Friday, March 29, 2024

An Insight Of The Rising Skin Bleaching Business In Kenya And The Rest of Africa.

The rapid growth of Kenyan women(and men) consuming skin bleaching products is what prompted me to write this article. The business of selling these skin bleaching products(as some of you would like to call it ‘skin lightening’ products) is blooming especially in Nairobi’s River Road Street.

In many parts of Africa, there’s a widely-held sub-conscious perception that light-skinned people, especially women, are more beautiful, desirable and enjoy high levels of social acceptance.

Some researchers believe the attraction to lighter skin shades is a psychological injury from Africa’s colonial past when lighter skin afforded a higher social standing and better employment prospects. In the dark days of slavery, for example, darker-skinned slaves tended to work in the fields, while lighter-skinned slaves were reserved to work in the master’s house.

But it’s easy to blame the past. What about now?

It appears that for decades, the media, international cosmetic houses and the advertising industry have created and stoked a stereotype of beauty that leans toward a preference for light-skinned people.

Using a combination of alluring imagery, subtle messages, and influential marketing strategies that feature light-skinned models and celebrities, more African women (and men) are uncomfortable in their skins and are now swarming to the warm embrace of skin lightening products.

Sadly, the craze for fair beauty in Africa has now reached epidemic proportions.

According to a report by the World Health Organisation, 77% of Nigerian women use skin lightening products on a regular basis. They are followed by Togo with 59%; South Africa with 35%; Senegal at 27%; and Mali at 25%. Sadly, Kenya would soon top these list if Kenya’s youngsters continue to consume these products on large numbers.

But Africa’s love affair with fairer skin is not a recent phenomenon.

In the late 1960s, 60% of urban African women reported using skin lightener formulas. It became the fourth most commonly used household product after soap, tea and tinned milk.

Home to the world’s largest and fastest growing population of dark-skinned people, a strong emerging middle class, and a predominantly youthful demographic, Africa presents a huge growth market for the skin lightening products industry.

And you can already see the signs on the ground. The volume and range of skin lightening products on the African market has exploded. While some of the brands are recognizable high street names in the beauty industry, there is now a mushrooming of cheap and unregulated skin lightening products on the market too.

But first, a disclosure:

This article is not a debate about the morality or otherwise of skin bleaching, whitening, lightening, toning, or whatever it’s called these days.

In my opinion, we live in a free society where adults may do whatever they want with their bodies, as long as it’s within the limits of the law and ethical behavior.

However, unlike tattoos, breast implants, liposuction, nose jobs and several other cosmetic procedures that have become increasingly popular in today’s world, I do not believe African consumers, entrepreneurs, and government regulators are sufficiently prepared for this multi-billion dollar industry which is aggressively unraveling on our doorstep.

Worse still, it appears there is nobody to protect the swarm of naïve African consumers who are totally unaware of the devastating effects of skin bleaching, especially from the growing volumes of unregulated products that are taking over the African market.

Finally, I would like to advice my fellow Kenyans to learn how to embrace their own skin colour instead of trying to change it. Remember ‘Black don’t crack!’.

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