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Skin Bleaching is a Symptom of a Deeper Problem
Eliminating Color & Peeling Away Self-Value
Imagine walking down a store aisle and being confronted with products claiming to bleach skin! Which is exactly what I encountered one day. Whatever you want to call it, skin bleaching, skin whitening, skin lightening, I never realized how widespread this dangerous practice is.
I am a proud Nigerian-American Black woman who makes it a point to encourage people of all ethnicities to value who and what they are. So I was especially appalled and disappointed to see so many skin whitening products for sale on shelf after shelf in a store in Lagos, Nigeria … a Black African country, for goodness sake.
I find such products, which essentially equate whiteness with better, to be condescending, ignorant and offensive.
With so many shelves devoted to these products, obviously there is a demand for them. According to one World Health Organization report, skin bleaching is a multi-billion dollar global industry. What a shame. Stratistics Market Research Consulting predicts that the global market for skin lightening products is expected to reach $8,011 million by 2026. Other researchers have projected figures to reach as high as $8,895 million by 2024.
