PERHAPS THE LADY ON THE BUS HAS ANSWERS. . .

Some call it skin bleaching while others who use more sophisticated machines and high end creams call it “skin toning” or” skin lighting”. Skin bleaching, toning, lightening, or however you choose to call it does not happen in Africa or among Blacks only as people mistakenly perceive. It’s a phenomena happening worldwide – from Asia to the Americas.  These skin products are multi-billion profit making industries in China, India, Japan and some European countries which have found their way onto our markets. In this light I ask, are people bleaching because producers are good at marketing their products or they bleach in response to some socioeconomic conditions perceived as the necessities for “status”, “success” and “beauty”?

In as much as I’m highly against skin bleaching, I do well to keep my opinion to myself but quite recently people who bleach - as I call them the “Association of Skin Toners” (AST) were determined to draw my attention to this practice thereby making me write on this issue.

It all started when a heavy set woman who’s bleaching made her appear as a cross between a pumpkin and green pepper decided among all the empty seats on the bus to sit right next to me – oh, I’m screwed, I thought to myself. It wasn’t yet midday (the sun was actually lenient that day), was quite breezy yet this woman was already sweating as though she had just run a 100m dash. At this point I must warn you that people who bleach tend to have an indescribable body odor after bleaching for quite some time very unique to them – makes “Lavender Hill” smell much better. To make matters worse she was on her phone throughout the journey talking loudly till my eardrums hurt. My ears and nose where being assaulted without reprieve and there was nothing I could do (unless you count jumping out the window as an option).  

Finally the trotro got to Tema Station and just when I was about to heave a sigh of relieve there appears a second AST member, a skinny looking one this time. Her burns from bleaching were much worse and YES she had that peculiar body odor when she walked past me. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who had noticed how badly burned she was because heads turned as she walked down the street. From then on it was just a full onslaught of AST members, 1 out of every 5 women I met had altered their skin complexion.  Taking into consideration the efforts made by health professionals and other organizations warning people about the dangers of this practice, I started wondering why skin bleaching still existed in our society.

As I walked through the streets I realized about 30% of the billboards had skin advertisements with pale looking models that read - “giving your skin a beautiful tone”, “for clear smooth skin use XYZ” , “to bring out that colour in you ”. . . The subtle messages these billboards carried could not be missed, at least not by me. 

Quite recently, the South African singer Nomasonto Mnisihas (Mshoza) has come under intense criticism for her decision to bleach. In response to her critics she defended her decision by insisting bleaching made her feel prettier and simply wanted to experience what it felt like to be White.  While some activists argue Mshoza could be bleaching in response to the complexities of the socioeconomic situation in South Africa post apartheid, others argue her decision to bleach validates White oppression of Blacks in South Africa – that the Black skinned African must look paler so as to be given the same regard as the White South African.

Skin bleaching in Ghana still remains a mystery to me as Ghana is not a country racially polarized for one to feel the need to look paler when applying for a job or wanting to live in a specific neighborhood etc. We did have our share of White oppression during colonization but after our independence in 1957, the direct influence of White rule or presence slowly dissipated.  Nonetheless I can admit colonization did leave behind some legacies. Biracials – colloquially known as “half casts” do stand out in our society and receive praises for their lighter skin tones; therefore could people be bleaching so as to look like our biracial folks? Or probably a man once told a lady he loved her for her “fair skin” thus driving other women to bleach as a tactic to attract prospective spouses. But well, I never knew the expression “beauty is skin deep” was to be interpreted literally so as to make one feel beautiful and confident, thus resort to scrapping off some skin. How did we manage to get here? I believe we are also not winning the fight against bleaching because people considered as “role models”, highly educated and well informed are doing it as well. They usually are the ones who get all fancy with their terms and call it “toning”.

I do need to emphasis though, that most Ghanaians take pride in their natural skin complexions and will never trade it for a lighter skin tone through bleaching.  Besides from my point of view skin bleaching only compounds to skin issues – from skin breaking easily, sweating irregularly, emanating unexplainable body odors, burns, to skin cancers. But even being aware of these side effects many do go ahead and bleach. Why? I can’t tell. I should have probably asked the lady I rode the bus with for answers. In the interim I am seeking to have a restraining order served against members of the Association of Skin Toners (AST) - my eyes and nose can’t take anymore of the onslaught.