THE INTEGRITY OF A BLEACHED SKIN

Two years ago when I got into adolescence, my face was pimply. I would not really say I was in the least nervous because I was in oblivion to a lot of lingering actions that could mar my joy and confidence in the latter future.

It was bleaching. Bleaching the skin, I am currently told, is the worst thing you can do to the skin. It is like adulterating the skin with poisonous chemicals washing off the natural acidity of the skin which is called melanin.

It happened that my mother had her bath with a soap which had somewhat bleaching effects. She proffered it to me that I should use it on my face in the meantime to clear my dark-crusted forehead. I was happy to say nothing of how anxious I had been with my forehead like that —oily and disaccentuating.

Shortly after this, I moved to boarding school. Yet not without me hitting my forehead on a pillar of the door and bleeding as if to death. It was a deep cut, but thanks to my perseverance that I did not stitch it in the aftermath of choosing a healing mechanism.

Throughout my stay in the boarding school, I never bleached my skin. It was a considerable and helpful hiatus in my life that maybe tomorrow I will consider it a fountain that fuelled my lodestar of courage.

I perpetuated bleaching when schools were closed at the outbreak of COVID-19. It was basically a mixture of both Papaya and Tumeric components that I used. Funnily enough, I revelled in this action of mine; I could not but circumspect the dour consequences.

The year 2020 waded through like a transient water flickering in a tempest. There were soaps I used like Extract, Ashanti, K-brothers among others which purpose I thought resided in the fact that it maintained my colour. Here I was few days ago when I impulsively searched out the hazards of bleaching—this was not premeditated at all. I saw a lot of things, most of them grim-faced and bitterly true. Virtually all bleaching creams have mercury and hydrinoquine. These chemicals can cause severe burn because they rob the skin of the natural pigment it produces that cocoons the skin from ultraviolet radiation of the sun. It is just like robbing Peter to pay Paul.

I briefly want to address the issue of ultraviolet radiation. Most industrialised areas are more prone to depleted ozone layers than those in rural communes. I live in a rural area where it can be said, there are fewer concentrations of acid rain. The ozone layer is intrinsically fortified against the sun to protect the earth—it is more like a sheath over the earth, but the constant penetration of smoke and global warming in no time weaken the integrity of the ozone layer making it frail to acidic rain and ultraviolet radiation of sunlight.

At various times I have had acne leaving indelible marks on my face. It had worried me; it had depressed me. So I took respite in bleaching my skin using lightening soaps and ‘Clearer skin in 2hrs’ creams. I was in trepidation to use Nigerian creams because I knew that they had more bleaching chemicals. I knew I was bleaching, yet I was just too burdened to introspect my actions.

After checking out bleaching on Google, I have found it hard to use anything on my skin, even soap. So I have been bathing with hot water. I have an oily skin: hot water helps my skin. I, unshakeable, made a tactful talk to my self that I will never on this earth abuse my skin again. Hot water would preside and administer to my oily skin. And my skin has healed to a considerable extent and taken a clearer picture.