When Nina Davuluri was crowned Miss America, becoming the first Indian Miss America, not everyone was celebrating her barrier-breaking win. In India, where Davuluri's family emigrated from, her complexion was being dissected.
"The morning after I won Miss America and I woke up to an Indian headline that said: 'Is Miss America too dark to be Miss India?'" Davuluri told CBS News foreign correspondent Imtiaz Tyab.
Criticism of her darker skin tone is part of an ugly concept known as "colorism," she said. "The idea that fair skin is better than darker skin, the idea that white is considered more elite than darker skin complexions, and that inherently in itself is racism."
Ads shown across Africa, Asia and the Middle East help fuel a demand for skin-lightening products like White Perfect, White Glow and White Beauty.
The creams contain chemical agents that can reduce melanin content. Some, if used incorrectly, can damage the skin.
Major corporations like L'Oreal, Unilever and Johnson & Johnson are all part of the industry which is reportedly worth over $8 billion a year.
"My grandmother used to use it. And so my mom saw it, saw it normalized and just saw it was the thing to do," said Stephanie Yeboah, a British Ghanaian author.
Yeboah started using skin whitening creams at 14 years old.
"I started lightening my skin because I thought, well, if I can alleviate one of the things that makes me have no privilege, which was my skin color, I thought that I could do a bit better in life," she said.
The beauty industry is experiencing a racial reckoning following Black Lives Matter protests. Cosmetics giants are being accused of hypocrisy for claiming to stand against racism, while at the same time promoting whiteness.
In a statement, Johnson & Johnson said it will no longer sell two skin-lightening lotions. L'Oreal said it's removing the words "white," "fair," and "light" from its skin products.
Nivea's parent company followed, removing "whitening" and "fair" from products and marketing. Unilever is renaming it's hugely popular Fair & Lovely cream to Glow & Lovely.
But is renaming products enough?
"They need to ban the products," Yeboah said. "They don't need to rename it. I mean, I don't see what renaming is going to do when the intended effect of the product is still the same. The person is still going to be lighter."
Yeboah said she's come a long way from hating her skin to loving it, something that's led her to body-positivity activism as a social media influencer.
Asked what she wants to say to girls today, she said, "I would say, first and foremost, you are beautiful. Your skin is beautiful. Your skin tells such a beautiful deep story from your ancestors back in Africa to now. There's such a huge history there that you have coated around you. You should be proud of that."
Both Davuluri and Yeboah say corporations need to get rid of skin-lightening products altogether and that communities of color must also let go of these deeply held beliefs about beauty, so that everyone can love their skin, no matter the shade.
L'Oreal did not immediately return CBS News' request for comment.
from cbsnews.com
It's a matter of choice.. I'm light skinned but to be honest it's hard work to maintain. I just kof my head when I see people killing themselves to become oyibo instead of embracing their dark color..
ReplyDeleteNawa oh
DeleteWhat is the "hard work" in maintaining light skin?
DeleteDo you need sanitizer or gold dusts to maintain it?
Is it not same lotion and soaps. Natural light skins
remain natural.
Except your own light skin is from bathing with bleach.
Then any day you do not bath with bleach, it reverts to
"factory setting"
🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️
@hand sanitizer you said the truth. I'm light skinned too so I know what you are talking about. Sometimes I envy dark people
DeleteIf you are naturally light skinned then It should be easy to maintain.
DeleteAll skin types are hard to maintain, even the dark ones. I think most of us are just lazy to.eat the right foods, fruits.and enough water. We like shortcut.
DeleteI am light-skinned and don't have any issues. Hope you use sunscreen though.
DeleteI don’t see anything hard in maintaining light skin except you got it through chemicals.
DeleteJust eat right, exercise, drink lots of water and you’re good to go.
If its so tough then why bother maintaining it? Why not just use regular products and unburden yourself? I hope you read the many yimus in my comment.
DeleteWhat do you mean by maintaining it? If its natural then it shouldn't be difficult to cleanse and moisturise according to your skin's preference.
DeleteNa wa for this fallacy! People have forced themselves to believe and are trying so hard to force others to swallow as the truth - that light skin is hard to maintain. Utter BS! My mother in law is so fair and at over 70 years, has used nothing but regular skin cream.
DeleteWhat are you maintaining??? Lol
Their wahala
DeleteI read about glutathione supplement, i don't know if it has side effects. I Wd prefer it to cream
DeleteAnon I’m very light skinned too and I bath with dudu Osun soap and use Dudu osun cream and I’m fine, both put together is less than 1k so what maintainance are you on about, 2 of my kids are very light skinned like me and use same soap and cream as the dark skinned one and they all still have their individual complexion. Being light skinned does not require you to use anything special
DeleteStella, you should have brought her picture let's see the "dark skin"
ReplyDeleteAll the girls that baff with bleach,
ReplyDeletehow market? 😜😜😜😜😜😜😜
An ad for a skin lightener just popped up🙄
ReplyDelete@hand sanitizer you dey bleach jor. Which light skin is difficult to maintain. I’m as light as ex big brother Nina and all I use is raw African black soap and the same moisturizer and face toner I have been using for 12 years. I don’t joke with my spf 50 sunscreen.My daughters came out just as light skinned.... love your natural skin tone whether it’s light or dark,always wear a smile and exude confidence.
DeleteWhen you tell people - love yourself the way you are - they would think you are just limiting them unnecessarily. The thought that you have to change your skin colour is so damaging. It goes beyond just ‘skin colour’ as it is a manifestation a much deeper problem - your belief that you are not enough. That is more damaging than people would understand. It is part of what has sustained our position as subjects to the European/ Foreign Powers. We are led to believe we are nothing without them and their loans, we are not beautiful if we don’t look like them, we are not learned if we can’t speak their language, we are not cultured if we don’t imbibe some of their customs, we are just not enough.
ReplyDeleteThen countries who challenge this narrative are branded antagonists. Terrible.
We have to accept that we are what we are working with. Is it that there is nothing physically appealing on an African that would make a Caucasian wish they had it? We are the ones that long for everything white - hair, pointed nose, colour, etc. Sad
Embrace your skin colour,black is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThat Indian issue with colourism is badly true. My Indian friend is light-skinned and I commented on her skin tone once. She laughed and said in Indian she wouldn't be classified in the light-skinned category. I choked on my food when I heard that. Like what! She further stressed how it was always so hard to get married having a skin tone as hers except you are 'white'. Especially when it came to an arranged marriage, may God help you if you look like her for your chances are very slim or almost non-existent only if you settled. I couldn't stomach the whole thing. I was just happy she didn't live in Indian.
ReplyDeleteIt's really worse in India. They mock their actresses who are not so fair, calling them really derogatory names. The irony is when the actresses due to pressure decide to lighten their skin, the same audience mock them. See Priyanka Chopra's pictures when she won Miss World and now.
DeleteIt's really terrible in India, coupled with the caste system they observe there. Very backward society.
DeleteNa them sabi, me here i rub any cream i see, my skin does not select🤣🤣🤣
ReplyDeleteI don't blame the companies that produce the creams, I blame the men and women that buy the products.
ReplyDelete🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
ReplyDeleteIn dis our country, i think its men dt push ladies to bleach. For example, since school are closed and a girl gots to eat na. D sch i work wit organised lesson for d kids, last week a fair girl and a dark girl were admitted into my class. Omo, u needed to see how small boys were dotting on her, borrowing her writting materials bfr she even asks. D dark wud ask fr somtin dey wont even ans her. As d teacher i had to put a stop to dt nonsense 'show' , seperated boys from girls. Its well
ReplyDeleteNot true..It is low self esteem no man reach to make you bleach
DeleteYou're right. From time immemorial, men (especially men with money) go after women with beauty (especially light skinned women). From Ned & Regina, Ojukwu & Bianca, Aku & Dabota, Danjuma & Caroline, Obasanjo & Stella, Okoya & Sade..and so on. However, if you bleach, you are responsible for your actions and the consequences.
DeleteOn the other hand, most Nigerian women prefer dark skinned men. So it's balanced.
Those of us that are light skinned maintenance is not easy at all, when you don't have mobmo to keep the skin shinning people will be asking you what happened that your colour is dull.
ReplyDeleteReally? How come oyibo people don’t have to “maintain” their light skinness? I didn’t know there was a dull and shiny light skin complexion. If you’re light skin from birth what type of non maintenance will darken your skin?
DeleteThen you are not really light skinned.
DeleteNot avoiding the sun can darken your skin and oyibo people do look for products to maintain or brighten their skin. I was suprised too but you will know when you look out for beauty products on YouTube e.g the ones containing vit c serum which its main work is to remove hyperpigmentation and even the skin tone.
DeleteMost africans/Nigerians don't know that they are supposed to protect themselves from the sun btw 9 and 5pm, use sunscreen if they must go out and actually take care to use the right product not just any lotion. That is why you will see lots of them with choclate, dark to black faces (as a result of uv rays damage) or the parts that are usually exposed but when they take of their tops/clothes the stark difference btw the exposed and none exposed parts becomes visible even when they have like Chidi Mokeme kind of complexion.
We should also know that everyone does not have the same natural skin resistance to the uv rays. Two siblings will step out at 2pm to run an errand that will take 25mins. When they get back one will be asked or told it looks like he/she has been at the farm all day. Also everyone does not have the same skin recovery time. Some people's own take years if they focus on natural things like oats or rice water while some it's just days or weeks.
Hopefully someone will that can afford to do so will take correction.
Ada.
Then you don't know Oyinbo people at all. Go online and you see them talk about skincare products even more than makeup and clothes.
DeleteNobody can make me feel less than human except I give them that power. Even if you offer me 10b, I can't ever bleach my glorious black beautiful skin.
Honestly o,nobody. I have been working in this company for about eight months so no one really had a full glimpse of my skin tone. I live in Scandinavia so it can be so cold between september to march-april. So we have to wear clothes suitable for the weather,coupled with the fact that we had to work from home as a result of the lockdown until about june. My people come and see...this summer I noticed exceptional stares directed at me. Two colleagues that could not hold it just came out plain to say that my skin was so beautiful and shiny. They asked what cream I used and I told them just shea butter. One of them asked if it was the shea butter contained in some creams but I told them no,that it was the raw type from Nigeria. They asked if they could have a look and I promised I would get it for them the next day. I did,and ever since then them no let me rest. I have been using this shea butter for a decade with my family. If you hear my 10 year old daughter say "mummy I love my BROWN skin" you would literarily melt.
DeleteNothing I repeat nothing can me me feel bad about my skin. NEVER,YES I AM SCREAMING.
The worst part is some of these women bleach their kids' skin,chai! That's bondage,what happens when the child grows up? How would he/she look? Their husbands too join in the terrible bleaching gang. Make man dey bleach! Yikes! It then becomes a bleaching lineage.
Hmm,ije uwa!
who says Jesus is White And Devil Is Black.... Who Share The Colour...
ReplyDeleteI believe every skin colour is beautiful. It depends on how you take care of yourself. You don’t need so much money to do that. Just keep it natural and avoid any form of bleaching cream.
ReplyDeleteEvery skin colour is beautiful all one need is balance diet, plenty water and good moisturizer. Self confidence is key.
ReplyDeleteThey shouldn't sha ban any Clean and clear brightening product
ReplyDeleteIs it advisable to use glutathione supplement for whitening?
ReplyDeleteYes
DeleteInferiority complex makes a black skin to change to white , I have never heard where oyinbo wishes to change their skin colour to black. Black don't crack.
ReplyDelete...but they don't mind tanning, abi? So why aren't the 'colorism' warriors going after them and their tanning products? It's still a case of preferring a different skin tone. Matter of fact, why aren't activists making a case for the banning of gender reassignment procedures, body enhancements, hair colourings, tats, piercings and everything else that screams dissatisfaction with self or low self esteem? Why are we expected to accept gay rights but can't allow ppl choose their desired skin tone? Why aren't activists moving for the ban of viagra and other sex enhancers, confirmed to be potential risks to life? Ppl apparently don't just get it - that some have a preference for lighter skin is much the same as the fact that some like it blue and some like it red. It's just a matter of preference. For many; and particularly so in Africa where racial sensitivity is virtually non existent, that is what it is. The average Nigerian's confidence, for one thing, is hyper. If not for the economy and their love for travel, they may well not be asking if other races exist, talk less what they think. I, for one prefer the yellow/white skin tone of some light skinned Nigerian actresses to any other colour on earth. It's just what I like and nothing changes that. Ppl like what they like. You can't force them to do otherwise. I generally like the African skin 'cos of its elasticity, nevertheless but that's not to derogate any other skin type. God's creation is beautiful. Each race is good to go, in its own way. Whatever a person's choice, just strive to keep it healthy and clean. End of story.
Delete