November 1, 2016.

  KENYA- I remember thinking to myself, at about the ages of 11-17, that it was a gift to be a few shades lighter. I always thought my dark skin didn’t make me admirable or attractive to the other boys in my class. For years, the idea that lighter skin was far more attractive than darker skin had been embedded deep within my core. I knew no different. Therefore, I wanted to be pretty and to be prettier I had to be lighter. So I thought, when I was old enough, I would buy myself a tube of Fair and Lovely.

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           Fair and Lovely, a skin-lightening cream that originated from India with their mission being to provide “hope to millions of women around the world.” They go on to say that it is for women who desire lighter skin and how it makes the world perceive them and how they perceive themselves.It gave the promise of pretty and pretty came at the price of several layers of melanin lifted to reach it.

         

           See, my grandmother had always shown me bountiful amounts of love. She never skimmed on showing me that I was her first granddaughter and she spoiled me. In her eyes, I was a gorgeous African queen. But this wasn’t enough for me because grandmothers were supposed to show love so it was just her default setting. However, in movies, music videos and television shows they always talked about the “yellow yellow” girls. I wanted so badly to be a “yellow yellow” girl because maybe I’d be pretty enough to be on TV, in movies, music videos or just be perceived beautiful. I didn’t even realize the many layers of self-esteem that society was peeling from my inside. My inner melanin was being stripped away by the toxic chemicals that society had injected in my mind for years during my adolescence.

           

           Teach young dark girls to love their skin. Teach your sons to love darker skin just as much.  

 

           Skin-Bleaching is nothing new in communities where darker skin shades exist among the population and Kenya is no exception. For a long while, the skin-bleaching business has boomed in Kenya’s black market hot spot, River Road At River Road, clients can go in for fast and rather inexpensive skin-bleaching procedures. However, these procedures have always been under the radar and not much of them were discussed in public discourse  until Vera Sidika, a Kenyan socialite, ignited conversations all-across Africa on the topic.

 

         Sidika claimed to have undergone her skin-bleaching procedure in the United Kingdom where she spent approximately $170,000 for a safe procedure. Sidika then claimed that after the procedure she got more money due to her likability ratings hitting the roof. She was finally beautiful in the “acceptable” terms.

     

       Sidika vehemently defended her decisions to lighten her skin stating that it was a personal choice exclusive only to her. Arguments for skin bleaching address the fact that dark skin women exist in a lighter skinned woman’s world and if anything they must adjust to it in order to succeed, so then it’s not a matter of hating oneself but rather a financial decision.

 

        However, the problem then becomes that several young women who wish to pursue a career using their bodily assets will also make ‘personal decisions, exclusive only to them’ to lighten their skin because they’ll make more money that way. It’s a chain reaction that won’t stop unless the root problem is addressed.

    

        Sidika says she had the opportunity to undergo a safe bleaching procedure in the UK because she had enough money for it, but not all women can afford the price of a ‘safe’ procedure. So they opt for the black market products that have been said to have high amounts of mercury, hydroquinone and steroids.    

  

         Mercury is said to be extremely harmful in high amounts and can cause damage in the kidney, liver, skin, digestive and immune system. Side effects of hydroquinone can range from mild rashes to difficulty in breathing    

 

        The point is, young darker-skinned women are putting their lives at risk, in the name of  beauty but it is not worth it. Skin bleaching in Kenya’s rowdy River Road black market is also done with injections of skin bleaching agents that are meant to be applied topically. Therefore, the risk is heightened for women who undergo these procedures and it all goes back to the pressure to adjust to societal measures of beauty.

 

        It is time young dark skinned girls were taught to love their shades of dark and they’ll teach their sons and daughters to love their shades of dark and so on so forth. Most importantly, it is high time that the severe consequences of skin bleaching are taught in schools, in order to fully equip young men and women on the effects of imposing inconceivable pressures on beauty. Most importantly, it is high time that the layers of self-esteem that have been stripped away for generations upon generations are replenished in abundance and thus all shades of brown are considered acceptable terms of beauty.