DAILY INDEPENDENT
Despite the fact that skin bleaching has been scientifically proven to be the major cause of skin cancer and other terminal diseases, Nigeria remains number one among countries in the world with a high rate of skin bleaching practice. In this special report, Kazeem Awojoodu writes about why the act must be totally jettisoned.
It is a common knowledge that skin lightening is a global phenomenon, where the whites want to get whiter, the dark wants to get fairer, and the fair-complexioned people want to look like the whites. Various reports have shown that It has been ingrained into our psyche that the fairer, the more beautiful, the more noticeable and it is not only in Nigeria or Africa but all over the world.
The dark ones are bleaching to catch up with the fair ones, the fair ones are bleaching to be like white people. The whites are bleaching to be snow white, so is the case of skin bleaching otherwise known as skin toning.
Skin bleaching can be traced back to the era of slave trade and European colonisation of African countries which bred inequalities in political status, affluence and beauty, thereby promoting discrimination based on skin colour.
In recent times, cosmetics used in skin bleaching have constituted an evolving public health problem. Most beauty standards promoted by media, advertising and marketing firms reinforce the predisposition that a lighter skin tone is more desirable than a darker skin tone. Hence, users of these bleaching products, wanting fairer skin, may believe they will achieve a higher level of relevance and acceptability in the society or in their places of work.
While some argued that skin bleaching is not about race and that they did not hate themselves for doing it, they rather think that a lighter version looks better. Many Nigerians are of the opinion and impression that lighter is better, the demand for skin-lightening products are still very colossal.
In her presentation during a Media Sensitisation on Danger of Bleaching Cream and Regulatory Control Programme organised by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) held in Ibadan, the Capital City of Oyo State, Pharmacist Ebele Perpetual, who is the deputy director of cosmetic and medical devices drug evaluation and research of NAFDAC maintained that bleaching or skin lightening cosmetics are widely applied either to attempt to remove local dark areas or as a fashion trend aiming to achieve more beautiful and fairer skin.
The Guardian newspaper cited a world health organisation (WHO 2018) the study which found that skin-lightening creams are regularly used by 40% of Chinese women; 61% in India; 77% of women in Nigeria; 59% of women in Togo; 35% of women in South Africa; 27% of women in Senegal; 25% of women in Mali. WHO publication stated that the skin-lightening industry is one of the fastest-growing beauty industries worldwide and is estimated to worth US$31.2 billion by 2024.
