Dying to be whiter: The black women who risk their lives for lighter skin!

[Ibtisam]

On sale in the high street in Harlesden, North-West London, yesterday was a face cream called Maxi White.

"Could there be a less subtle name for a product aimed at black and Asian women desperate to lighten the colour of their skin? Indeed, those who purchase the £4.79 gel are guaranteed results almost overnight.

 

"It worked quite well to start with," said one customer. "But as I carried on using it, my skin became thin and dehydrated. If I moved my mouth, my whole skin moved, too. My forehead looked like a crinkled up piece of paper it was so cracked.

"Then, ugly blotches which developed into boils and ulcers started appearing on my face. I was a complete mess."

The reason can be found in the list of ingredients on the back of the Maxi White packet; one is called hydroquinone - which is as nasty as it sounds; the biological equivalent, in fact, of paint stripper.

 

It not only removes the top layer of skin, which initially results in a "brighter face", but also the body's natural defence against infection and the sun, thus increasing the risk of skin cancer.

 

If the chemical - which is used in certain industrial processes - enters your bloodstream, it can cause fatal liver and kidney damage. Other side effects include headaches, nausea, convulsions and permanent scarring.

It is illegal to use hydroquinone in cosmetics.

 

This month, a couple who made more than £1 million selling toxic skinlightening creams from two outlets in Peckham, South London, were ordered to pay costs and fines totalling £100,000.

 

But a spokeswoman for the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) admitted: "No sooner do you shut one place down than another springs up."

 

Maxi White, and other banned brands containing harmful steroids, are available under - and over - the counter all across the country. A Mail investigation found them on sale from Brixton to Birmingham (one of the shops featured in our investigation was raided by Trading Standards officers yesterday).

 

Behind such names as "Maxi White", "Sure White", "Fair & White" and "Skin White" is a multi-million-pound industry - and an untold story of exploitation and racism within the black community itself.

 

It's a taboo subject, but a cruel racial hierarchy still exists in Britain where the lighter-skinned Jamaican, for example, is "superior" to the darker skinned Nigerian; where light brown is preferable to dark brown. Dark skin means failure; light skin is beautiful and equates to success.

One young woman we spoke to told how she decided to have her skin bleached after being teased and bullied at school (she was called "blackie" by paler-skinned Jamaican girls). There are reports that some parents are even "bleaching" their children

It is an attitude all too familiar to Sherry Dixon, editor-at-large of Pride, the lifestyle magazine for the British black community, and reinforced by the complaints that flood in from female readers whenever a woman with strong African features - such as dark hair, broad nose, and tightly curled hair - appears on the cover.

 

"It's cultural racism, or shade-ism as I call it," she says.

The most photographed - and admired - black women ( Beyonce, Halle Berry, Naomi Campbell, Iman) are all Westernised, of course, whether by their fairer skin or European features.

The legacy of such stereotyping can be found in any shop or market stall specialising in black hair and skin products; "Black is Beautiful" was the old slogan, but shelves are bulging with creams and lotions promising a "brighter face".

Not all are harmful; nevertheless they promote the image - intentionally or otherwise - that blackness is something to be ashamed of, and whiteness revered.#

 

Southwark Trading Standards officers, who were involved in the Peckham prosecution, have a list of nearly 100 banned cosmetics seized from outlets in the borough over the past few years, including some that contained poisonous mercuric iodide, which can cause organ failure, vomiting and depression.

 

More here,,,,,,,

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-428541/Dying-whiter-The-black-women-risk-lives-lighter-skin.html

[RaMpAgE]

My cousin whos a medical doctor was telling the corelation between autism and diana use within somali community..

[Carafaat]

There is so much we dont know wallahi. Who would have though that autism, a neurological disorders, is coorelated with damages to facial nerves.

 

cajiib walee.

[grasshopper]

*Ibtisam;838000 wrote:

"...my skin became thin and dehydrated. If I moved my mouth, my whole skin moved, too. My forehead looked like a crinkled up piece of paper it was so cracked.

"Then, ugly blotches which developed into boils and ulcers started appearing on my face. I was a complete mess."

 

The reason can be found in the list of ingredients on the back of the Maxi White packet; one is called hydroquinone - which is as nasty as it sounds; the biological equivalent, in fact, of paint stripper.

:eek: :eek:

[Bluelicious]

Beauty comes with a price. In this case it's who wants to be fairer in order to be beautiful has to to suffer. Since when do we even connect beauty with skin colour what a bullshit. Dark people want to be white and white people want to be darker. People tend to want the things they can't get.