By: Nyima sillah
Beyond mere talk, skin lightening cream which is scientifically proven dangerous to the skin is one of the booming businesses in the country as many Gambians are obsessed with light skinned people.
Walking around some areas in the Greater Banjul Area there are mounted billboards advertising some of this skin lightening creams with display of light skinned women beside the ‘light and natural carotene’ creams.
But despite its side effects thousands of women and girls and even some men continue to buy more to give their skin a lightening colour.
Dealers of the cream have told The Voice that the business continues to flourish day by day, as demand for these numerous body creams by users growing huge.
Speaking to Ebou Gaye, a cosmetic trader, said: “most ladies are requesting and buying the toning creams,” this is one of the reasons behind the sales of the creams.
Speaking on his own, he said “many times when they (customers) come to my shop, they request for the creams that have high chemicals which can make them fair in complexion in less than a week.”
Despite knowing the after effect, he said, traders like him are still interested in making profits not the impact the creams will have on customers.
“I’m sure many of them know the side effect, too, still they want to look beyond their natural color without put into consideration that everything has a limit,“he said.
Matta Ndow, who has been selling cosmetics for ten years said: “Most of my costumers are Men who persuaded their wives to bleach their skins, while some of the young ladies, too, want to look beautiful so that they can be more attractive.”
Maimuna Njie who uses the skin lightening cream said she takes to bleaching through peer influence while disclosed that “I did not regret it because when you have light skin people value you and you always look beautiful especially with makeup.”
She said “years back I was a black queen but as time passes by my friends always mock me, telling me that skin lightning is the best, light skin is more beautiful and men mostly like ladies with light skin.”
Speaking to Dr Aboubacarr Jagne at Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital (EFSTH) explained that skin function as a barrier protection against infections which maintain temperature and water prevention to crush into the body. “So if that barrier is broken then it will increase the risk of having infections,” he disclosed.
According to him “the skin itself and the chemicals use on the skin to bleach it has tremendous effect depends on types of chemicals use.”He noted also that some of the chemical they often use make the immune go down, have less body temperature and less body protection which “sometimes makes people to have diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease and susceptible to infection.”
He advised that “anything you naturally have is better than artificial put in place. It is better that people should have self-confident trust the color they have and know that is great having dark skin. We should be proud of it so that we can be able to protect ourselves from all the complications that come our way.”