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everal people of colour around the
world suffer from self-hatred, which
in my view triggered by slave trade
and colonialism. Self-hatred leads
to practices such as depigmentation
and hair relaxing which decelerates
the economic development of
numerous countries, especially in
Africa.
I believe this self-hatred is causing
a lot of harm around the world, as
people of colour make up about 90%
of the world’s population.
“You would have been so beautiful
if you were light skinned,” a male
friend told me a few years back.
The most shocking part of this
statement was not only the fact that
he thought light skin was a synonym
for beauty, but also that so many
people agreed with him.
Indeed, some researchers at the San
Francisco state University conducted
a study that proves a subconscious
bias against dark skinned blacks.
Sadly, several dark-skinned people
are trying to look whiter through
depigmentation or skin lightening.
According to the World Health
Organization, In Mali, Nigeria,
Senegal, South Africa and Togo, 25%,
77%, 27%, 35% and 59% of women,
respectively, are reported to use skin
lightening products on a regular
basis.
Why?
Because, during slavery and colonization, black people were treated
like animals and made to believe that
white people are supreme beings.
As a result, colorism, which is a form
of discrimination against individuals
of a dark skin tone, typically among
people of the same race, is
currently very common amongst
people of colour.
We see it every day on the TV, on
social media, and on Google. When
doing a quick search on beautiful girls,
99.9% of the images are that of white
girls with straight hair. This
contributes significantly to the
colourism and the self-hatred that is
going on in more than 50% of the post
colonies in Africa and Asia.
Another means through which people
of colour portray their subconscious
self-hatred is through hair relaxing.
Although there is currently a natural
hair movement that promotes African
natural hair, over 65% of black women
still have relaxed hair, according to
Ebony. On several occasions, I have
been asked by my girlfriends why I
chose to go natural when I can choose
long and straight hair like Beyoncé
through hair relaxers.
Black women and men have been
conditioned to believe that their
naturally curly hair is ugly,
unprofessional, and extremely hard
to maintain. They therefore relax their
hair with chemicals, which,
unfortunately, have negative side effects such as deep ulcerations,
dermatitis, broken and damaging hair,
and irreversible baldness. Moreover,
hair relaxers contain chemicals such
as sodium hydroxide and thioglycolic
acid, which are substances used for
products like Drano to dissolve hair in
drains. Yes, to dissolve hair in drains!
According to the Global Industry
Analysts, the skin lightening product