They call it “Dark Spots Remover” these days

I debated long and hard before deciding to write this article. I didn’t want to give the lady any more publicity than she has already had but I think the issue that is being raised is of paramount importance; it goes to the heart of self-acceptance and how we define beauty.

Here at Moshare Magazine we talk about Cameroon and the people that makeup this country. From what I can gather, Dencia is Cameroonian or at least half-Cameroonian (I could be mistaken) making her more than worthy of a feature in our magazine, amongst other reasons.

For the past months she has done various media rounds promoting her product(s) and encouraging black women to put it on their skin to remove “dark spots”. She was even quoted saying “I didn’t say, buy the cream and look like Dencia. I said: seven days, fast-acting dark spot remover. It’s called reading comprehension. If people missed that class, then it’s not my fault. If they think that their whole body is a dark spot then fine, because that’s not how I feel”. I laughed here, you have to admit, she can defend her product. I know nothing of her life and skin regimen, but my eyes can see that she looks significantly lighter than in her pre-[insert name of product here] days.

With the intent of staying logical and (somewhat) emotions-free about what Dencia is advocating, I had to analyze what it is that bugs me about all of this. I don’t like the message she and her product convey, there I said it. This idea that equates light to purity and then to pretty is so dangerous and flawed because it is simply not true.

But let’s go beyond the health-related issues, shall we? Our skin tone is part of our identity, it tells the story of our forefathers leading us into a world we know nothing of but that somehow exists in the person we are today. It is part of our cultural heritage and speaks volume about where we come from. Why would anyone advocate denying that part of our history? Skin bleaching in Africa has a social-cultural undercurrent filled with colonization and the “adulation” of children of white officers and black locals. They were put on pedestals by the local community and were treated better than the rest of the population. This attitude of deference towards the lighter skin tone has resisted the test of time pushing women today to always want to look lighter. Add to that the preference of some Cameroonian men for “lighter” women and you end up in a society where a darker skin girl can never win and would rather put her life in danger to fit in and be loved. Women do it not because they want to but because society makes them think they should to be accepted.

How do we want to raise strong Africans ready to lift up this continent when we can’t even teach them to love themselves, fully? Dencia mentioned opening an orphanage in Cameroon, kudos to her for that but what will she teach those young girls? “your whole body is a dark and ugly; thus lighten it up to be pretty”? And please spare me the comparisons with nail polish, make-up, weave and other TEMPORARY enhancements; there are not one and the same with skin bleaching.

These women bleaching their skin are trying to grasp at an identity that was never theirs to begin, rooting them in a never-ending cycle of skin bleaching and more skin bleaching. I know young girls who inject themselves with chemicals just to be lighter. Somehow, along the way, they got the message light = pretty. And you have Dencia perpetuating that notion that you have to be “brune” to be accepted, calling it “business”, business of what “self-hate”? She needs to business herself over the wagon of self-acceptance, but I digress.

This is not only about Dencia, she is just one the symptoms of a much larger problem. Look at your TV; artists such as Lady Ponce and Coco Argentée, to name a few, look much, much, much lighter than they did when they first started. Every time I walk outside, I encounter a multitude of women who are obviously not walking around with their original “color”. I mean, how can part of one’s face be light brown, the other burgundy, while hands and feet are blacker than that? A whole rainbow to themselves, they are. Does “light” sell? It seems that way.

Drugstores have shelves dedicated to that sole purpose: “belight”, “light-er”, “carrot bright” “lemon radiance” etc… Okay, I just made these brand names up but I promise they are not too far from what is actually being sold. A whole industry based on self-hate; I think it’s quite disheartening, don’t you agree?

Do you know what happens when you have destroyed all of your skin layers? You aren’t protected against UV rays; making you more susceptible to skin cancers. The consequences also include permanent skin bleaching, uneven colour loss, redness and intense irritation. Those products are also constituted of banned chemicals that have unresearched consequences.

Women should instead invest in loving themselves fully. They are already bombarded with messages of how they should look and behave, why add on any more? Younger women internalize this message and will always try to attain that particular definition of beauty. Definition that is part of a colonial dead weight we need to drop; shackles we need to take off in order to define our own idea of beauty. Besides, skin bleaching never looks good, we can always tell and women who do it will always get stares while putting their health in danger, just stop. It is not worth it.

I’m eager to know what your views are on skin bleaching, feel free to share your opinions in the comments section below.

Photo Source: gistbank.blogspot.com, blogigo.de, vanguardngr.com

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