Fri | Mar 29, 2024

Epidermis cries for help

Published:Thursday | March 21, 2019 | 12:00 AM

THE EDITOR, Sir:

It has come to my realisation that our people do not appreciate the lineage from which we came. Bleaching the skin has become a very grave issue in our society, and it pains my heart to see our people destroying their pigment. Skin bleaching is using chemicals to lighten the amount of melanin in the skin. Why do they bleach?

On watching several videos of Jamaicans who bleach their skin, these are two of the myriad reasons. First, they feel that the darker they look, they are classified as being ugly. But who said that light skin was a badge of beauty? We are all made perfectly in our own way.

Second, to be accepted by the society, as to what it stipulates as the way we should look. “A it a carry the swing nowadays. Everybody a bleach,” explained one of the interviewees.

From the young to the old, everyone is now a ‘bleacher’. Then who is left to inform the younger generation that they should love themselves and wise up? Gone are the days when we could easily identify an adult. Nowadays, adults model childish behaviour and attitudes. What has this little island come to?

I took the opportunity to visit at least 30 haberdasheries and pharmacies. Yes! Pharmacies – and to my surprise, there is a multifarious number of bleaching products made available. I have been left to draw the conclusion that this is on a supply and demand basis, where not even health practitioners care about the well-being of the individuals purchasing these malignant products.

I plead that there needs to be a ban on all bleaching chemicals being imported into the country. Let us protect our people from their ignorance. Let us protect and preserve our melanin.

Kelsie April