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South African socialite Khanyi Mbau has admitted to using skin lightening products

Julia Mugadzaweta Features Writer
Lisa Chisvo (not her real name), a Form 3 student at a college in Harare scurries through her bag looking for cash to pay for her cosmetic products.She regularly frequents the same down town stall where Mai Fafi sells the specific Body White toning cream she likes to use.

According to Lisa, the cream she uses is to perfect her skin irregularities.Some might call this a euphemism for skin lightening. “Every night I use a bedtime oil called Body White,” Lisa explained, proud of her pallid skin tone.

“In the mornings I mix cocoa butter with a whitening lotion.” Rarely breaking her dermatological routine, Lisa was confident that this was the best option for her skin. “If the products ever begin to bother my skin, then I’ll stop,” she said.

“If not, then I’ll continue to use them every day.” When asked on whether or not she understood the implications of skin bleaching, Lisa reacted defensively. “It’s not bleaching – I don’t do that,” she said.

“I use a toning cream. I’m toning my skin so it’s all one even colour.” The use of skin lighteners is not a new phenomenon in Zimbabwe. In the early 1970s and 1980s, there was the Ambi era, then the 2000 “Fanta faces and Coca Cola legs” marvel.

Fast forward to 2017, and the craze has turned to so-called yellow bones. Over the years, there has been advocates for and against skin lightening, with both psychological and health positions being brought forward.

Unfortunately, before the merits and demerits of the issue are fully unpacked, the conversation ends as the decision on whether or not to use skin lightening products is said to be a personal one.

Some critics argue that the issue lies in the false perception of beauty, where light skin is said to be better than dark skin. Dr Sekai Nzenza, a cultural critic, says the idea of skin lightening is deep rooted in the colonial period.

“This issue dates back in the colonial error where black women were told that the white women were the image of beauty,” she said. “Beauty was seen in the lenses of the white woman with long hair, long legs and fairer skin.”

Dr Nzenza explained how some companies capitalised on the situation. “The colonialist saw this as an economic opportunity and decided to make money out of our inferiority complex and today it is a multi million dollar industry,” she said.

“Today, because it is now commercialised, women see it as modernised, trendy and the in thing. The truth is, it is trendy, but not modernised.” Colourism, which is associated with the use of skin lightening products, has rooted itself in modern society from its historical underpinning. Colourism is a term that was devised to describe the discrimination on the basis of skin tone, within racial groups.

Studies have shown that dark-skinned people are routinely passed over in favour of light-skinned people from the same racial group, whether it is in school, in the work place or even in a social setting.

With this knowledge, it then becomes difficult to tell someone “You shouldn’t be doing that”, when, quite clearly, colourism is operating in society and one is able to get the material benefits from being light skinned.

Colourism is more than simply a moral phenomenon; it is an ethical and political phenomenon. Judging a person who engages in skin lightening, but leaving the blame from the system that allows this to happen is ignorant.

South African socialite Ms Khanyi Mbau sparked outrage recently when she confirmed that she had been lightening her skin for the past six years. In a radio interview this year, Ms Mbau said her decision to lighten her skin was a personal choice. Her comments highlight colourism among black people.

“There is something about a woman who looks brighter, but there is a difference between lightening and bleaching,” said Ms Mbau. “Lightening is non-invasive; it also boosts your immune system and helps with anti-ageing.”

Contrary to Ms Mbau’s suggestion that skin lighting is not invasive, Dr Francis Ndowa, a practicing dermatologist said the prolonged use of chemicals used in the process of skin lightening causes irreparable damage.

“Skin lighteners contain hydroquinone, a chemical that is used to treat blemishes, but with great caution under the supervision of a medical practitioner,” he said.

“Its prolonged use can result in a disfiguring disease in which blue-black pigments are deposited onto the skin.” Dr Ndowa explained how the product damages the facial skin.

“What it does is that it exfoliates the skin, however, this is only recommended to a certain extent,” he said. “If overdone, it causes the skin to thin out and it becomes more fragile. “When skin becomes that fragile, pimples or acne or blemishes become difficult to control.”

While some women tend to believe that skin lightening, bleaching, toning, or whitening are different, the after effects of the two processes are no different.

Other women unsoundly keep double standards – on the one hand they condemn skin bleaching, while at the same time they apply skin products that are marketed with wholesome words, like “brightening”, “fairer” and “toning”. This double standard is fully described by Frantz Fanon in the book ‘Black Skin-White Masks’.

“Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong,” he wrote. “When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted.“It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance.

“And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalise, ignore and even deny anything that doesn’t fit in with the core belief.” In the early 1990s, the sale and production of lightening products was banned in Zimbabwe under the Dangerous Drugs Act.

In 2003, the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe and the Medicines Control Authority partnered with Zimbabwe Republic Police to remove such products from the streets. Thousands of units of the products were retrieved and destroyed during the campaign.

An awareness campaign was carried out to alert border control officers on the same products that were being smuggled into the country. Despite all these efforts, the use of such products has continued to take place.

The idea of colourism seems to be deeply embedded in Zimbabwean culture and women are the most affected by it. Since the products are readily available on the streets and pop up markets, girls as young as 14 are able purchase them and start using them.

Colourism needs to be addressed by society. Standards of beauty often drawn from what Hollywood prescribes negatively influence individuals who, in search of meeting these standards, can adversely affect their well being.