CUTTING IT FINE
Sistas go mad nip and tuck
MOVE over expensive jewellery and designer shoes and handbags. Cosmetic surgery is a black girl’s new best friend.
Cosmetic surgeons and celebrities say gone are the days when going under the knife was considered a taboo subject in some cultures.
Surgeon Chris Snijman, who owns a private practice in Morningside Clinic, said there was a “massive increase in women of colour doing cosmetic surgery procedures”.
“The emerging upper and middle class have got it all — the houses, the clothes and their children are in the best private schools. So they’re looking for something new and they have found it in cosmetic surgery.”
A prime example is socialite and actress Khanyi Mbau, who is not ashamed to admit she has undergone several procedures.
Mbau, known as much for her scandalous affairs as she is for her love of bling, first went under the knife four years ago to have breast implants.
Since then she has undergone seven procedures, including three breast augmentations, lipolysis (injections that break down fat), cheek fillers, chemical peels and dental veneers, all costing more than R200 000 in total.
“I hated how disproportioned I looked with a flat chest [and] I had bad teeth, but mostly I want- ed to look good on screen and in pictures. I did all of this for my career.”
Former stripper and designer Barbie Brazil, who refuses to give her real name, said she had undergone five procedures, including “two boob jobs, a nose job, liposuction and a tummy tuck”.
“I had my first boob job when I was 19 after my first year as a stripper, because I wanted to look like the other girls,” she said.
Ten years and almostR300 000 later, Brazil still dreams of getting dental veneers for a “Nicki Minaj smile” and getting the “perfect butt”.
There was an increase in cosmetic procedures among “black male and female clientele”, said another surgeon, Dr Johan Landman.
“I really think more spending money is available, and because the procedures only take a few minutes, they do not need any time off work,” he said.
But it is not only an attempt to look better that has women taking the step. Beauty and fashion editor Alexis Tshangana, 32, said it was sheer discomfort that led her to the operating table.
“I got laser liposuction on my stomach, because my tummy got to a point where I looked like I was seven months pregnant and it was heavy for me and made me unhappy.”
Tshangana said her decision was influenced by an “airplane experience where I had to get a seat belt extender because my stomach was too big”.
“This was an emotionally and physically draining time, but I am happier and I feel more confident,” she said.