This is why Kenyan women are becoming obsessed with bleaching their skin

When Vera Sidika first revealed her ‘new skin’ back in 2014, a lot of Kenyans were taken by surprise and some went as far as condemning her for doing that to herself.

A few years down the line and more celebrities such as Bridget Achieng and Vitimbi actress Evelyn Wambui seem to have followed suite.

But it is not only the celebrities that are getting their skin lightened but a lot of Kenyan women are actually ‘striving’ to make sure that they lighten their skin otherwise the skin lightening business would not be booming back in River road.

Why exactly are Kenyan women increasingly becoming interested in lightening their skin; so much so that they do not care about the pricey cost of doing so?

Here are some of the reasons.

1.Low self-esteem

There is this notion that light skinned women are more beautiful and therefore dark skin women feel inferior when it comes to skin color and which one is more beautiful.

A lot of it stems from the fact that they were either bullied or made to feel like they were not beautiful when they were young.

Take socialite Bridget Achieng for example, she said she was bullied when she was younger and was never made to feel beautiful either.

2.The products come cheap

River road has been known to have a booming skin lightening business thanks to the cheap nature of their products.

Some of these products can go for as low as Ksh 500 which would be the ones that work slowest and if the consumer is in need of something that would work faster, they opt for something a bit more expensive.

Unknown, or maybe it could just be ignorance, to these women is that these products contain harmful chemicals such as mercury that could lead to serious health complications such as skin cancer and liver damage.

3.They blame society for up lifting light skinned women as compared to dark skin women

Some women blame the society for uplifting light skinned women as compared to dark skinned women.

This is something that Vera Sidika has been vocal about when she first lightened her skin. She made it clear that she felt light skinned women are more attractive and get more services.

4.Light skin is associated with money and wealth

There is a reason why light skinned people are known to have “rangi ya pesa” because people literally associate light skinned people with wealth and success.

Take it from Vera Sidika, she said that she felt light skinned people get more services when it comes to work.