Fair practices? What women say
YARA RAYAN Medical student, Egyptian, lives in Dubai ‘Beauty is not about skin tone.’
“I don’t use skin whitening creams or peels. Being a medical student, I know the dangers of these products. I feel the obsession with fairness has got something to do with insecurity and girls comparing themselves with models in ads. Beauty is not about skin tone. It is your inner beauty and confidence and not being judgmental about yourself.”
AMONA YOUSIF, Good safety professional, Sudanese, lives in Dubai ‘I am an African and I am happy with my skin tone.’
“I don’t use anything to make my skin fair. I am an African and I am happy with my skin tone. When I buy skin products, I make sure not to buy the ones with hydroquinone and I have seen people who have damaged their skin by using such products. I am very sceptical about whitening creams. I think some ingredients in them are carcinogenic.”
NAME WITHHELD Filipina salesperson, lives in Dubai ‘For me there’s nothing wrong if you want to be beautiful or have fair skin so long as you’re doing it the right way and are using vetted products.’
This was my biggest regret when I used a cream that promised a fair and smooth skin but it did otherwise. I had an allergic reaction. My face swelled up and became itchy and inflamed. I didn’t really want to be extremely fair; I just wanted to get rid of my pimple scars to boost my confidence. I also tried taking whitening capsules before but I realised that if I stop taking them, my natural skin tone would resurface. So I stopped everything altogether.”
NAME WITHHELD Filipina nurse, 29, lives in Abu Dhabi ‘I want to have fair skin to boost my self-confidence.’
“I used to take Glutathione intravenously administered by my friend who is a nurse in the Philippines. Glutha is best used to detoxify the liver but I liked its sideeffect—supple, fair, glowing skin. However, it became unsustainable for me so I now am just using whitening soap. I want to have fair skin to boost my self-confidence. The social pressure to have fair skin be considered “beautiful” is too much.”