Has melanin become the enemy of beauty?
There is this American socialite known as Blac Chyna I think her real name is Angela Renee White. She is African American woman who have decided to promote a skin bleaching cream created by another socialite/musician from Cameroon.
And so Blac Chyna decide to travel to Nigeria to promote the bleaching cream. Nigeria and Africa at large is the highest user of skin Bleaching products followed by Asia, skin bleaching is an epidemic that has been going on for many years. And in America even big celebrities are lightening their skins.
And its gone so far that people are even taking tablet to kill melanin, yes apparently, melanin has become the enemy of beauty, and its been fought by all means necessary.
But why bleach your skin?
In this post I am going to share my experience and my view about skin bleaching. Well, I think in the case of Africa, rather than being considered beautiful for being dark skinned, I don’t know where we went wrong and started associating beauty with light skin.
And also technology has contributed to skin bleaching, if I watch the news on a Kenyan TV station, I am From Kenya by the way, the female news anchor, almost always will be light skinned, then our socialites haven’t helped either because they start of as dark skinned then as time goes by, they get lighter and lighter.
Its very sad because when little girls see that, then they think they must be light skinned to be considered beautiful, and so when they grow up, they follow the trend. And to be quite honest, that’s how it is, like if you watch African dating shows, 90% of men would say they are looking for a light skinned woman or a yellow yellow woman as they call them.
But we can complain all we want, the fact is in Africa, a light skinned model will be booked quicker than a dark skinned model, and even if you look at magazines, the model could be naturally dark skinned but, the magazine editors will lighten her skin on the pictures.
Will it ever stop?
I don’t think skin bleaching will ever stop, and I think even if Blac Chyna didn’t promote the cream, it will sell anyway because skin lightening is a multi million dollar industry. And even though there is so much information out there about the damage one is causing to their skin by using these so called skin lightening products. It seems like people don’t really care about that. They want light skin at any cost.
My experience with”beauty secret”
I remember when I was younger every young lady had what we called ”beauty secret” so a friend of mine decided to share her beauty secret with me. She introduced me to a cream, and the main ingredients in that cream were hydroquinone and mercury, of course I did not know the kind of damage those chemicals could cause on my skin and body at large.
Well, I went and bought the cream and started applying it on my face, by the fourth or fifth day, I started having pain on my cheeks, like I couldn’t go out in the sun, my skin was burning. And also my cheeks were turning red. So I went and complained to my friend, and she told me that it means the cream is working.
Yes my complexion had changed already, I was lighter on my face than on my neck, it was stupid really, because if I wanted to be a light skinned person, why would someone think I was a light skinned person if I am only light skinned on the face? I know stupid young mind.
So anyway, I had to stop the cream because It was burning my face, now when I stopped it, it took like 6 months for the skin on my face to go back to normal. I had to go see a dermatologist to give me some ointment to put on my face so it can heal and go back to normal.
Is it more popular now?
I don’t think skin bleaching is more popular than it was 20 years ago, I just think because of social media, its more exposed and I think that will make it spread even more. So I think we need to speak louder about the dangers and risks of skin bleaching or skin lightening.
All black girls are beautiful no matter the shade
Black girls are so beautiful, regardless of the shade of Black, we come in many shades and they are all beautiful, from dark chocolate to caramel, the only concern we should have is if our skin is healthy and hydrated.
I am so worried about young girls who are exposing their young and delicate skin to these chemicals, the damage they are causing to their skin and health is heart breaking, I don’t know what it will take to convince young, people and sometimes even older ones, that being light skin does not necessarily mean beauty and being dark skin does not mean one is ugly.
Please share your thoughts about this topic
Bleaching may sound like a quick solution for beauty, but its effect is only skin deep and temporary. Taking away natural melanin from your body can do more harm than good because it takes away that layer of shield from UV rays. In the current climate, we are more exposed to UV rays than ever, so having functional melanin is important. Don’t bleach them away girls!
I absolutely agree with you Cathy, melanin protects our skin, yet people are doing whatever they can to destroy it, its just terrible.
I am definitely against skin bleaching. I have heard of Blac Chyna and am kind of surprised she would be promoting such a process. However, I don’t think the skin bleaching movement with beauty is going to stay. With mainstream society, I feel the millennial generation would try to shut this down very quick, especially as we try to constantly promote that people should feel healthy and happy in their own skin and bodies even with weight. However, the idea of pushing forward bigger people should feel happy and healthy in their own weight I disagree with. As with skin, you cannot change that from natural ways and there is no health concerns with any skin color. However, with weight, someone who is bigger (possibly obese) we should not advocate for that. Yes, sometimes weight is difficult to control especially with predisposed genetics contributing to weight gain. However, it is unhealthy and people should work to fix that. I 100% disagree with skin lightening though. Everyone should feel healthy and equal in their own skin color.
To me being light skinned is not an evidence of beauty. In fact my fiance is a black beautiful African lady and she appreciates her skin color. Over time now when I see a fair lady I’ll first picture the person black and if she’s not beautiful, lol my conclusion is she’s very ugly.
So I don’t see any reason why ladies should bleach their skin.
Hi; Your topic is very interesting. I think that Skin bleaching have taken over some people’s mind, in a way that even when the flesh under their skin begins to fall off they will pause, for a while, but they will not stop from bleaching.
You are right, Skin bleaching will not stop, because many people are confusing beauty with complexion. And the truth is: some skin bleachers, I am seeing, really turns me off, as bleaching make them so ugly!
In the steaming hot sun they are covered with hoody to keep their thin skin from scorching. With so many red patches on their faces. But they like looking that way.
I am glad you stop before you were worst hurt. You and I can’t stop them. They are intitled to their openions and responsibly for their behaviours.
DorcasW
This surely is a heavy subject. The definition of beauty, in any culture, always demand so much from those who chase only the physical embodiment of beauty. And it’s ironic that in the chase, they often end up with the ugly mirror image of their desire.
The prejudice for lighter skin tones is idiotic and ironic. Melanin is nature’s gift. It is a protection against ultraviolet rays. It helps with the absorption of heat from sunlight. It limits light absorption, allowing greater visual acuity. But here we are chasing lighter skin tones.
But if it is not light skinned, it is something else.
The lighter skins are chasing darker tones; to the extent of carcinogenic stupidity. Some of our cultures used to prize small feet, demanding the foot binding of young girls who later as adults would have terribly deformed feet.
Nature despairs over us.
The lesson here is to value beauty as a whole; not as one part only. Beauty is not just skin-deep. But it is not just lip-service either. We must learn to appreciate the different looks we sport. And the different temperaments. And not become plastic clones of social media idiocracies.
It is amazing (and sad) to me that these kind of products actually exist for people! Then there are us super pale people trying to use harmful tanning beds and creams to make our skin darker!! It’s all craziness… So glad there are people like you out there that are speaking about the dangers of these kind of products, and promoting real health and beauty instead!
Thank you for this informative post.
its crazy how human beings operate, the dark ones want to be light, the light ones want to be dark, thank you so much for your nice comment. we shall keep this topic going and hopefully, people will learn to embrace and appreciate, who and how they are, regardless of the color of their skin.