Skin bleaching – Society’s new phenomenon of beauty
“Team Dark Skin,” “Team Light Skin”. These are all the names and popular phrases formed by black woman within today’s society.
From several debates and discussion topics in the media it seems the complexion of one’s skin colour is becoming a competitive area and most “dark skinned” women are taking up severe methods of skin bleaching to compete with their fellow “light skin” women.
Nowadays skin bleaching creams are becoming a popular and controversial part of many women’s beauty routines.
While skin lighters may be used by different people for different reasons, manufactures and doctors are seeing an increasing purchase rate of the product.
Dr. Rebecca Olson head of the Sociology Department at University of Queensland says the norm is not as evident within today’s society but from her understanding it is vastly becoming a popular beauty routine.
“I am aware of its occurrence but it’s very sheltered in the sense that a lot of women know how to mask it very well.”
“Nevertheless it is a growing phenomenon around the world and it's becoming a bigger business," said Olson.
While you won’t find many products in Australia that blatantly promises to bleach or whiten skin, there are sold on online markets and common places in other parts of the world.
"They're popular throughout many African countries, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East, India, Philippines, and Japan broadly," says Olson.
The trend has become so common that some women are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve a lighter complexion.
Amie, born as Amaka Chiku says that bleaching saved her life and secured her future and she intends to do the same for her family.
“I’ve bleached most of my life and now I do the same with my children, a lot of people are against that but I purely do it because I don’t want them to go through the struggles I had to face as a darker skinned woman, society can be so cruel in that aspect.”
“...and when i say struggles i mean, when I was growing up, it was harder due to either me getting bullied or always seemed to be picked last for everything..."
"...even after graduating university it was harder for me to get a job because I was always competing with not only the Caucasians but also the “lighter skinned” people. Nowadays I have no such problems, people see me as an equal, well at least close to it and that alone is satisfying,” said Amie.
In 2014, the Queensland premier Anna Bligh banned the products from being sold in stores due to a pregnant woman having difficulties delivery her child during a caesarean procedure.
Regardless of the ban being introduced, products are still being stocked on shelves and most of the skin lighting products can still be found in several locations within Brisbane.
[INFOGRAPHIC OF PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN USING THE PRODUCT WORLDWIDE]
Raw Data: sourced from http://www.360nobs.com/2013/06/nna-mehn-nigerian-women-lead-in-skin-bleaching-worldwide-w-h-o-reports/
Moorooka Shop owner of hair and cosmetics store Patricia Mania says the demand has risen so high that she has to order double the product amount than ever before.
“I have never heard of the banning of the products and quite frankly the demand for products have risen which is good for business. We initially started off with our stock numbers at 10 products per carton and there were only about 5 carton’s coming in on a weekly basis now we’re selling close to 40 cartons per week, the numbers have definitely increased over the years.”
“Most of the girls who come in here have friends or are surrounded by friends that bleach and because they see the attention their friends are getting ,they too want to be accepted the same way,” said Mania.
Others like Olivia Thompson disagrees to such statements and says there is more to bleaching than many people assume.
“I had Eczema when I was younger and it was so harsh and visible on my skin, I decided to give bleaching a go at the time just to even out my skin. It was the worst decision ever, the more I got lighter the more you would see my marks and the peeling got worse, I guess my darker complexion masked it way better than I thought it did.”
“I have since stopped bleaching and it’s both funny and weird, because ever since then I’ve gone darker than I used to be, don’t ask me why but it seems to be like that for many people. My Eczema is now gone thanks to real doctor approved prescribed products and now I’ve come to embrace my darker complexion more than ever,” said Thompson.
Melasma and skin lightening specialist Dr Brad Jones from Westside Dermatologist, says using the right procedure and doctors prescription skin lighten cream are not necessarily bad.
“Melasma is a common cause of facial pigmentation seen within the skin and can often be resistant to treatment. With the use of prescriptive creams, peels and the latest in laser treatments, up to 80% of melasma patients will improve.”
“I’m assuming most of these women who use harsh products without consultation are the ones who are seeing negative effects,” Says Jones.
Jones says using harsh chemicals for whitening and bleaching skin can cause harm to your skin in the long run. Therefore, it is essential to use natural remedies for having clean and flawless skin.
[PRODUCT IMAGES- NOTE: Some images were sourced of online Amazon site]
In contrast some people such as Beatrice Aquan are in solemn support of skin bleaching.
“Actually bleaching saved my life, as a kid I got bullied a lot due to the pigmentation and dark spots on my face. I saw my friends were using bleaching products. However i must admit for then, it just made them look orange and faded out, for me though on the other hand all I wanted was to even out my skin and it did that for me. I don’t use the harsh stuff though, just the light and easy products,” Says Aquan.
Also in full support of the creams Naomi Lus says it’s a phase nowadays every “dark skinned” teen goes through.
“I started bleaching when I was a teen, my sisters were all doing it and I was always so jealous of how beautiful and fair their complexions were as opposed to mine, so it was only natural for me to do the same and now I feel so much more confidant in my own skin”
Others like Griffith university student Theresa Rumbo detest the idea of skin bleaching all together.
“People often can’t explain this phenomenon because to explain why they do it they have to confront their self-hate and open the closet. I hate skin bleaching and won’t sugar coat it, it’s a form of self-hatred.”
“However I have struggled with the temptation and I overcame it so I can sit down and talk to someone who bleaches and I try to understand why they do it. Sadly though, people aren’t willing to acknowledge that they don’t need it, I mean you have idiots saying ‘what’s the difference between that and tanning,’ it’s ridiculous. You can't compare skin bleaching with tanning, it's just not the same thing” said Rumbo.
According to Felicity Farmer from the Australian psychologist society, those who use the bleaching product should not be blamed, on the other hand society should.
“I’ve come across the term before but I’m not too familiar with the whole thing, with that said you wouldn’t blame these woman for taking such an extensive approach. Just look at today’s media, everywhere you look you see ad’s for health and beauty and most of these woman on these ads are skinny, with blonde hair and are almost, always fair in complexion.”
“society has got us thinking that those types of things are what makes a person beautiful, when in actual sense that’s not the case, women are lacking self-esteem and confidence due to societal mindsets, so I honestly don’t blame them for doing what they’re doing,” Said Farmer.
Aisha Duma, a previous user of the products now depicts the idea of skin bleaching and says it’s risky and worthless
“Well I started bleaching purposely because others were doing it. Society nowadays tell us that being light is more beautiful and it took me 2 years to realise i was risking my skin and possibly my life just to fit in that category of beauty,” said Duma.
After conducted several more interviews with different woman, many stated that even their men prefered lighter skinned woman.
So is it to say that even our own men are not confident or satisfied with the complexion of us sisters?
Not only do we have to deal with societal pressure at large but we have our own men, close to home denying and disregarding our natural beauty and in turn diminishing our self-esteem in making us believe that we are not beautiful.
However, with all these different perspectives of the phenomena, how do women of colour start embracing not only themselves but one another.
For those who do it due socialistic pressure or beauty related....Well it's simple. We've had this stigma in relations to our skin colour for centuries...it's call RACISM.
Why start diving our own race when the white man is already doing that for us... We're ridiculing ourselves. it's time to stop succumbing to the white men's ideology of beauty and start accepting our own!
Let me tell you sister the perks of being a beautiful black woman.
1. Melanin! Melanin! Melanin!
2. You're going to be 25 for the next 40 years with that complexion of milk, honey and coco. Why shrink it! This mean no wrinkles for at least a decade....NO WRINKLES!
3. Full lips and curves! SHOW OFF THOSE FEATURE AND BE PROUD OF IT!
4. CHOCOLATE CURVES!! (Who doesn't like chocolate!)
5. This is for the brothers: Even when they disregard us, we continue to build our STRONG BLACK MEN: We truly have the ability to overcome ANYTHING!
6. I'll let your beautiful ray of blackness and the below meme do the rest of the talking....
...Because at the end of the day it begins with you!
TWEET POST: #TeamBlackWoman. Period! Society’s new phenomena of beauty.
