As I was engaged in one of my many YouTube marathons, I came upon a video that talked about skin lightening. Apparently a while back, Nigerian pop star, Dencia, had her skin bleached or lightened, and is now the face and owner of a skin correcting cream named “Whitenicious.”
After seeing this video I was utterly baffled As I searched more and more, I found that using skin lighting treatments is actually a common practice. Some of the most famous celebrities such as Nicki Minaj, Tamar Braxton, and Rihanna have had skin lighting treatments performed on themselves. One celebrity named Vera Sidika said she had her skin bleached, because “her body is her business, and she knows that she would make more money light skinned rather than dark skinned.”
Not only is it popular among famous people, but in India and Africa many woman partake in this process. “According to a report published by the World Health Organization (WHO) in June 2012, 77% of women in Nigeria use skin-lightening products.(Economist).” Since then these rates have continued to increase. This is such a common practice; because there is a belief that the fairer you are the more likely you are to succeed in economic, social, and business endeavors. For example in an article I read it said, “about 7 out of 10 men are most likely to pick up a light shaded girl compared to a dark shaded girl, if both of them stand the chance of being equally beautiful (Bemah).”
The agenda of most skin lightening treatments is to decrease the level of melanin that the body produces. For those who do not know melanin is a pigment produced by cells called melanocytes. Melanin is also a very useful protective agent that protects against the harmful rays of the sun. The more melanin you have the darker your skin is. Skin lighteners or bleachers contain active ingredients that reduce the amount of melanin in the skin (WebMd).
I think that if the rate in which more people are using these products does not slow down, then we will see an extensive increase of different skin diseases in the darker population. Also, since some of these creams use harmful products such as mercury, there will be increased levels of mercury poisoning (webmd).
“Beauty in Nigeria: Lighter Shades of Skin.” Economist. N.p., 28 Sept. 2012. Web. 9 Oct. 2014. <http://www.economist.com/blogs/baobab/2012/09/beauty-nigeria>.
Bemah, Abenah. “Why do Black women bleach.” Afroeuro. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Oct. 201.4. <http://afroeuro.org/magazine/?p=3199>.
“Skin Lightening Products.” WebMd. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Oct. 2014. <http://www.webmd.com/beauty/face/skin-lightening-products>.
I think this is a very controversial issue. I think the most notable person who bleached his skin was the late great Micheal Jackson. He did if because of the previous burn accident. I do not agree with people doing it for cosmetic reasons just to look another way. But who am I to say how people should spend their money. I think if it was for people with a skin condition or burn marks it is more right for that. I was surprised to see Rihanna name in the post for having her skin tone altered. I didn’t know about Nicki Minaj, but I am not surprised.
I’ve honestly never even hear of skin bleaching. It sounds pretty bad though. Why would people take the melatonin our of their skin? Its an interesting but seemingly unnecessary concept. It doesn’t seem to be worth the possibility of the mercury poisoning in the pictures you posted. Good post.
It’s really sad that people feel the need to bleach their skin. The rates of success you get from skin bleaching are probably not worth the side effects. Plus, there are plenty of successful people who have not had their skin bleached. I wonder if skin bleaching can harm your future children? Or what the psychological effects of skin bleaching are on children, considering those are their role models. This is a very interesting and saddening post. I would love for researchers to explore this topic more.
I did not realize some people as big as Rihanna bleached their skin and it seems kinda weird they would. The way I see these woman now is why do they want to be whiter? So it got me thinking, what other african american celebrities bleach? And to my ultimate surprise males do it too, and not just performers either, former MLB All-Star Sammy Sosa as bleached his skin. It is also more common than you think, every 6/16 men bleach their skin, something that should begin to worry the population as we hope this unhealthy act doesn’t become a nation wide phenomena.
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/health/artikel.php?ID=291844
http://images.medicaldaily.com/sites/medicaldaily.com/files/styles/v2_large/public/2013/09/11/sammy-sosa-and-after.png?itok=EvgQ_5-K
This is a really interesting topic. Everybody knows that Michael Jackson bleached his skin but I was unaware of the other big name celebrities you mentioned above. Also I didn’t know how skin bleachers worked by taking the melatonin in the skin. Overall this was very interesting and eye opening into why people not only bleach their skin but the process that one goes through to do it.