream evens out the colour of your skin and gives it a shine. It brings the glamour that the women on MTV have", she explains.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 14.9.2005

More on this subject:
 FACTFILE: Products for dark skin

LAURA PEKONEN / Helsingin Sanomat
laura.pekonen@hs.fi