The Dangers of Skin Whitening ProductsBy Safana Zahili [Beauty]
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What kind of harmful ingredients are in skin whitening products? Safana Zahili explores the scary side effects of trying to lighten your skin.  In many cultures, white skin is synonymous with beauty and riches. The desire to be fair-skinned is mainly borne of the idea that lighter skin denotes wealth while darker skin is associated with poor labourers who spend most of their time toiling in the sun. This desire for lighter skin was further indoctrinated into people’s minds when European colonizers arrived in distant lands and promoted white skin as clean and pure. In Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, a woman with fair skin is commended for her beauty. Technological advancements in cosmetics have reignited the centuries old yearning for lighter skin. Skin whitening products are available today in the form of soaps, creams, pills and laser treatments.This misguided belief in the superiority of fair skin has led millions of darker-skinned women to use skin whitening products, seriously risking their lives in the process and winding up with disfiguring side effects. Many of the women who have used these products have ended up with results opposite of what the label promised. There have been many reports across Asia and Africa of women who ended up with darker skin than they originally started out with. A Booming Market Since 1978, Hindustan Unilever has sold its Fair and Lovely cream to millions in Asia and the Middle East. They have dominated the skin whitening market, a market that is growing at a steady pace of 10 to 15 per cent per year in Asia. Multinational cosmetics companies are capitalizing on the insecurities of non-white women. A recent article in The New York Times claimed, “Skin lightening products are by far the most popular product in India’s fast-growing skin care market, so manufacturers say they ignore them at their peril.” Many Western companies, including Clinique, Dr. Brandt, Garnier, Lancome, Dior, Vichy and Elizabeth Arden have responded to this need and have introduced skin whitening lines. You will not find most of these products in Canada and the US because the market here is relatively small compared to other nations. However, this obsession with fair skin is not limited to Asians; the desire is very much alive in North America. Walk into any South Asian or Korean supermarket and you will find tubes of Fair and Lovely selling for less than $10. The label on the box reads: “The World’s No.1 Fairness Cream now gives you an unmatched radiant fairness in just six weeks.” Another Motivation Some women wish for fairer skin not only to reach a beauty standard, but also to use their beauty to get ahead in life. A study conducted at Vanderbilt University Law School in Tennessee found that immigrants to the US with the lightest skin earned 8 to 10 per cent more than dark-skinned immigrants. These social and economic factors pressure women (and even men) to want to change their skin colour in pursuit of higher social status. Indeed, cosmetic companies play into this desire through their advertisements. A commercial in the Middle East and Asia shows a young, dark woman who wants to become a model. Each modelling agency turns her away because she is too dark (and presumably undesirable). Dismayed, the young woman goes home and her father hands her a bottle of Fair and Lovely. After six weeks, she returns to the modelling agency, lands the coveted contract and is shown stepping off a jet with the paparazzi flashing away. Advertisements like this are harmful to a woman’s self-esteem and can lead her to endanger her life, all in the name of beauty. |
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