By Usman Usman Garba
Taking good care of the skin among females has been an age-old desire and culture for years. Consequently, they develop various skin care practices to look beautiful and attractive. Girls of all generations, past and present, have been involved in this art, in which one area of focus recently may be skin bleaching, which seems to have become trendy among Kano ladies.
Skin bleaching is considered purposefully and deliberately an act of changing one’s skin colour by applying substances or solutions on the skin, with the sole intent of making the skin colour look lighter and brighter.
Research has shown that the idea of “Fara ko mayya ce“, which literary means “even if a lady is a witch”, by Kano male citizens has drastically driven females into the habit of bleaching their skin to look more attractive, fashionable, elegant and adorable.
According to some, women bleach their skin to remove skin imperfections such as rashes, dark spots and pimples and make or maintain softer skin. Some can meet the westernized standard of beauty, make themselves look “more attractive” in the eyes of their potential partners, and impress or meet their friends’ approval.
It is hard within Kano today to see a group of females without seeing one or some of them bleaching her or their skin. Unfortunately, it has become a tradition that even light-skin females bleach themselves in the sense that their bride price will be high or their class will increase in courtship or marriage.
Wives, too, are not left behind in this act. They engage in it to maintain their husbands out of fear that those ladies that bleach might snatch them away and in another way round, to help them maintain their marriages.
Men, too, are not excluded. They engage in it to become attractive to their female counterparts and celebrities or to copy local and western musicians and actors.
Before, when a male person bleached his skin, he did so because he was effeminate, but today, he does so to become a celebrity or popular and respected.
Others use pills to steam themselves while others use steaming drugs which remove their skin to be light as society considers white as beauty. They ignore that bleaching, as research has shown, has no benefits but harm.
Economically, instead of spending their hard-earned income on something beneficial, they end up squandering it on harmful bleaching products.
The situation has become so bad that many women now have disturbing discolouration, contrasting colours and dark spots. The knuckles, knee caps and elbows are not spared as they carry different colours.
As disclosed by Dr Shamsudden Haladu, a dermatologist at Yadakunya General Hospital known as Bela Hospital, skin bleaching creates significant health problems for the users. Sadly, in Kano, its use had become widespread due to easy access to various brands of bleaching creams at multiple markets and shops.
A body that has been bleached becomes very light, fragile and tears quickly. Bleaching also leaves spots on the skin after being scratched or hard hit by an object. Such spots make the skin look rough and unattractive.
The doctor reveals that people differ in colour based on the five layers that human beings have: stratum corneum, stratum lucidum, stratum granulosum, stratum spinosum and stratum basale.
The basale layer, which is the last, has some cells called melanocytes, which make melanin and give our skin a dark colour.
All human beings have the same melanocytes. The only difference is the amount of melanin that melanocytes produce.
Skin bleaching has been established to have severe side effects. It has also been identified as the source of serious health-related issues among users, especially those who subject their bodies to creams formulated without proper safety precautions regarding chemical contents used in their production.
The use of skin bleaching has also been reported to be responsible for skin cancers, skin discolouration, and depression among users leading to negative outcomes. Other risks include skin damage and severe depigmentation.
According to Dr Haladu, one should contact a dermatologist or visit a hospital before using any bleaching cream or soap. If possible, one should eat fruits as they contribute more to treating and whiting skin than any cream product.
Usman Usman Garba wrote from Kano via usmangarba100@gmail.com.