Appear+ is a digital companion and community for people living with skin conditions, visible differences, and appearance-related challenges.
It supports people emotionally and socially — not by telling them to “be confident” or “love themselves,” but by listening, validating their experience, and offering grounded support in moments when stigma hurts.
It’s built especially for African realities, where appearance stigma is common but emotional support is often missing or inaccessible.
Appear+ is an appearance-focused psychosocial support initiative created to respond to a deeply overlooked reality:
How appearance-based stigma affects emotional, social, and mental well-being, especially in African communities.
The idea for Appear+ did not come from a lab or a trend report.
It came from lived experience.
From years of navigating public spaces, workplaces, schools, and social environments where visible differences are stared at, commented on, prayed over, or dismissed.
From moments when pain was minimised with phrases like
“it’s not that serious,”
“cover it,” or
“just be strong.”
Over time, it became clear that what many people needed was not fixing, hiding, or advice, but safe space, understanding, and support that recognises appearance stigma as real and harmful.
Appear+ was created as a digital response to that need.
It is designed as a pocket companion, accessible, culturally grounded, and non-judgmental, offering psychosocial support through conversation, community, and shared experience.
Not to replace therapy.
Not to medicalise appearance.
But to ensure that no one has to walk alone with the emotional weight of being seen as “different.”
To bring Appear+ to life responsibly, we are building in collaboration with trusted technical and infrastructure partners.
This includes early-stage conversations and design work with platforms such as Turn.io, which enables secure, ethical conversational support on channels like WhatsApp — a widely trusted and accessible tool across Africa.
These collaborations help ensure that Appear+ is:
Safe
Scalable
Respectful of user privacy
Supported by human oversight
Our focus is not just how we build, but how responsibly we show up for the people who trust us with their stories.
Appear+ is currently in its early build and pilot phase, shaped by community insights, lived experience, and ethical design.
So far, we have:
Defined Appear+ as a distinct psychosocial well-being platform focused on appearance, not general mental health
Designing ỌdịdịM, our AI-assisted companion concept for real-time emotional and appearance-centred support
Built early MVP tools, including:
Appearance story sharing
Anonymous lookism (appearance discrimination) reporting
Community-based support spaces
Begun early community engagement through WhatsApp groups and storytelling initiatives
Developed a strong ethical and safety framework to guide how AI and human support interact
Entered active conversations with trusted technical partners to ensure responsible deployment
What we are most proud of is not the technology — but the care.
We have been intentional about:
Emotional safety
Cultural relevance
Clear boundaries between support and clinical care
Transparency about what Appear+ can and cannot do
At a time when many tools rush to scale, we chose to build slowly, responsibly, and with dignity.
