Why young women should not bleach the skin

That the conversation about beauty is often reduced to whether women are dark or light is the reason some bleach their skin.

The society communicates its preference to light-skinned women, and this puts unfair and undue pressure on young women, crushing the esteem of those with dark skins.

Of late, men are also bleaching. Businesses that sell bleaching creams, which are known in the streets of Kenya as mikorogo, were born out of this lack of esteem and a definition of beauty built on a lie.

The skin-deep truth is that no one should change the colour of their skin, and there are several reasons to support this:

First, bleaching is harmful to one’s health. Scientists have raised concerns about the chemicals in the bleaching creams, saying they cause cancers.

Cause cancers

The Health ministry has been saying there are many people dying in Kenya of cancers.

It is also very expensive to treat cancer, and many people cannot afford it.

Those that end up being rich when people bleach are the ones selling the bleaching creams. The people that attempt to change their skin colour become poorer.

Secondly, there is nothing wrong with how people were created. Trying to lighten one’s skin is passing the message that there is something wrong with how one was created, which is untrue. Fighting nature is futile.

Thirdly, black is beautiful, and that’s why black models have been taking the fashion industry by storm.

Most women from South Sudan or Nyanza in Kenya usually have dark skin, but there are models who have come from those regions.

This proves that people define beauty differently. When young women accept this, they will not spend their hard-earned money trying to change their complexion; because maybe the person who will love them will be attracted to the dark skin.

Desirable personality traits

This teaches young women that they should stop using colour as a measure of beauty.

 There are more socially desirable personality traits such as how one relates with other people.

The young women should concentrate on the beauty of their words and actions because an enhanced outward beauty on an inner ugliness will still make the person ugly.

Success in relationships or work does not depend on whether a woman is dark skinned or not.

Sadly, society does not talk much about the negative effects of bleaching.

The people who have bleached their skin do not have the courage to share their experiences afterwards, especially when it did not end well.