Chateau d'Eau

After a late morning stop by the Agnes B galerie to check out the Malick Sidibé and Omar Victor Diop photography exhibition, I took the metro line 4 and exited at "Chateau d'Eau" station. I needed to restock on my favorite Mizani's cream gel to achieve my afro.

For a long long time, this neighborhood at the North East of Paris has been one of the only place for Black women to find beauty and care products (the good, the bad and even the very toxic life threatening skin lighteners), hair salons, fabrics, food also. I can't remember for how long I've been going to that place, certainly when I moved back from Benin after high-school graduation.

There are touts everywhere once you're out of the metro trying to coax you up to get your hair/nails done in "their" salons, it can be very annoying but I get that it's their way of making ends meet since they're paid on commissions depending on the number of clients they bring, usually a simple "non" or negative head shake and they'll move on to the next potential customer.   

Now that most of the French corporations realized how much money they were losing by ignoring the Afro-descendants purchasing power, one can find a (sadly often apart segregated) "ethnic" corner in most supermarkets and boutiques dedicated to our special needs have opened up in gentrified areas, mostly White arrondissements of Paris. Not to mention, how internet has simply revolutionized French Black women's information access and shopping for haircare, skincare and makeup.   

Still whenever I need to buy synthetic hair to get braids done or stock up on coconut oil, Eco Styler gel, Shea Moisture products etc., I make the trip all the way to Chateau d'Eau despite the distance from my home, despite the hustlers.

First, products there are a lot cheaper and considering how pricy some brands are in France (looking at you Mizani and Shea Moisture with your average 15 to 20 euros per product) a few euros saved are always worth it in my opinion. I get that location can justify a price increase, sometimes I'm willing to pay the extra bucks but usually I'd rather add an extra 10 minutes metro ride to pay less!

Second, the store I go to has a great diverse stock, a pleasant quiet atmosphere, sales assistants are polite but not overwhelming, have rad hairstyles and useful comments on products.

Finally, I've always been quite conservative - I did a brownish hair color 3 weeks ago to cover my grey hair and already had a hard time adjusting lol - but I love to see the variety of hairstyles, wigs demonstrating the creativity and cleverness of my sisters. I find it inspiring, uplifting too, so shout-out to all the women of color outhere fearlessly embracing themselves and being free!

"Ironically", I posed in front of one of those whitening skintone brands I despise which are preying on Black women's suffering and centuries of self-hatred bashing. I can't fathom the inner wounds it would take to believe that a lighter skin tone is the solution.

I was wearing : Coat: Uniqlo / Sweater: Isabel Marant Etoile / Jeans + scarf: Cos / Sneakers: Nike x Comptoir des Cotonniers / Bag: Céline