Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 13:41:55 +0200
Kenya's backstreet #BleachedBeauty trade
Nairobi has become a haven for toxic skin-lightening treatments such as
those used by model Vera Sidika.
<http://www.aljazeera.com/profile/wil-crisp-.html> Wil Crisp
Last updated: 24 Jun 2014 10:40
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Nairobi, Kenya - Unregulated clinics offering backstreet skin-bleaching
injections have become increasingly popular with Kenyan women - a trend that
health professionals find alarming.
Nairobi's River Road, a bustling area with a reputation for prostitution,
black market goods and crime, has become a hub for illicit beauticians that
provide these injections - often sitting outside their shops or booths
hissing at passing women to attract customers.
Dubbed "Kenya's Kim Kardashian", the supermodel Vera Sidika recently sparked
a national debate when she unapologetically spoke out on national television
about undergoing expensive skin-whitening treatment in the UK - saying she
spent the equivalent of $170,000 on the transformation, which started the
<http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-27768032> viral hashtag
#BleachedBeauty on Twitter.
"My body is my business and it is a money maker," she
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmLD5ztBEp4> says. "Change is good - if you
do it the right way."
Operating a small booth in the River Road area, Rose has worked in the
skin-lightening business for more than five years. A range of skin-bleaching
creams is displayed outside the booth. Rose also offers inside injections,
but only to clients she trusts. She says injecting is considered taboo, but
the process could lead to more effective results than other techniques.
"If you want an even colour and fast results, injecting is much better than
a cream," says Rose, who gave only her first name fearing police arrest.
"Some girls go back to their village and tell them the water of Nairobi made
them lighter. There is great shame for wanting to change what God gave you."
Though black-market beauticians say their products go through a safe and
effective process, medical professionals warn the increasing popularity of
these unregulated injections could cause health problems in the long term.
'Big money to be made'
Many of the products injected into River Road clients come from unregulated
and imported materials from countries such as the Democratic Republic of
Congo and China. Some list dangerous chemicals among their ingredients,
including alpha hydroxyl acids (AHAs), a type of corrosive compound used in
chemical peels.
"They promise the injection is safe, but it is not," says Dr Pranav
Pancholi, a Harvard-trained dermatologist who works at Kenya's Shah
Hospital. "The products are packaged and marketed to look attractive, but
anything could be inside. Injecting products containing AHAs is abnormal. It
can kill body tissue and cause serious infection."
Dr Adam Friedmann, a dermatologist at London's Harley Street Dermatology
Clinic, agrees that the increasing popularity of the injections is a
worrying trend.
"With bleaching creams from places like China and Africa there is no quality
control. Bleaching creams contain dozens of chemicals, most of which are not
labelled. Unregulated creams could - and often do - contain powerful
steroids. They can cause thinning and skin damage."
Friedmann says badly administered injections of unregulated substances could
also result in HIV, Hepatitis C, TB, permanent disfigurement, inflammation
or critical infection - but those seeking whiter skin continue to purchase
them if they hear of short-term positive results by word of mouth.
"People will take anything they think works," Friedmann says. "In the beauty
industry, you can only go by anecdotal evidence. The effectiveness of such
products is often subjective ... If people report positive results then the
product sells. There is big money to be made if people are injecting such
creams."
'Whitenicious' pop star treatment
Though a relatively new phenomenon, the use of skin-bleaching creams has
long been popular in Kenya and other African countries, including the
Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.
The Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company Unilever sells the world's most
popular skin-whitening treatment, a cream called Fair & Lovely. It is
heavily advertised across Africa, Asia and the Middle East and
<http://www.unilever.com.lk/our-brands/detail/Fair-and-Lovely/324546/>
boasts on its websitethat "250 million consumers across the globe strongly
connect with Fair & Lovely as a brand that stands for the belief that
'beauty that empowers a woman to change her destiny'".
The rising popularity of dangerous skin-bleaching injections in Kenya comes
as a number of high-profile Africans have started openly talking about
changing their skin colour for beauty reasons - defying taboos.
In January, Cameroonian pop star Denicia spoke openly about her own
skin-whitening treatment and launched a brand of skin cream called
Whitenicious, which sold out within 24 hours.
The appearance triggered a national debate on skin whitening on social
media, and attracted heavy criticism from some quarters. Orie Rogo Manduli,
a former Miss Kenya and an advocate for womans' rights, named Sidikia "the
most despicable woman we have ever had in this country", and called for a
media blackout on her activities to "protect our young girls from her bad
influence and misguided ways".
Sidika responded by <http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p020jxrt> saying she
should be respected as a self-made woman from a poor background.
"It is ... society that is promoting the skin lightening or bleaching," she
says. "When you ... walk into modelling agencies, the girls there who get
picked up for jobs are usually fair-skinned."
She also scorned the backstreet treatments offered on River Road, saying the
practitioners there were offering low quality "skin bleaching" that could do
harm.
Worth it?
For most Kenyans their budget to pursue whiter skin is much lower than
Sidika's, but spending on illicit backstreet treatments can still represent
a serious investment in a country where UNICEF says
<http://www.unicef.org/kenya/overview_4616.html> more than half the
population lives on less than $1 a day.
Rose charges $70 per shot and says the treatment can require a number of
visits before results begin to show.
The promise of whiter skin is worth the investment, according to one of
Rose's clients, a woman in her mid-20s who also sells skin creams and gave
her name as Mercy.
She says she has been using lightening creams for a number of years and is
trying the injections in an attempt to get more dramatic results.
"My husband prefers half-caste women to darker girls, and he is proud to be
mine when we go to the club," she says. "I get far more male attention now I
am lighter."
Though medical professionals have serious concerns about the increasing
popularity of the skin-bleaching injections, institutionalised corruption in
Kenya's security forces means police are reluctant to intervene to stop the
practice.
Pancholi says skin bleachers operating on River Road make regular payments
to the police, and a crackdown on their businesses is unlikely.
"It is illegal for a non-medic to inject a client, but bribery allows the
trade to continue," he says.
http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/Images/2014/6/23/201462314015449734_20.jpg
Medical professionals warn the injections contain harmful unregulated
materials [Wil Crisp/Al Jazeera]
http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/218/330/mritems/Images/2014/6/24
/201462473933608734_20.jpg
The skin whitening industry is worth billions of dollars [EPA]
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