In the approaching weeks, West Africa’s Ghana and Nigeria will erupt into celebration as “Detty December” kicks off.
The area will see tourism ranges spike as many dual-nationals and diasporans return to the continent in time for the season, which lasts from mid-December to mid-January and spans day by day occasions from seashore events that final till dawn to music festivals that includes worldwide artists. The festivities span far and huge, reaching Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya and South Africa.
This season, the same set of occasions will unfold, as a wave of huge and small world magnificence labels — like YSL Beauty from France, Danessa Myricks from the US and Sliq from the UK — will journey to West Africa to maintain advertising occasions, whereas native magnificence manufacturers provide up retail areas, maintain joint advertising activations and share consumer lists.
An early mover was US skincare label Topicals. Back in December 2023, the indie skincare model based by Olamide Olowe took a handful of influencers on a press journey to Accra, Ghana’s capital, to expertise Detty December. The advertising activation, which featured a mixture of membership nights, music festivals and sightseeing across the metropolis, despatched the web right into a frenzy; Olowe mentioned the journey helped the model’s signature eye masks preserve its place because the primary eye product at Sephora for the final 18 months. It supplied a much-welcome twist on influencer journeys, while additionally inserting tradition and neighborhood on the centre of its advertising technique.
“We have to rewrite [the rules of the beauty industry] with our community in mind; if not our brands will cease to exist,” mentioned Olowe.
While vacationers and African shoppers get to work together with a few of their favorite worldwide manufacturers on residence soil, a long-term distribution mannequin is required to enhance gross sales past the festive interval.
“If you are a brand that is designing products that work better on people of colour, the entire globe should be your customer base,” mentioned Olowe, who added the model is “really building financial roots across the diaspora, not only when people come home during Detty December.”
Detty December’s Gold Rush
Starting in mid-December and stretching till mid-January, Detty December is a month-long celebration. The title was coined by Nigerian musician Mr Eazi, who launched a track titled “Detty Yasef” in 2017 and held a live performance in Lagos the next 12 months promoted with the hashtag Detty December; it has since turn into synonymous with the festive season. The phrase “Detty” is Pidgin, an area language used in West Africa, and means to have fun and have enjoyable.
But not each occasion is centred round partying; some manufacturers host networking dinners in buzzy high-end eating places or 10k runs across the metropolis. The festive season can also be a time to reconnect with household.
“December — for a lot of folks like me and the rest of our team — is a time where we’re able to go home,” mentioned Manacoro Mbaye, the Senegalese co-founder of London-based textured hair care model Sliq. As the model is rooted in heritage, tradition and identification, Mbaye believes it was a essential step to develop the enterprise into Africa, notably to give again to the market that produces quite a few their elements. In Senegal, Sliq plans on coming into the market by partnerships with stylists and sweetness salons.
After lately launching at Nigerian retailer Beauty Hut Africa, Danessa Myricks is partnering with movie star make-up artist Chelsea Uchenna to host a masterclass that’s “Detty December-proof,” Uchenna mentioned in a latest TikTok video. YSL Beauty is returning to Lagos to host its annual Live in Lagos get together, that includes fashionable DJs and dwell performances.
For African manufacturers and retailers, it’s a welcome inflow of gross sales. “A lot of businesses are looking forward to that huge increase in dollar-denominated currencies,” mentioned Chika Uwazie, a tech entrepreneur and co-host of the Afropolitan podcast, noting that buyers who’re coming from markets like Europe and the US, and earn in overseas forex, are worthwhile to native companies. “They have dollars, and they are ready [and] open to spending,” she mentioned.
Africa’s tourism is rising quickly. In the primary half of 2025, the area recorded the strongest progress in world tourism, up 12 % in contrast to the identical interval final 12 months, in accordance to the United Nations Tourism. Ghana and Nigeria are two nations benefitting from an uptick in diaspora tourism, notably in the course of the festive season.
What It Takes to Win the Season
Many worldwide indie manufacturers which have restricted expertise in the African market are leaning on native gamers to assist them get it proper. “Every year, Detty December brings thousands of diaspora entrepreneurs back to Nigeria, and while they typically spend heavily during this period, they rarely have structured opportunities to also earn or showcase their work,” mentioned Adeola Adeyemi, the founder and chief government of Nigerian cosmetics label Beauty by Ad.
There’s a singular alternative for manufacturers to construct visibility with each native and diaspora shoppers, and set up a footprint in West Africa in the course of the busiest retail interval of the 12 months, Adeyemi added. This festive season, Beauty by Ad will run a sequence of pop-up occasions, designed completely for diaspora magnificence, vogue and way of life manufacturers, a transfer Adeyemi believes will assist check the Nigerian magnificence market with out incurring big monetary prices.
While the festive season is exciting for both consumers and brands alike, Olowe stresses the importance of giving back to the local community. “It has to be a cross-cultural exchange,” she said, adding that brands should not extract resources or profit off of the local community without giving back and investing in the region. Topicals has donated to a girls’ school in Accra, Ghana, a creative hub in Lagos and a mental health organisation in Bermuda, where it held an influencer brand trip in 2023.
This year, Topicals will not hold its usual marketing events in Lagos or Accra. Instead, the beauty brand is sending select Topical consumers to West Africa so they can experience Detty December for themselves. The move is also part of its Faded Fridays campaign this December, which will see the company pay for flights to different locations, including Brazil and Thailand.
Coming to Africa and Staying There
Nigeria’s beauty market is shifting, and it’s luring international brands to the sub-region, with several brands exploring retail opportunities on the continent. Topicals was one of the first indie Western brands to establish its retail footprint in West Africa. “We are changing the narrative of what it means to participate in the diaspora, particularly in West Africa, financially,” said Olowe. “People are seeing the community members, the citizens of the different West African countries, as real buyers.”
Investing in culture pays dividends, both in Western markets and the diaspora, said Abiola Babarinde, head of brand marketing at Topicals. Topicals has seen significant commercial growth, she said, as it’s opened its West African sales channel and evolved its brand trip strategy.
Growing demand is forcing brands into new territory. Sliq is building its retail footprint across Africa, starting with Nigeria. The four-year-old brand is partnering with Beauty Hut Africa to sell its products in the country after receiving a number of requests from consumers on the continent.
“People are waking up to the fact that [Africa] is an incredibly slept-on market,” said Mbaye. “Beauty is very instrumental to a lot of African societies. … Every activation, every endeavour is a learning opportunity.”
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