Don’t you love Lola maja, Modupe Ozolua, and other celebs with good skin as they catwalk into an award show or an event.
Go to a common market place and you will observe that more than fifty percent of women including both young and old have traces of a patchy de-pigmentation on the palm, shoulder, foot and fingers, sunburn both on the neck or cheeks, obviously green and red veins in the arms and legs, prominence of stretch marks on thighs, chest and arms and those that are above forty already look stressed, worn out, and prematurely aged.
In most cases, some women out of ignorance die as a result of liver-damage, kidney failure, mercury poisoning and skin cancer. While others who have realized the consequences at a later age will spend their life savings on the correction of their skin and the continuous use of sunscreen. Why then do we have to use harmful chemical substance toxic properties on our skin just to boost self-esteem all in the name of bleaching?
The purpose of skin bleaching is to make the skin whiter by reducing the production of melanin in the skin. Melanin is the reason why Africans are called ‘dark’, ‘brown’, ‘black’, or ‘ebony’ because it determines how dark a person is. It also protects from the ultra-violet rays of the sun which is very harmful to the health. That’s why you see a white man trying to protect himself from the sun by using sunscreen or staying away from the sun; because they have lesser production of melanin in their skin as compared to blacks.
Hydroquoine, mercury, arsenic, alpha-hydroxyl acids are all harmful elements found in bleaching products. Mercury, a very toxic substance is found in the production of hair dyes, manufacture of rubber, and photo-processing. All these are used on the skin just to make you beautiful and boost self esteem. Majority of women including younger ladies and also few men use bleaching cream. There are cases of mothers using it on their toddlers to make them look attractive and beautiful to carry by every Tom, Dick and Harry.
The use of these elements makes the skin loose its elasticity and firmness to heal quickly when an accident or cut occurs. As African, we have to know that there is no hope of getting rid of melanin permanently. NAFDAC only permits 2% of Hydroquoine in any whitening imported beauty products.
There are also locally made beauty soaps like d 'ose aganyin' who mix different mixtures of products which includes hair shampoo, MF3, Dope. Several 'made in china' get fair fast action in a week or three days can be found in most markets with pictures of white or asian ladies and adverts that you will look similar to the pictures in a couple of days or weeks.
Government agencies controlling the importation of these products should ensure that this country should not be a dumping ground for toxic and harmful chemical products on human lives. There should be a method of public awareness to women of a certain age group on the implication of using toxic products harmful to their health.
A smart skin care no matter your skin tone and texture of your body should include cleansing, moisturising and maintaining a healthy lifestyle especially a healthy balanced diet. Occasional tonining of the skin is necessary for fair skinned ladies who are exposed to the sun while it is not necessary for dark or chocolate skin ladies.
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