Skin bleaching scandal in South Africa | Unreported World

Saturday the seven I'm joining Brigadier the last away Mota head of the police and wit Bank close to Johannesburg she and her team are about to raid five premises she's not looking for drugs or guns but beauty products so we're going inside the shop right now the Brigadier is looking for someone selling the illegal skin whitening products these products are penned it's illegal to sell any cream that claims to bleach or lighten your skin [Music] it's like she was in a way that she's not supposed to be selling this in the shop we've just confiscated few a ten six or seven of this her skin wrinkles skin bleaching creams are big business a recent study suggested one in three South African women buy them [Music] behind the counter it means you're accountable for what is happening industry they are banned because scientists say if you use them you risk getting skin cancer and other serious conditions but the brigadiers house as soon as the police confiscate the creams the vendors restock it is hard to police because these are not South African products the ability imported so why do you think there's a rise in these skin whitening products I mean there's 525 products here from the rain it is a demand it is because of a demand that is day [Music] skin bleaching creams made all over the world are smuggled here they're an international phenomenon big in Africa but also Asia Europe and America growing up as a dark-skinned Bangladeshi I felt the social pressures to use them but I'm surprised their uses on the rise in South Africa where black people when a struggle for political power in downtown Johannesburg the law is openly defied the illegal creams really are everywhere I'm standing right next to some fruit vendors and in the middle of it you just see skin whitening cream most of these creams sell for under two pounds it's being sold in mass every block I wasn't walk up to it selling it white white I'm on hey we just got kicked out Abbe snow good they don't want to I've come to a student area to meet someone who's trying to look lighter this is Jeff a 19 year old marketing student he tells me he's been using skin bleaching creams for two years and it's worked out for you that's totally different it's like a different person what did you not like about this when I compare myself to now I feel like I'm more appealing now why because I'm high it's Friday and it's party night that's the college life Jeff's getting ready for a big evening something that makes every night before a game it's lemon bait together he mixes lemon sunscreen and lemon bait a cream many South Africans used as a skin lightener even if its packaging makes no such claim first order in an effort then yeah I bought it I started getting lighter and I just continued using it a little bit I think Geoff's ready for action [Music] just infants having lighter skin as the secret to a lot of other young South Africans would agree that it's a plus in the dating game I want to know why [Music] I've heard of a singer who's famous in South Africa for transforming the way she looks with gimm bleaching products I'm about to meet with local celebrity image OSA she's an icon here in South Africa I'm gonna show fat Michels as one of the country's biggest female rappers [Music] Michaux there was a Township girl who had a smash hit single as a teenager she then disappeared from the public eye and that new much lighter Mahaska then reappeared can we try something go in there producer Gabby LaRue and with shows that are working on a new track shows us rags to riches story makes her a role model for many young South Africans and she's as famous for her skin bleaching as for her singing we agreed to meet the next day [Music] I join her at an upmarket spa she's getting ready for a photo shoot to endorse a new skin bleaching cream Michels says she uses skin bleaching creams for a medical condition but except that her new look has helped re-energize her career people saying when you'd ask it you kind of find a job to me that makes sense because I've been through that I've experienced them she admits young South Africans will copy her I am always on TV and when newspapers they bound to lead and want to be like someone who's on TV that's part of life Michelle's as PR manager kalila says celebrities need to look lighter won't other interview we have to sell a fake world that's our job pearl runs the company that makes the products that Michelle's is going to endorse this is the most effective of them all why we can take you three to four [ __ ] lighter right yeah and this can take you through [ __ ] right Wow such a different level yeah I thought it depends on how you want to do oh yeah you're cold what are you gonna use them with shows that today I think this this is the most intense one yeah these creams will sell at 86 pounds each michaux psa's makeup artist Kim describes herself as yellow burns slang from the American South meaning light skinned black when you walk in the hall or a club and you yellow people notice you oh you're not born you're not bone yeah she's LED skin you know what I'm saying you kind of like you are more visible to people yes you know what I'm saying and even when you go to interviews and you slightly fair-skinned you know you probably will 50% chance of you getting the job so it's got a huge impact on how people treat you as well I feel like it'll never really come to an end as long as white is is labeled as the perfect race it'll never come to an incident the team get my shows are ready for the camera and use some of the new cream when you put on a little bit just a little one you crazy but then that basically tells it I'm starting to think that the cream is not above board what did you just put on your hand and these others it's more you can do the same thing on the face because it is too much oh that's high draconian in it oh I don't know but it is just it's hydroquinone penetrates the skin and suppresses the production of the skin pigment melanin scientists have linked it to skin cancer it's banned except as a medicine how do you think young black girls are gonna respond to you promoting a constant dose for doing it it's happened already they're doing it they're using products but they just use it for us they look good for them so with Lee saying useless I'm basically saying if you wanna do it do it the right way this is a rarity we had to a TV studio where my shows is about to perform her new track on live TV I've been pretty shocked by what I've heard in the spa about the advantages of skin lightening Michonne and her entourage take it as a given that being whiter helps you be more successful I [Music] want to know what much OSAS producer Gabi thinks he's one of the most experienced men in the music business in South Africa Lucas await orders an African woman with the lightest skin may be as beautiful I can see the really the reason because they beautiful either way millions will watch Michelle's is an all-singing all-dancing advertisement for skin bleaching but I want to know more about its risks Zink leymah so me is a hospital cleaner who's come to see professor Mikasa de lova a top dermatologist thankfully has used illegal skin bleaching creams that contain Cordes steroids they've contributed to this painful condition professor's all over did a recent study suggesting 90% of women bleaching their skin didn't know the risks seto Electra momentum economic 15 conv with Professor de lova gives her a prescription to ease the discomfort is it hard for you to see patients like that like this it's nothing we can do for her now or damaged dishes I asked her about the active ingredients in the creams that lighten skin it's mercury its hydroquinone it's phenol and it says steroid containing corticosteroid cardamom creams so when you lighten the skin you basically removing the melanin that is a protective true scheme and prevents damage from ultraviolet rays and getting skin cancer doc we know it's astonishing to her that people would risk cancer to be whiter I just wanted you to take a look and just you know have you seen products like this and do they raise your suspicions I show her the products me shows us endorse them it just sees Africa so I don't know what that means and it doesn't say what it contains so if you test these and then you find the band compounds then you can make a case for it even though it's after hours she persuades her colleagues in the lab to test the product we give samples of the cream to other reputable labs and we're told we'll get the results in a few day [Music] meanwhile I catch up with Jeff he wants to make it as a rapper and today he and his friends are shooting a music video he sees being a light-skinned performer is a great way to get female fat girls especially girls they're like rappers that effect and by attractor that we light-skinned with a beard Jack's already got 16,000 Instagram followers his friend aura a model tells me she doesn't use skin bleaching creams but understands why others do people always go about yellow bones you know these lights or girls and it's always appreciated or accepted oh what's it like you know girls that are lighter on tritium and there's US influence beyonce describes herself as yellow boom in a single formation everyone perceives you so sad because not all these other girls who are not light are going to try go out there and do the stuff like you know skin bleaching just to look lighter and be accepted and seen as beautiful [Music] Jeff's beginning to open up more about why he wants to look lighter he tells me he went to a private school where he was one of the only black kids I kind of stood out of it I don't think for the right reasons at that time so they were teased without commenting on them but you could show that I was here just laugh along just to suck my friends also like head coffins and all that so I thought like maybe there was no reason why because of cause of my skin did they make braces yeah yeah they did tuff was like a a word they used to use an aperitif at least for bad people couples copper is an offensive racist term like the n-word thing I just wanted to like sitting in that pee [Applause] [Music] I feel for Jack and the pressure he feels to look lighter when I was younger I too experienced racism and felt the pressure to use skin bleaching products [Music] but some people are taking a stand against the light skin look and the values behind it metallus Davila describes herself as a beauty activist she's styling a shoot for a new magazine that promotes a very different look we are trying to kind of normalize this sort of beauty that you can be that dark-skinned and still be in the context of a beauty shoot it's just normal and beautiful and many black women in South Africa look like her Matala thinks the skin bleaching trend is a sign that the races still aren't equal here we have women who have been told for generations that they are not good enough that their skin color is not it's not attractive that their hair texture is not attractive that it needs to be fixed and the question is how crazy is it that we live in a world where your life can be easier just based on how you look just based on the color of your skin it is definitely that legacy of apartheid that white is better whitens more beautiful white people are still in power because white people still own South Africa they hold the economic power and having a black government great but if they're not changing those roles and kind of empowering black people is then gonna be knocking on like man's door looking for acceptance just so we can progress I'm concerned Jeff's skin bleaching could be putting him in danger I call Professor Lester David's across the country in Cape Town was conducted tests on lemon tea the cream Jeff uses turns out that the product Jeff is using is in fact really dangerous he's putting mercury into his body mercury can harm the brain heart lungs and immune system with continued use it could even lead to organ failure Jeff goes through a bottle of lemon bait a month I have to tell him you know the cream you are using is illegal to be sold as a cosmetic you know it has very dangerous ingredients that can harm you it has mercury okay I don't think I would stop easy who at the moment I don't think I would stop easy because it's really helping you're still willing to use the scream what if I knew like the side effects in anything I think I would have chosen that kind alternative solution I think that's a good point have to the manufacturers of lemon bait told us it does not contain any banned ingredients that they do not distribute it in Africa and what's available there are counterfeit coffees we've been sent a lab analysis of the skin cream that Machaut says intending to endorse it contains hydroquinone the banned substance we keep hearing about which lowers a melanin in the skin and increases the risk of skin cancer it's been very difficult to get ahold of them shows that she's finally answered her phone this morning and now we're driving about three hours away from jo'burg to go and meet with her and to discuss the results that we got from the lab I know after bleaching her skin for so long who shows that finds direct sunlight painful what was this job others so I wanted to talk to you a bit about the product you were promoting do you know what ingredients were in that cream yeah well should she did tell me what's in we went to a lab and we tested the cream that you were promoting and we found some harmful ingredients in it like hydroquinone here we're talking about the product you were endorsing my product I can't really hate you and you're endorsing it and I stopped for some reasons hydroquinone is illegal in South Africa it's banned to be sold as a cosmetic it there should be no hydroquinone in any product because it's dangerous and damaging to your health yeah I appreciate that you said when we met with you that one time that you are all for women you know young girls using products that are not harmful to their skin I'm not to be blamed for anything that you do a skin like a lot of things so I don't know if if it has I took it on that you say I can't be blamed for it a business transaction we contacted pearl the manufacturer of this cream with the lab results and she told us she no longer intends to put it on the market after we left South Africa Michele launched her own range of creams she posted on social media saying the new cream is making me look like a white woman her cream is on sale now thanks for watching this classic unreported world episode click the logo to subscribe for more award-winning documentaries from the unreported world team we upload videos every Wednesday and Sunday keeping you up to date with content from all over the world [Music]

Channel: Unreported World

Views: 3,154,043

Keywords: skin bleaching, skin bleaching in south africa, skin bleaching cream, skin bleaching documentary, skin lightening, skin lightening documentary, skin lightening unreported world, skin bleaching unreported world, skin bleaching in africa, skin bleaching products, skin bleaching story, skin bleaching dangers, south africa documentary, mshoza, mshoza skin bleaching, mshoza skin lightening products, unreported world, channel 4 unreported world, channel 4

Id: bWHCwXZpH6E

Length: 23min 42sec (1422 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 17 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/analsexpert]

"There's chemicals in that one!"

Yeeeah... that's a pretty safe bet...

[u/Aldis_babin]

I wish people could see how beautiful they already are. Society is ruining so many people's self esteem for no reason. Some people change to fit in and some people change to stand out. Don't buy in to all of the false hype. Change the world with what you do, not how you look.