Get a fancy job! Get a long awaited promotion! Get a girlfriend! Get happily married! We have all heard of the usual. Next they are telling you fair skin will boost your confidence; increase your self-esteem and people will just love you! Till the last time I heard, weren’t these fairness creams to be applied on your face? So how is that ever going to change your lifestyle or your personality?
From creams to face washes to powders that will give you instant fairness! Do not let them fool you with their fancy ads and painted faces. We have all seen those dark, mud coated faces, suddenly transforming into “confident” milky white glowing faces.
Did you know that India is the largest market for fairness creams? Majority of people in India have a wheatish complexion but due to stars, actors and TV ads making such ‘color conscious’ statements, everyone now wants fairer skin; men and women alike!
While fairness cream companies make huge money by preying at our obsession for a fairer complexion, there is a lot that they are not telling us. Fairness creams contain harmful chemicals that will damage your skin and may in fact make it darker instead of fairer.
What do fairness creams do?
Most fairness creams contain strong bleaching agents that whiten the skin tone. Many creams also contain strong skin lightening steroids that prevent the skin from secreting the skin coloring pigment, melanin. So the skin in turn becomes fairer. Some creams have a sunscreen that protects the skin from getting further tanned in the sun.
Harmful chemicals
- Bleaching agent – Most creams contain a bleaching agent called hydroquinol. Up to 3-4% of these bleaching agents in the cream are acceptable as far as side effects are concerned. But most creams do not mention the percentage and on long term use these chemicals can cause skin problems like thinning of the skin and making the skin sun sensitive.
- Steroids – Fairness creams contain strong steroids especially the ones that promise ‘faster and better’ results. But the introduction of these steroids can suppress the body’s natural steroids resulting in other side effects like permanent stretch marks, pimples, darkening of the skin, skin-allergy, disfiguration, etc.
- Mercury – Many creams are also found to have mercury in them which may cause problems with our nervous system. (In a test at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Honk Kong on 36 fairness cream brands manufactured and distributed all over the world, it was found that eight of those, made in China and Taiwan, had more mercury contents than prescribed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.)
- Other harmful ingredients – There are many other harmful ingredients in the creams that can cause a number of side effects like rashes, skin irritation and blemishes. Even those that claim to be herbal, natural or ayurvedic contain chemicals.
According to most dermatologists, achieving fairness up to 20% is possible, but not more than that. The creams only bleach and prevent secretion of Melanin. So in effect fairness creams reduce tan, prevent the skin from getting darker by preventing melanin secretion; but they cannot change a person's natural skin color.
