by Rita Oziegbe
Growing up as a child, I disliked
a neighbor who had a young wife. My reason was because he was a bad man to have
hit his wife in the face so hard as to give her those dark patches by the side
of both eyes that wouldn’t just go. I remember those patches now as an adult as
I see them on other faces…don’t think I am naive as to think that they were
also caused by the beatings these individuals have received. I was a child
then, now I know better that those big dark patches are the effects of the
constant use of bleaching creams. Sometimes I begin to wonder if aliens have
not invaded our earth because we now have a lot of people with a rainbow skin:-
white face with dark patches, red, yellow, green, purple, blue veins all
visible on their body and especially on their faces.
Now let’s see; what is skin
beaching, what are some of its effect and the contents we should look out for
when we go out there to buy body creams/lotions? Skin bleaching is the practice
of using chemicals substances in order to lighten skin tone or produce an even
skin complexion by reducing the melanin concentration in the skin. What is
melanin, you say?... Melanin is a substance in the skin that causes
pigmentation. It helps in the absorption of some of the dangerous ultraviolet
radiation (UV) in sunlight. It also has DNA repair enzymes that helps in
reversing UV damage, therefore people who lack the genes for these enzymes
suffer very high rate of skin cancer.
Many people tend to forget or may
not know that the skin is the largest organ in human system and plays an
important role in protecting the body against pathogens and excess loss of
water. Other functions include; insulation, temperature regulation, synthesis
of vitamin D, the protection of vitamin B foliate and sensation. In their
desire to look like the whites who in many ways want to look like them by
tanning, they damage their skin by using all sorts of chemical, some even go as
far as mixing hair relaxers and hypo bleach into their body creams. Don’t scream, it’s the
truth... Everyone wants to look like “oyibo” forgetting that as Africans, God
in His wisdom knows what He is doing. We want to outsmart Him, but we surely
will pay the price.
The effects of skin bleaching are dangerous and cannot be overlooked. For
those of us who still want to look the way God made us and not like ghosts, do
not buy any body cream containing hydroquinone and if you must use them, it
should not be above 2%. Also look out for arbutin which is a natural source of
the later, kojic acid which scientist say may have carcinogenic properties in
large doses and causes allergic contact dermatitis, mercury, ellagic acid,
ferulic acid, licorice extract and certain fruit extract that bleaches the
skin. In a nutshell dear friends, stay NATURAL, stay BEAUTIFUL, stay HEALTHY and
stay ALIVE!!!
source(Wikipedia)
No comments:
Post a Comment