Why lighten?

I would love to bleach my skin, mostly to get rid of all my freckles, which I really hate. It looks like you dye your hair in your pic, I don't see how that's so different from skin bleaching, maybe people should be happy with their hair colours? Hair dye does a lot of damage to your hair too. I'm not judgin though, I have dyed my hair for 1/3 of my life and would totally get plastic surgery if I had lots of money.

I just read a news article online the other day. They were talking about some African country, and how all the women are buying stuff to lighten their skin to appear "whiter". The article said the belief is, that the lighter skinned a women is, the prettier she is. They were getting extreme chemical burns and scars, and causing all kinds of problems to their skin. That's probably right in line with what you saw on the Tyra show. It's sad really isn't it?

Some people will use skin lighteners to get rid of freckles or "age spots". Or, some people have dark spots on their skin from the pigment or discoloration from acne. My freckles don't bother me, I've had them since I was a kid. I use a mild skin lightener for dark circles under my eyes. I use it sparingly, a few times a week. It seems to help a bit.

I am extremely pale. Now, that being said, I HAVE bleached part of my skin before. I believe it was for a valid reason. I got a dermatologist's prescription for a bleaching cream because one summer I got a horribly damaging burn, and it left a wash of freckles across my cheekbones. Now, the freckles I don't mind; they're a part of skin. But right under my eyes, right where the undereye circle ends, the freckles were particularly dark, and it made me look really old and tired and awful. I bleached that part away, and then I left it alone.

As for why people bleach in general... well, why do people go get a tan? I think it's a problem with general dissatisfaction with the way we look. Everyone sees beauty standards as different from what they are. They forget that the skin you were born with is the skin that looks the best on you. Instead of getting makeup and clothes that compliment their skin tone, a lot of women decide it's easier just to change their skin. It's really quite sad.

Skin lightening is all the rage here in our country. While in other countries, being tanned is considered quite beautiful, but here skin-lightening products have a huge huge market, from lotions to pills, to herbal stuff. I guess some people are just never satisfied. As for me, I'm only interested in those for scar removals. I've got a lot of bug bites lately and I can't help but scratch. And since I scar easily, I've got quite a number of them.

Dark skinned people would love to get lighter skin, while the light skinned people would love to get tanned. That's life, people tend to crave what they don't have. Both methods either lightening or tanning can be dangerous, if not done properly and professionally. I see no problem in skin lightening if it's done in the right way. Some people choose to lighten their underarms or inner thighs, for example. I think it's good because those areas can be be unpleasant to see if they are dark. Do what make you feel confident, but make sure you get it done in the right way. Cheers!