I don't want to be a downer on a Monday morning, but I feel a little weary. As a one person movement out here in the Blogosphere advocating for feeling good about the skin you're in, I am horrified every time I see an ad for skin bleaching cream. Start Right, Start White? OMG. Is this real? I'm dying over here.
It's not like I didn't know about skin bleaching creams before I started blogging. And although I feel a little weary at the moment, usually these type of ads fuel my Brown Girl fire. It's not like I've never seen women shading themselves from the sun (with those lovely sun umbrellas!) in an effort to remain fair. (And please don't give me the skin cancer lecture or the "I'm just trying to get rid of my freckles and blemishes" lecture. I know the difference.) And like hundreds thousands of other bloggers and television shows (Tyra and Jessica Simpson's Price of Beauty (see video below) to name just two), I am confused, saddened and just wanna cry my Brown eyes out because of the sheer magnitude of this horrific worldwide phenomenon.
How can I help? What can I do? Am I wasting keystrokes? If Tyra and Jessica can't change it, isn't this a bigger problem than my little blog can cure? Women in all parts of the world including Thailand, Jamaica, Africa, the Phillipines, India, etc. not only have identity issues, but they are using unsafe bleaching products with hydroquinine and/or ammoniated mercury in them with terrible results. I've seen skin bleaching products in Costco (!) right here in the good ole U.S. of A. Deep sigh. I feel spent.
I'm going to seriously give this some more thought and consider a quote an OBG advocate sent me some time ago: "To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world." I certainly hope that's true.
In the meantime, I'm curious. What kind and thought-provoking advice you would give to a Brown Girl using skin bleaching products to lighten her lovely Brown skin? Tell me quick. I need to feel better.
