Former model Irene Major is the wife of Canadian oil tycoon Sam Mail. She has used skin lightening creams to drastically change her appearance and says she feels much prettier. Last month, High Street health store Holland & Barrett came under fire for selling a legal skin-whitening product called Dr Organic Royal Jelly Skin Body Whitening Cream, which retails for £9.99.
Irene Major is a wealthy woman who knows all about looking after her skin. The wife of Canadian oil tycoon Sam Malin, she has tried everything from super-expensive Creme de la Mer moisturisers to the services of the most exclusive Harley Street dermatologists.
But Irene, who’s originally from Cameroon, West Africa, has a shocking admission; she also regularly uses skin-lightening creams to alter the colour of her complexion. ‘When my skin is lighter, I just feel prettier,’ she admits with startling candour. ‘It’s a taboo subject, and people get judgmental about it, but that’s how I feel.’
Last month, High Street health store Holland & Barrett came under fire for selling a legal skin-whitening product called Dr Organic Royal Jelly Skin Body Whitening Cream, which retails for £9.99.
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The sale of the product provoked outrage, with some accusing the chain of encouraging racist ideals. Yet Irene, who’s 34 and lives with her husband and four children in a Kent mansion, claims that in some communities the pressure on women to use such products is overwhelming.
‘A skin-lightening regime has been part of my life practically since birth,’ she claims. ‘There are many different types of African skin — from dark charcoal to a lighter version — and you grow up knowing that the lighter ladies are the prettier ones. It’s just a fact.’
Her younger sister, Elsa, 27, agrees, explaining how disturbing hierarchies of skin colour are still influencing African girls. ‘Being lighter shows you belong to a different place on the social ladder. All the rich, successful black African men marry either a white or a very light-skinned girl because they too grew up thinking that the lighter is the most pretty. It doesn’t matter how dark a man is, of course — the pressure is all on women.’
Angela Agor, 41, a black television presenter from North London, bought many different products in her increasingly desperate attempt to lighten a patch of dark skin
Skin lightening is a multi-billion-pound global industry. Pharmacy shelves groan under the dozens of perfectly legal skin lightening products, from high-end Elizabeth Arden and Clinique to household brands such as Garnier and Vaseline.
Holland & Barrett, meanwhile, insist their cream is specifically for use on skin blemishes such as ‘age spots, liver spots, freckles, sun damaged skin and scars’, and contains a brown algae called Ascophyllum nodosum, which has ‘proven skin whitening attributes’, according to a spokesman.
But it’s not just the ethics of skin lightening that concern campaigners. Beyond these legal products, there’s a booming market in illegal creams, soaps and pills, many containing highly damaging ingredients such as mercury, bleach and acid.
The worst of these, a chemical called hydroquinone, is officially banned in the EU, but can still be prescribed by dermatologists for cosmetic reasons — and isn’t hard to find in the UK.
Angela stresses that she uses creams to tackle discolouration rather than to change the colour of her skin overall
‘Anybody can use it, and everybody does,’ says Irene. ‘Just look at all the pop stars whose skin has got so much lighter over the years. Many celebrities do it. We’re just turning a blind eye to it.’
Essentially a bleaching agent, hydroquinone is the biological equivalent of paint stripper. In removing the top layer of skin, which initially results in a ‘brighter’ looking face, it also removes the body’s natural defence against infection and the sun, increasing the risk of skin cancer.
If it enters the bloodstream, it can cause fatal liver and kidney damage. Skincare expert Sujata Jolly, who founded her clinic Clinogen Laboratories in Windsor 30 years ago, has treated many women desperate to reverse the chemical’s effects.
‘Some women develop hide-like skin around their eyes when they had hoped that hydroquinone preparations would treat their dark circles. Others get a kind of spotted, caviar-like effect on their skin.’ The British Skin Foundation lists a terrifying catalogue of potential side-effects resulting from the use of illegal skin creams, including foetal abnormalities in pregnant women who use preparations containing mercury and thinning of the skin due to high-dose steroid creams.
Angela Agor, 41, a black television presenter from North London, bought many different products in her increasingly desperate attempt to lighten a patch of dark skin.
‘I had this blistering under my eye, which left me with what looked like a permanent black eye,’ she says.
‘Obviously I was very self-conscious about it. People kept asking me what was wrong. So when I found this cream in an East London market, I bought it, though I had no idea what was in it. In the end I tried all sorts of creams, some legal and some not. The thing is, they absolutely did make a difference to the darker patches around my eyes, so there was no incentive to stop.’
Angela stresses that she uses creams to tackle discolouration rather than to change the colour of her skin overall, yet, like Irene, she defends the right of black women to use lightening products to even out skin tone. ‘We bleach our hair, after all,’ she says. ‘I simply don’t understand the fuss about this Holland & Barrett cream.’
Abdul Alim, born in Manchester of Bangladeshi origin, launched his own fully above-board range of skin lightening creams ten years ago, and claims that women want paler skin to emulate film and pop stars.
‘The Bollywood film industry is one of the reasons that people continue to think that fairer is more beautiful,’ he says. But this focus on skin colour goes well beyond fashion. ‘In Asian communities,’ he continues, ‘when a photograph of a potential bride is passed around, the first thing noticed is their skin colour.’
‘People say: “She’s quite dark,” before any education credentials are looked at, for example.’
Angela says ‘I simply don’t understand the fuss about this Holland & Barrett cream’
The main agent in Abdul’s Nur76 range is a synthetic compound called alpha arbutin, which inhibits the production of the skin pigment melanin. But it doesn’t come cheap.
The most popular product in his range sells at an eye-popping £97 per bottle. ‘Our customers are more than 90 per cent female and split equally between Asian and black consumers,’ he says.
Abdul, 32, says he has more than 100,000 customers worldwide; and he practises what he preaches, using the products on his own skin with startling results according to pictures on his website.
It is not a habit without risks, he admits, but only when women fail to follow instructions and misuse the creams.
The thing is, they absolutely did make a difference to the darker patches around my eyes, so there was no incentive to stop.
‘The danger of Nur76 is that it can become addictive as people start seeing the effects and want to use more and more. One customer poured more than 100 bottles of the skin lightening cream into the bath, hoping they would lighten quicker.’
Despite the already dramatic change in her skin colour, Elsa Major, for one, would go paler still. ‘It’s my choice. I would never judge a white woman for choosing to tan her skin,’ she says.
Meanwhile, Irene’s reaction to the controversy surrounding the Holland & Barrett skin lightening cream was simple — she went out and stocked up. ‘It’s early days, so I can’t really report on how effective it is yet,’ she says.
In a bid for celebrity status, the sisters have launched their own pop group and freely admit this career choice further fuels their desire to be pale. ‘I think every woman is free to do what she wants,’ says Irene, ‘and personally, I feel more like me when my skin is lighter.’
But Irene and Elsa aren’t alone. And as the global entertainment industry presents an ever-more standardised version of the female ideal, the skin lightening craze will only continue.
iRENE YOU WERE PRETTY IN 2009....
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