Marie Claire South Africa

So far it seems I could really get used to the South African versions of my usual guilty pleasure magazines- mainly Marie Claire and Cosmo, since those are the ones I've seen thus far. Firstly, the cover price is about a quarter of what it is back home, making it a much more affordable habit.

There are some neat crossovers between magazine contents and South African staples. For one, instead of demanding that women raid kitchens to make face masks out of avocado, honey, and egg white (like these things come cheaply enough to go splattering them on your face), South African Marie Claire uses herbology (mostly herbs I haven't even heard of) for everything. I may not be any more likely to concoct their recipes, but it's a very cool observation as I head into courses on traditional medicine. The use of herbs and plants spans into commercially popularized pursuits.

Also, this may be more of a stretch, but I've never seen so many horoscopes. It's really hard to say whether these are features that South African readers take somewhat seriously or not. Actually, I have no idea, so I suppose I shouldn't comment much. But it was interesting.

Also, though it would be unfair to accuse the magazine of omitting black models all together, photos were disproportionately of lovely white women (the cover of FHM in the convenience store also proclaimed South Africa's Sexiest Woman to be a white, blond calendar model). I'm wondering about how much the image of beauty in pop culture has remained white. There's been a Black Consciousness movement, but has there been a Black is Beautiful movement? An aggressive rejection of skin bleaching and hair straightening? Or do Blacks and Whites just consume totally different media?