Bleaching for Beauty

How can we NOT expect white America to hate us if we hate ourselves. More ignorance hard at work:

Skin whitening is a billion-dollar worldwide industry, and the “Tyra Show” addresses the drastic measures some women are willing to take to achieve their ideal look. African-American women talk candidly about why they bleach their skin to lighten their complexions. Plus, meet a mom who puts bleach on her three small children every day before they leave for school.

- episode 3 season 4

This episode featured 6 women who all bleach their skin under the premise that light skin women have better, easier lives. Many of these women have been bleaching their skins for YEARS; the irony is none of them are really "dark skin" - at least not my standards, or Crayola's.


These women are not alone in their self-loathing. Many women, despite the side effects, continue to bleach their skin in an attempt to boost their self-esteem and "improve" their appearance. They give a number of reasons, but it all seems to boil down to the fact that they hate their skin color.

I understand that we live in a very shallow society, however, have we become so consumed with "outer beauty" that we've brain-washed ourselves into believing that lighter & whiter is better?

Skin bleaching products are intended to remedy blotches and dark spots, not to ALTER the color of one's skin. Yet these women pile on the skin bleachers for years and years.

Skin-bleaching products work by fading those oversized freckles known as “age” or “liver” spots, lightening brown patches, evening out splotchy skin tone, and depigmenting areas that are overly pigmented due to sun exposure, hormonal imbalance, or scarring. source

Is it absolutely worth it? Many of these women don't realize (or don't care about) the risks that these products carry:

Mercury
Even small doses of Mercury can cause neurological damage. This concern is so great, Minnesota has outlawed cosmetics like skin lighteners that intentionally feature it. But some "mom and pop" shops carry creams with that contain extreme levels of such ingredients.

Hydroquinone
This component of many skin-bleaching techniques is also found in film developing products. (Note: Your body is a work of art, but should you treat it like a chemically processed photo in a darkroom? We think not!) The idea of using this ingredient didn't sound good to the French, who banned it for fear of cancer risks.

Alpha Hydroxy Acids
These are most commonly found in facial chemical peels, which are better known as procedures reserved for serious and infrequent skin overhauls administered by professionals. These should not be in anything you use at home regularly.

Arsenic
Most people hear this word and immediately think "poison," which is exactly what arsenic is. Not something you want to find on the list of ingredients in your face cream, but that might be the case with some skin lighteners. source

Doesn't seem all that worse it. So now I'm lighter, but I have cancer? NICE!! It's really sad to see when black people go above and beyond to erase their ethnicity - weaves to have bone straight hair, cosmetic surgery, bleaching - yet it doesn't change that fact that you were born as, and will always be a NEGRO!!!! Despite the lip injections and tanning sprays, not never will you ever hear a white person say darker is better.

The ignorance isn't limited to black folk though - no no no. You have Spanish people who have convinced themselves that they are in fact WHITE. Their complexion and hair has diluted them into thinking that they, somehow, are better than black people. HA!!! This coming from a bunch of immigrants who refuse to learn English and properly assimilate.

People who have this "skin complex" are sad. You have people in Africa who are as dark as tar and are gorgeous. Tyra actually also did a show featuring some of the industry's top black models in order to commemorate the all-black issue of "Italian Vogue" (granted many of these models were "fair" skinned, but I digress).

The point is that there are a number of successful BLACK models, actresses, business woman etc. who did not have to go to the extreme of bleaching to attain their success and wealth.

How would these women react to know that there were common folk women out there who didn't like their own skin color?

Watch the episode below and leave your thoughts.