With up to 70% of
women using skin lightening creams in parts of Africa, Cote d’Ivoire has led
the charge in tackling skin lighteners and has banned the practice nationally. It is time for the rest of the continent to
follow.
Skin lighteners have
become a common part of life in communities across the continent which is home
to an estimated two thirds of the world’s darker-skinned population. In the
late 1960s, 60% of urban African women reported using skin lightener formulas.
It became the fourth most commonly used household product after soap, tea
and tinned milk.
These days, 75% of Nigerian women
and between 52% and 67% of Senegalese women
use skin lightening products. A survey conducted in South Africa’s
administrative capital Pretoria showed that 35% of women use them.
Demand is also high in
Ghana, Tanzania and Kenya where buoyant economies and advertising have targeted
young women of marriageable age. There has been a marked shift in male
preferences toward women with light-co loured skin emphasizing the idea of “racial capital”.
But skin lighteners
are damaging. The World Health Organization has banned the active ingredients
of skin lighteners – a chemical agent called hydroquinone and mercury – from being used in any unregulated skin
products.
Unregulated products
have significantly higher quantities of hydroquinone and mercury than those
recommended by dermatologists. Using them could lead to liver and
kidney failure or hyper-pigmentation, which is dark skin patches
forming on the area where the product is used. There is also a risk of skin
cancer because the melanin synthesis which protects the skin against ultraviolet
radiation is inhibited by hydroquinone.
The stereotype
The word “yellow bone”
has gained popularity in the US as well as countries like
South Africa. It refers to a lighter-skinned black person, perpetuating the
lengthy racist Eurocentric tradition which propagates negative images and
aesthetics of black people and people of color.
African descendants in
America, the Caribbean and Brazil have internalized these fabricated and fictionalized images of themselves. In an American setting this is a
psychological abnormality coined Post Trauma Slavery Disorder. In South Africa, it could be equated
to what I have coined “Post-Apartheid Inferiority Disorder” (PAID). The most
visible global symptoms include:
1) use of skin
lightening or bleaching creams
2) preference for
white or light-skinned friends and children
3) wearing of blond hair
or blond wigs
4) internalized
inferiority and a lack of self-love or veneration
5) lack of group unity
and trust.
The motivation for
using skin lighteners is linked to colonial history. Lightening one’s skin is
perceived to come with increased privileges, higher social standing, better
employment and increased marital prospects. This, coupled with influential
marketing strategies from transnational cosmetic houses using iconic
celebrities, increases the allure – primarily for women, but increasingly for
men.
Skin lightening is
described in many different ways across the continent. In Mali and Senegal, the
terms “caco” and “xeesal” are used while in Ghana, the term “nensoebenis”
describes the condition of the skin after chronic skin
lightener use.
With its political
overtones, South Africa has a distinctive history with skin
lighteners. Various ethnic languages describe the practice. In
isiXhosa it is known as “ukutsheyisa” which means “to chase beauty”. In isiZulu
it is known as “ukucreamer” meaning “applying creams on the skin”.
The health risks
Skin lightening creams
can be divided into legal products recommended by dermatologists and illegal,
over-the-counter and unregulated products.
Most reputable skin
lighteners are expensive. Because of this, the market is vulnerable to
over-the-counter, unregulated and unsupervised use of skin lighteners. The use
of these creams can result in irreversible skin damage.
The majority of
illegal “depigmenting” or skin lightening creams can contain between 8% to 15%
ofhydroquinone.
The use of hydroquinone in cosmetics has been banned since 2001. Hydroquinone
is used in large quantities in paints and as a photographic developing solution.
Despite the laws
restricting the use of hydroquinone, I found a range of different brands of
skin lighteners available in pharmacies and supermarkets in the Johannesburg
area.
The attraction to the
practise is encouraged by overt advertising and the advent and influence of
social media and mobile phones with roaming apps.
Although individuals
have started speaking out against skin lightening, such as the Senegalese modelswho took a stand at the Dakar Fashion
Week, governments need to take action. Regulations should ensure that the
creams are safe and that illegal products are kept off the market. In addition,
governments should encourage the view that being paler skinned isn’t a panacea
and that black is beautiful too.
Reference:
Healthnewsng
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