By Anino Aganbi

 It appears that these days, everyone is light skinned- even those whose mothers and fathers are charcoal black. Bleaching- a practice that had once been seen as something practiced only by the ignorant and the illiterate, is now a fairly common phenomenon involving both men and women; and many of them highly placed in society including governors, screen stars and bank executives. 

Bleaching

This, when combined with the clownish contemporary make up styles, makes indulgers to appear freakish, and also to appear like clones.

Sadly, we have heard many tales of skin bleaching adventures that ended badly; yet lack of proper information has ensured that people still wish for that smooth, white, foreign look.

Whether it is colonial mentality or other factors that are responsible for this unfortunate state of affairs is unclear. Anino Aganbi is on a mission to provide necessary information…

For some women, the very concept of being light skinned, which might be a total contrast with their original skin colour, is appealing. One wonders why a woman who has  perfectly beautiful dark skin would want to transform herself to look like her “Yankee” counterpart.

Is there a general consensus that women who bleach to become lighter are prettier than the dark skinned ones? Like they say “one man’s meat is another’s poison. Just because some men like light skinned girls does not mean a lot of these girls come by their light skin naturally. Does the skin colour of a woman really trip a man? That is left for the men to decide.

The very concept of skin bleaching has gotten out of control, especially in Africa. In a recent study by WHO, Nigeria has one of the highest number of women who bleach their skin in Africa. Nigeria polled a whopping 77 % compared to Togo’s 59 %. Black is indeed beautiful. With chemicals such as Hydroqiunone, Mercury, Kojic Acid among others being used in the production of majority of the lightening creams found on shelves in various stores, nobody is conscious of what goes into the making of these bleaching creams and the effects they would get in the long run; as long as it works within a short period of time.

Why women bleach

Skin lightening has become a problem but this is barely scratching beneath the surface of deeper inner related issues, especially where the Western culture is concerned. Some people bleach just because they want to fit in, while others believe lightening your skin makes you acceptable in the Western world. With the rate of racism around the globe, bleaching your skin might make you look white but it does not make you white in any way.      

Between toning and bleaching

Mrs Ifeoma Onwudiwe, a well known cosmetologist in Festac town, Lagos says that there is a very big difference between toning and bleaching.

“I advise my clients that if you want to enhance your colour, a dark skinned person cannot attain more than the chocolate colour if you want it natural. First, they have to detoxify their system then embark on more of fruits like cucumber, water melon, carrots and others in order to build and flush the system. If you place your bleaching/skin enhancement based on chemicals, it will react. It has to come from the inside.

That is why when you see some people who bleach, they will hurt themselves because they use harsh chemicals that contain hydroquinone. By so doing, they will mess their entire body up.

Colour versus appearance

Some of my clients come to tell me they want to be fair because they have one function or the other and I say no. So I educate them instead.  Some of them may not like to listen to me when I educate them but I try my best because I am a woman and it hurts me when I see people who bleach. When you see the appearance of those who bleach, they look dirty. It is not all about the colour but about their appearance.

You can get that fair complexion without looking off putting. If you see someone who bleaches to the extent of having discoloured knuckles and sun burn, the person will look like someone who is uneducated. If you want to bleach, you have to change your diet for it to look natural. You need to make sure you have the money to enable you maintain that glowing look. If you do not have the money then you should not even embark on it because fruits are expensive