By Chinenye Anuforo
International Beauty Day (IBD) is observed annually to celebrate the outer and inner beauty of individuals across the world. To commemorate this day, Google has revealed the beauty and fitness-related searches that captured the interest of Nigerians over the past 20 months.
Since the COVID-19 epidemic started, questions such as ‘how to grow natural hair’ and ‘how to decrease belly fat’, and phrases like ‘hairstyles for women’ and ‘bone straight hair,’ have been among the most often googled beauty terms by Nigerians. This indicates that Nigerians were more conscious about how to feel beautiful and stay fit as they navigated through the pandemic.
‘Butterfly braids’ is a breakout search query that emerged in Nigeria over the past year, while searches for ‘bone straight wig’ increased by over 4,000 per cent. ‘Jungle braids’, however, was a breakout search in the past month in Nigeria. Bayelsa State was also identified as the top state in Nigeria in terms of beauty-related searches during the last 12 months.
Individuals worldwide, including Nigerians, have been coping with the pandemic’s effect on their mental health and overall well-being over the last year, and experts have recommended self-care techniques to cope with these stressful conditions. As a result, self-care has become more important, globally. For example, a study conducted by the skin-care company Rodan + Fields on the mental health implications of adult acne discovered that a skincare regimen may significantly decrease stress levels.
Similarly, beauty regimens and fitness programmes might have become go-to coping mechanisms for Nigerians looking to maintain mental well-being as they navigate the pandemic.
Search trends information is gleaned from data collated by Google based on what Nigerians have been searching for and asking Google. Google processes more than 40,000 search queries every second.
This translates to more than a billion searches per day and 1.2 trillion searches per year worldwide.