Babies
Bleached Skin Isn’t The New Black.
A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a Tyra Banks show that caught my attention. First of all, I have to give Tyra some credit. Personally, I think Ms. Banks can be a little on the annoying side because she talks over her guests, and audience, however, I appreciate her intentions. I appreciate what she stands for and the sort of issues she directs media attention to. This particular day, she had women on there who weren’t happy with the hue of their skin, and therefore turned to bleaching their skins to become lighter.
This was especially bothersome because a few of the women went as far as bleaching their kid’s skin as well. These folks, whom I pitied so much, claimed that light skinned women were more beautiful, got more attention and that they defined beauty in every sense of the word. To take this even further, one went as far as saying that in the black community and amongst black women, there’s a beauty stereotype. Light skinned women are favored by black men, and deemed prettier.
Say what??? I was shocked. These were African American women too. Frankly, this was a first for me. Call me naive or ignorant, but I thought only African women bleached their skin. Truly. This is not so. All blacks do - the ones that do bleach, that is. African Americans, Jamaicans, Africans, etc. I mean these women bleach so bad that while they get lighter, their skin begin to deform and turns green or even burns (it turns dark). I think this often happens when they can’t either keep up with the cost of bleaching creams or they have gone way too far with it. There are some that bleach, but forget to get their knuckles/fingers, so you can pretty much tell that they are not naturally light, while some bleach just the face and from their neck down, they are dark as hell, and you are like..uhm..seriously??? Whether you get it professionally done or on your own, bleaching your skin signifies a serious problem within.
And just so you know, men are not excluded from this as you can see from the picture above. Yes, those are all men (Jamaicans), and I read that this is pretty common in Jamaica. As a matter of fact, more men are bleaching these days than women. The same goes for Senegal, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.
What sort of insecurities can you be possibly going through in your life to make you want to bleach your skin? Are we going to date this back to colonialism? We can certainly argue that fact, but are we going to go there and play victim?
So, ok, you are an adult, you bleach your skin and you claim it’s your prerogative. Obviously, you are not happy with who you are, you have a low self-esteem or perhaps don’t see yourself as beautiful. But to bleach your kid’s skin too? Are you serious? What sort of message are your sending to them? Why are you making them self-conscious as if it isn’t hard enough as it is to be a kid of color in America?
And do you understand the hazards?
It is rough enough for kids in school because they get teased by the most mundane things, but should consciousness come from home? Or shouldn’t home be where they turn to for comfort. Knowing that beauty comes in all colors and all forms, etc.
What is the representation of white/black/light skinned beauty? What happened to being proud of your skin color? I love my skin. I get tons of compliments for being this dark, I especially like getting darker over the summer, because I get shinny.
Should we blame society for this? Is society placing light-skinned black women on a pedestal and terming that as beauty? Are these folks victims or they really need to start taking responsibility for their actions and stop pointing fingers? I thought we had progressed from this and the media has somewhat embraced black beauty; have we not? Of course, it’s not completely equal yet and certainly not where we’d like it to be, but we are not helping the situation by changing our skin tone.
I am really concerned about the kids too. I’m concerned about the messages that we are sending to these kids.
Be black/dark and proud. Love your skin gracefully. We are responsible for and representing a younger generation. If you are in the beauty, image or modeling industry and it’s tough for you to get ahead because of the color of your skin, may be it’s time to raise awareness and break the cycle instead of feeding into the stereotype. Don’t become a victim of nonsense. Let’s accept and represent all forms of beauty.
IMPORTANT TO NOTE: Skin bleaching industry is a 1 billion dollar industry. I heard that some of these creams have mercury and arsenic in them. Not only does bleaching lead to skin cancer, facial hair, acne and sorts, it can potentially lead to death.
Please send this to your friends and spread the word. Also, click on the following link for stats and more information on this issue (Thanks, Solomon) http://www.nigeriancuriosity.com/2007/02/complexion-complex.html
Credits:
First pic: Essential bloom Reference: Jamaica Gleaner News
Second pic: Found the pic through research and can’t find the site any longer. Would love to credit the site and photog. Readers, please feel free to send me msgs if you find the source.
Related Posts
Tags: african american beauty, african women and bleaching, arsenic in bleaching cream, Beauty Industry, black models, bleaching cream, Bleaching industry, dark beauty, dark skin beauty, essence, folake kuye, Jamaica, media and beauty, Men who bleach, mercury in bleaching cream, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, skin bleaching, women who bleach 
Bleaching is a serious issue with very harmful effects physically and emotionally. I wrote a post a long time ago and a reader from jamaica informed me that the practice was popular over there at one point. Will link to your post in mine.
I really don’t understand the mind set of people who do this. I believe we should love who God made us and make the changes we need to for improvement - from within.
It certainly doesn’t help to see adverts on African TV for skin tone (read ‘bleaching’) creams and soaps. As for the practice of bleaching children’s skins, OMG, it astounds me! I find it totally reprehensible. Child services!
This is a very confronting issue you just raised, especially here in Naija,where everyone want to turn to oyinbo overnight.
I remember one day, I was in the bus. I sat beside a woman, I didnt even know she has a bleached skin. she just nudged me and whispered in my eyes..Guess what? she said I must never, ever bleach my skin, that I’m a black pretty gal” I looked up to meet her gaze,her face has been patched black and burnt here and there. And she told me,she was once black like I am.
I dont even need her advice cos I’m a true black african queen and am proud tof it any day ..and anytime.
I dont think there is any justifiable reason why anyone will blame the society for it, is strictly an individual thingy. Cos no one is blaming anybody for being white,fair or black.
And is not only mercury and arsenic dat kill..Those stuffs contain Hydroquinone too which is the worst of them all.
I can just imagine why I will stoop so low to bleach my own skin, not to talk of my child.
@ Solomon, again, thanks for stopping by. Left a message for you on your post. Couldn’t agree with you more.
@ Debbie, it’s mind blowing! The practice of bleaching on kids just totally took it to a different level for me. It’s sickening. I read on Solomon’s blog that bleaching creams have been banned in Jamaica, I just hope and pray that Africa can catch up and create anti policies as well.
@ Orimadegun, yes, it is a big problem in Nigeria, innit? Forgot to mention Hydroquinone, the worse of them all. Like I mentioned to Solomon, this is a summary of the post. If I went ahead with the original article I wrote, it’d be far too lengthy for the readers. We can go on for days. Glad you’re loving your skin. Keep it up!
I guess the grass is always greener on the other side. Light-skinned people are always trying to get darker, and have “color envy” in many cases. Really sad…I wish more people would realize that we are what we are. No one is any better or worse than another, especially not because of the color of our skin. Man…things are so twisted…
they bleach cos they want to and have low self esteem. isnt Alec wek black as the night. isnt she a multi-millionnaire from her looks? so not only light skinned women are beautiful. beauty is in all shapes and colours, and those that bleach has serious self esteem issues
Part 1
So true and very well written. I still don’t understand why men/women in these times still want to bleach their skin. I do believe there is underlying denial of self within. Really!! Why would you use products that can cause harm to you just because you want to lighten your skin to fit in with what you thik society thinks is beautiful. However then again I grew up in an environment where I was made to feel beautiful. Skin tone was never an issue for me or even brought to my attention. Skin tone probably came up in boarding school and by then I was so proud and comfortable with myself that it was not a big deal to me. I have spoken with some of my friends who are African American and some have said that it was hard for them because they were darker. Even family members would ridicule them especially in families where some were light and others dark. I have some friends from the Islands who have experienced the same thing.
Part 2
If you want to do that to yourself, go right ahead but don’t do it to your kids. You are really sending the wrong message.. a message of self hate. What do you really achieve after doing this. I would really like to know if your life changes drastically by bleaching your skin. Really does it?? Children of African descent regardless of their skin color have to deal with issues (big or small) in this country so why add this to the mix. Let us try to make a difference with our children so they can be proud of who they are and in the process educate their peers. It doesn’t matter if our children are not called John, Tom or Larry but perhaps Femi, Tosan or Uche. It doesn’t matter if our children are not white but maybe light brown, brown or dark brown. It does not matter if our children don’t have bone straight hair but may have wavy, kinky or locks. It our responsiblity to make our children feel very comfortable with who they are.
hey girl i missed your blog. but don’t worry i am reading everything i missed and making my comments. ok back to this bleaching thing i grew up in america so i wasn’t exposed to it i mean some girl were black and beautiful some are light and beautiful. some guys like dark some like light so it was never an issue. but now i live in nigeria and i can say 80% of women engage in some sort of toning or bleaching and it cross across class i think in nigeria they have the slave mentality of beauty i believe an average nigerian man still believe a dark skin women is not as attractive as a light skinned woman. even the women themselves believe the lighter the more attractive you are. i mean folake almost everyone here in nigeria engage in this nonsense even the sophisticated and exposed ones. the rich ones just use expensive product. they discuss their creams openly and are forever suggesting to me that i should tone to be a little brighter. even when they are naturally light they still bleach to be lighter. in nigeria you can never see a wealth man with a dark skin wife or see a wealth women that is dark she would have been toning for years to become lighter and are kids will be dark i mean what are these women telling their children?you are not beutiful because you are dark .folake i am serious do your investigation i mean i am sure there one or two wealth men married to a dark skin women but i bet his mistress is light (a diffrent story for another day the infidelity level in nigeria is shocking with both men and women a topic for another day) but its one in a million. how sad and we are from the dark continent.
@ Kwavi, thanks for sharing. Yes, bleaching all in the name of vanity. Absurd! In re the African American community, I knew skin tones were issues, as well as hair. I just wasn’t aware that they also resolved to bleaching..not until recently. And passing it on to the kids? That’s a HUGE problem - one that needs serious attention & awareness.
@ Kemi, welcome back. Glad to see that you are back on the grind! Hope all is well with you and yours. Great comment, though, my jaw dropped reading it. Are you serious?? Even the naturally light bleach to be lighter? And the whole charade about wealth being associated with skin tone is all just very disturbing. I seriously hope that this issue gains momentum and Nigeria imposes policies that bans these products.
BTW, I do have a blog coming up on infidelities and its effects on kids.
There are so many side effects of bleaching.
This is so real. When I worked at Macys as a makeup artist. So many women came in to find concealors to cover various types of burns.
This does happen in the US. I’d say it’s not as common, as in some other countries (though it used to be more common in the US roughly 90 years ago); but it certainly does happen. It also happens in Asia and India, though it’s a lot more common there (India in particular).
My sister’s husband is Nigerian and we were shocked to learn that he does the same to his skin.
Tyra’s show is a bit freakish and designed to perpetuate negative stereotypes. However, while it’s not as common in the US anymore (especially amongst African-Americans), it certainly does still happen to an extent and needs to be banned and addressed.