Welcome to The Glow Issue

Sister, welcome.

If you've ever opened a skincare bottle and felt like the instructions were written for somebody else's face, we made The Glow Issue for you. It's a Sunday letter. Five minutes. No pop-up science, no "experts say," no recycled before-and-after that's really just a filter on a different girl.

What you'll find here is the working-girl version of skincare for melanin-rich skin. The kind we actually do — in the lab in Lekki, in the green-room at BBNaija, on the school run in Surulere, on a flight back from Houston with three suitcases of Argan+ shea butter for the cousins.

What we'll cover

• Tips — small habit shifts that move the needle. Why your moisturiser keeps "balling up." How long to leave a sheet mask on before it starts taking moisture back. Whether to oil before or after your body cream (after — and we'll tell you why).
• Tutorials — full routines, week by week. The 90-day Skin Doctor protocol for stubborn hyperpigmentation. The kojic ramp-up for sensitive skin. Edge-restoration with Argan+. Each one written by the person who developed it.
• Stories — the BBNaija edit, the photographer who only books melanin, the mum in Port Harcourt who built a salon from her veranda. The people who make this industry feel like home.
• Behind-the-scenes — what actually happens when we formulate something new. The kojic-acid percentage we tested for nine months before we landed on it. Why we pulled a soap from the lineup the week before launch. The studio shoot photos that didn't make the campaign.

What we won't do

We won't tell you to lighten your skin. The X7 line in particular — the one you watched the BBNaija housemates reach for — is not a skin-lightening product. It's tone-evening. There is a difference, and we will say it as often as we need to.

We won't pretend a ₦4,500 cream from us replaces sunscreen, a dermatologist, or sleep. Sometimes the answer is rest, water, and a quieter month. We'll say so.

We won't write "trust the process." Nobody trusts a process. They trust a person. Our job is to be that person — and to send proof, not promises.

How to read us

Save this email on Sunday morning, read it with your coffee or your zobo. If a routine catches your eye, you'll see the products underlined the way they are above — tap to read more, or save the list for later. Every product link in here is one we'd hand a sister in real life.

If you want to write back — and please do — reply to the newsletter or DM us on WhatsApp. Real humans on the other end. Bisola reads every single one (and answers most of them between school runs).

Six routines, six issues

Over the next six Sundays we're running the routines we built the lab around:

1. № 02 — The BBNaija Edit. Why the X7 line is on every camera roll from Eviction Night, and what we'd actually put in your kit if you were going on TV tomorrow.
2. № 03 — The Skin Doctor 90-Day Protocol. For acne-scar and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation that hasn't budged in years. Honest timelines.
3. № 04 — Argan+ for the Hairline. The four-week edge restoration we run for brides, mums and anyone whose ponytail tells the story of a hard year.
4. № 05 — Kojic Without the Burn. The percentages, the cycle, the sunscreen pairing. Why most kojic regimens fail and how to make this one not.
5. № 06 — Kids & More for Eczema. Paediatric-safe routine for the babies and toddlers whose skin flares every harmattan.

If your timeline is your mood board and your friends already ask you what you use — we have an affiliate programme that pays 15% on every order through your link. The application takes 60 seconds. We approve within 24 hours.

That's it for № 01. Thank you for being here. We've waited a long time to write a letter like this — to women who look like us, in a voice that sounds like home.

See you Sunday.

— Bisola, The Glow Issue