>I think this last is just trying to put the 'best' -- class -- gloss
>on this penchant for whiteness. But I think it is a huge hangover from
>colonial rule and the all too evident deference shown white people, at
>least to their face -- and this runs the gamut from the rich to the
>poor.
>
>Whitening cosmetics dominate the Asian cosmetics market -- if I
>recall, it accounts for some 60% of the cosmetics market. Along with
>this is the hair-colouring stuff. Sure, it used to be the case that
>henna -- a natural product -- was used for hair colouring, and for
>colouring nails. But now, it's hard to miss the hair-blonding --
>which, at a glance, actually induces a response of malnourishment.
>
>kj
>
>
When I lived in SA back in the late eighties there were a host of
products being sold at drug stores which promised to "whiten" black
pigment. Indeed some particularly predatory chemists were selling
little more than acid. Scar tissue being a tad paler.
Similar such phenomenon to which you point to above could also be pointed to in the Caribbean whereby that "high-brown" look is a real ticket to social mobility promising access, and some ways delivering, to the white world. The entanglement of class a race needs more attention.
Travis