If you are planning to visit the Coast and specifically Mombasa City, you will have to be extra-keen when it comes to buying anything in the city.
Kenyans only feared to buy products from River Road, Nairobi, but of late things have changed.
Many Mombasa residents use perfumes if not body sprays and colognes. It might be because of the hot weather which makes one sweat now and then, and with the perfume, you are able to monitor and control your body smell.
Most visitors coming to the Coast also end up 'doing what Romans do on daily basis' so that they are not smelling bad.
For the above reasons, a ready market for the mentioned products, 'traders' have come up with messy and weird ways of reaping the most, from unsuspecting buyers, who are after controlling their body odor.
Most of these fake traders are found at Mwembe Tayari with travelers being their option A targets.
If you have ever fallen a victim of this, I bet you are not ready to be bitten twice. These guys, mostly hawkers, will approach unsuspecting travelers, especially those who would have spent time at the Coast and are traveling back to their homes, Nairobi or what have you; they will then show you a number of perfumes and sprays.
The unsuspecting targets are even allowed to test the pleasant smell from the products before the price is negotiated. Surprisingly, these guys pour dirty water, sources say water used to wash potatoes, into specific bottles, brand them differently and finally spray those bottles with genuine expensive body sprays.
Unsuspecting buyers will end up buying the fake perfumes and sprays, thinking it is the expensive ones he or she saw at the supermarket or at the cosmetic shop but could not afford it.
Unfortunately, the good smell from these fake products will not last once you buy them. You will only say 'Oh nimechezwa kumbe' but it will be already too late. You will automatically join the "cheap is expensive" team. Beware.
It is therefore good if you will only buy your body-care products from specific cosmetic shops or supermarkets where you can claim if the stuff are fake or not genuine.