A Brighter Future, Not Brighter Skin

A Chicago Tribune investigation recently uncovered some frightening news about skin lightening creams on the market — namely, the fact that they contain unhealthy amounts of mercury.

But that's not all that's scary about such creams. Yes, in case you missed it, we're talking about skin bleaching here. Unfortunately, it's still a common practice in the U.S., and in fact throughout the world. And it's not just dangerous physically — as a phenomenon, it continues to reinforce utterly ridiculous notions of race that are incredibly damaging, and will continue to be for generations to come.

When I think about this, I think especially about my future children — who won't be white like me. My partner tells me with a smile that I will have to learn how to comb their hair. But I'll have to work even harder to help them navigate a world in which (as Tami's previously blogged here), white is the standard of beauty. To do so, I'll have to teach my children that despite the social pressures, no cosmetic that would hurt them is worth looking "white."

It's not a message they'll get from marketers pushing dangerous products designed to take advantage of racial anxieties. It's not just skin bleaching creams, either. Take hair. Black girls and women face extreme pressure to use products that contain harsh straightening chemicals, just to conform to European standards of beauty. Such pressure is even more insidious because it doesn't just come from the white mainstream — many black folks also help perpetuate these standards. It's something we see too often: in exchange for straighter hair and wider cultural acceptance, many black people are willing to use dangerous substances like sodium hydroxide, risking chemical burns, holes in the skin and other horrifying effects in the process.

Of course, capitalizing on poor female self-image is nothing new. But while cosmetic companies promise to stop our feelings of inadequacy, in reality, all they do is run ads that force our children to doubt that they're naturally lovely — and make them believe they need the products being sold. Meanwhile, if that weren't noxious enough, too often what companies are selling are products that they know are dangerous to our health — sometimes life-threateningly so.

Growing up as a white girl, even I didn't escape the destructive vortex of U.S. attitudes on race. Oddly enough, I spent much of my life wanting darker skin and “more interesting” hair — i.e., more exotic, ethnic features. When I try to understand these desires, I imagine myself in a book titled Anna, Plain and Short. Growing up in Missouri, like everyone else, I learned that whiteness was normal and good, but also rather boring. Exciting, attractive white women had perfectly bronzed skin and hair with lots of volume and curls. I wanted to be exciting and attractive, not plain and short. For the sake of beauty as a teenager, I suffered many bad sunburns and got my first of several curling permanents when I was just 12 years old.

So while headlines like these are heartening, seriously: Are we just now wondering if tanning beds should be banned for people under the age 18? After all, we've seen plenty of studies that link indoor tanning to cancer.

It's high time that the government did more to protect our health from predatory companies — especially that of our youth (girls and boys too). Unfortunately, it took the Chicago Tribune's discovery of mercury-laced skin lightening creams to prompt the FDA take action. (The industry's claims that several of the products were fake, not to mention the ongoing sale of toxic homemade creams in various cities, makes it clear that we need more vigilance on the issue.)

But ultimately, when it comes to the attitudes that drive the sale of such products, I know that healing begins at home. Hear me now, my future children: You are your own best thing. This knowledge is your lullaby and your wake up call. Return to it. Return to it often.

Photo Credit: SpecialKRB