If you’re still bleaching your natural skin with hydroquinone-infused lotion or cream hoping to be white or yellow in order to appear attractive to the opposite sex; then, forgive my tone, you are leaving in a grand delusion that may crop ‘coke-and-fanta’ patches on your priceless skin and make you susceptible to skin cancer.
Bleaching of the skin is rooted in a warped conception of beauty in self and society. It’s more of a psychological inadequacy fueled by societal stereotype. What makes you feel you are unbeautiful unless you are ‘fair or yellow’? People who bleach their skin do not have a mind of their own – bending and twisting to fit into what society and media portrays as beautiful.
Studies have shown that over 60% of African ladies still bleach their skin; with Nigeria constituting the majority. These black women feel ‘uncomfortable, unacceptable, inferior and unattractive’ in their skin. Even in India, black ladies have to bleach their skin to fit into the media, Bollywood and fashion outfits.
However, true beauty comes from the inner satisfaction of accepting what and who you are; glorying in your uniqueness and variety. Black is “a color of all day”; and Lupita Nyong’o has proved that black women are not only attractive but can be a standard of Beauty in the movie industry.
Ladies, your skin is peculiar to you; do not bleach it away on the altar of occasion. Cultivate yourself; grow your self-esteem and let that skin glow. Do not shed it for it is the color of all times.
One Beat Nigeria 