Bleaching Fever.
The #Estherblishchallenge is a trend that dominated the social space in Nigeria, especially Tiktok , Instagram and X(formerly Twitter). In this challenge, a Netizen would post a version of them or another person while their skin was still black and original, then a transition would follow, showing a new version in a yellow skin. Bleaching has always been a common trend in Nigeria, it’s a sickness that infects regardless of social class, tribe or religion. The bleaching industry here is a booming one, you could walk into a supermarket and find an aisle dedicated to them , even in areas without super markets there are small shops : “ chemists’ , who have racks filled with creams that would bleach your skin within weeks!
Bleaching, as common as it is in Nigerian society, people do not admit it openly in most cases . In fact , it’s considered to be an insult when you tell someone they bleached even when you both know the truth. On the Nigerian social media , times without count fans would defend a celebrity who a Netizen accused of bleaching. However, was shockingly , the #Estherblishchallenge flourished on this same Internet, with so much applause and praise. This shows how far the Nigerian society has changed.
The question here is, what could motivate a black person to wake up on a fine morning , scroll to a chemist or supermarket, request for a bleaching cream, pay for it and then proceed to rub themselves to hell and back?
There are many reasons, but they all boil down to colorism. Colorism , according to Miriam Webster dictionary, (is) Prejudice or discrimination especially within a racial or ethnic group favoring people with lighter skin over those with darker skin. It is a standard set in place for black people, an insecurity they are exposed to by the sociey because it opens door to acceptance in the social definition of beauty, employment.
In Nigeria, the issue of colorism could be traced back to the colonial times when white faces dominated the screens, newsprint advertisement and every other media. Slowly, a complex emerged , the white skin was seen as superior and the black skin inferior.
Fela, the legendary Afrobeats singer and Activist in his song, Yellow fever , which he released in 1976 , described and criticized the skin bleaching trend in the society . He used fever as metaphor for the trend:
Original catch you
Your eye go yellow…
Artificial catch you
You be man or woman
Na you go catch am yourself
Na your money go do am for you
You go yellow pass yellow…
He explains that there are types of Yellow fever, the original one, a mosquito-borne viral disease and the “ artificial”, bleaching. He proceeds to explain that this trend was not limited to a gender, it’s a fever that infects both sexes and unlike the first fever which comes into the body system without the victim’s will, the bleaching fever is contracted by the individual with their money. Fela then proceeds to explain the effect of bleaching, he explains that the individual would attain a suspicious skin color. In another part of his song he proceeds to explain the effects of skin bleaching:
You go catch moustache for face
You go get your double colour
Your yan** go black like coal
You self go think say you dey fine
Who say you fine?
Though one might take this part of his lyrics as comical, there are, however , elements of truth in in. The “ double color” in the second line above, refers to the skin discoloration and uneven pigment that often occur in the long run. The effect of Bleaching on the skin are countless. In most bleaching creams there are presence of harsh chemicals like hydroquinone and mercury, which can lead to skin damage . The use of bleaching creams can also cause skin cancer due to the exposure to the harmful chemical contents in the cream which leads to the reduction of melanin, which provides natural protection against UV radiation.
The Solutions to Skin bleaching in Nigeria should start from education, which must not be limited to schools, print and electronic media. Campaigns that would educate the citizens in different languages on the adverse effects of skin bleaching. The Government agencies should intensify their campaign in this area, for example , The National Agency For Food and Drug Administration and Control( NAFDAC) embarked on a similar campaign in 2022, which should still be encouraged.
In our Social media space, the promotion of social media trends like #Estherblishchallenge should be discouraged. Influencers should create posts that kick against the celebrated social illness. Reuben Abati, for example, shared a fact on the staggering statistics of the World Health Organization (W.H.O) on the percentage of women bleaching in Nigeria.
Journalists and bloggers should be encouraged to create more articles on the issue of colorism and bleaching in Nigeria. In the process of garnering information for this post, different posts by blogs helped out. For example this post on insight provided an the issue of colorism and black people generally.
Lastly, government agencies should intensify their watch on the circulation of harmful skin creams that are sold in the Nigerian market. The National Agency For Food and Drug Administration and Control( NAFDAC) should intensify their work in this area. To destroy a tree, one must destroy it's root. If the business of the Bleaching industry is destroyed, the bleaching fever would die with time .
