7 Kenyan Celebrities who have bleached their skin (Photos)

Even as black people seek to empower themselves through powerful statements like #melaninpopping and #blackdontcrack cases of skin-lightening have been on the rise and the statistics are worrying.

According to a report by the World Health Organisation Nigeria leads the pack with 77% of the country’s women admitting to using skin lightening products.

Togo came in second with 59%, South Africa with 35% and Mali at 25%. In India, the phenomenon is the same with 61% of beauty products being skin lightening products .

This phenomenon is blamed on colourism which is discrimination based on skin colour amongst people of colour such as Africans, Caribbean people and Asian people. A 2017 report by Global Industry Analysts predicts that the skin-lightening market will continue to thrive because of colourism.

In fact, the money spent on whitening products is projected to rise up to US$31.2 billion by 2024 because of “the still rampant darker skin stigma and the rigid cultural perception that correlates lighter skin tone with beauty and personal success”.

While some use ‘surface’ products such as hydroquinone to lighten their skin, others prefer to ‘whiten from the inside’ through skin-bleaching injections while those with money go the whole 9 yards and cough up a lot of money to lighten their skin at fancy clinics.

Celebrities such as Vera Sidika have confessed to having spent Sh50 Million to have her skin lightened like Hollywood celebrities.

And she is not the only one. Here are some Kenyan celebrities who have gone the Sammy Sosa way:

1. Noti Flow

2. Khaligraph Jones

3. Nyasuguta

4. Sheldi Gorgeous

5. Vera Sidika

6. Atomy Sifa

7. Bridget Achieng