Not Everyone Wants To Tan

December 28, 2019 8:00 PM

Recently, a woman in Sacramento, California was found to have mercury poisoning from her long time use of skin whitening creams. Rather than being a solitary case, these creams are used all over the world.

This beauty ritual has a long history that continues into the present day, due to colonialism. Use of these creams and moisturizers can be found all over the world; any place that has colorism as a problem.

Skin bleaching is a billion dollar industry, and some of your favorite companies are involved. Beauty companies don't want to miss the chance to be a part of this growing industry.

The use of whitening creams are not only limited to women. Some makeup artists have begun fighting back against the promotion of fair skin.

posted by loriginedumonde (19 comments total)

I accidentally my original comment, but in summation this is genuinely awful beyond measure. Saw the story the other day on Ars Technica and reading it made me feel sick to my stomach.
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 8:57 PM on December 28, 2019 [2 favorites]

It was seriously distressing to see how ubiquitous skin whitening ads were when I traveled around SE Asia last year. The price of beauty what society has decided represents beauty is too high.
posted by hopeless romantique at 9:30 PM on December 28, 2019 [7 favorites]

I knew pale women who used Esoterica cream years ago to get rid of age spots. I presume it is safer because it has a different formulation and is used over much smaller areas, or is it dangerous too?
posted by zaixfeep at 3:49 AM on December 29, 2019

This was a major talking point in Hong Kong nearly twenty years ago when I lived there - free creams were very popular and widely used. Most brands used Latin or alchemical (I think?) names for a bunch of their ingredients (when they were exec required to list them) so looking out for mercury specifically wouldn't have helped you if the label instead had it listed as hydragyrum for example.
posted by Dysk at 3:55 AM on December 29, 2019 [6 favorites]

This needs to be a global initiative, pushback against this BS and shaming the companies involved. How can we still be here in 2020?
posted by Meatbomb at 5:02 AM on December 29, 2019 [2 favorites]

What got me was realizing that the suicidal imbeciles who compounded the cream used dimethyl mercury as the active ingredient. (I'm assuming. Methylmercury as such is a cation; Hg(CH3)2) seems a whole lot more likely as a lipid-soluble active ingredient in a skin cream, which is generally an oil in water emulsion.)

It's almost like they'd never heard of Karen Wetterhahn.
posted by cstross at 7:02 AM on December 29, 2019 [4 favorites]

Most brands used Latin America alchemical (I think?) names for a bunch of their ingredients

Jesus fuck, just spotted this, that is not all what I intended to say, "Latin or alchemical" was my intention, I have no idea how my swipe keyboard dropped that one in, and even less how I didn't notice, I'm so sorry if anyone read this and was confused or offended.
posted by Dysk at 7:10 AM on December 29, 2019 [4 favorites]

Mod note: Fixed that typo for you. Autocorrect sure is something, isn't it?
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 7:40 AM on December 29, 2019 [5 favorites]

Thank you! Autocorrect plus periodic lag due to aging smartphone is awful but this was a new level of what the fuck for me.
posted by Dysk at 11:24 AM on December 29, 2019

I read this story on The Cut and one detail is missing in the posted story. The mercury was not one of the listed ingredients of the product, it was added after market. In fact the product was labelled as Pond’s, which is widely available in western drugstores as a cheap cream. Your grandmother probably used it, and not for whitening purposes. The article instead cites the existence of a black market where such altered products can be purchased and this lady had bought it from someone she knew.

Not trying to refute that tougher regulations and positive skin marketing is necessary, but this specific case has differing details than those in the article in the post above.
posted by like_neon at 11:41 AM on December 29, 2019 [2 favorites]

It was actually a skin lightening cream, though -- "Pond’s Rejuveness skin-lightening cream". But not one that used mercury intentionally, they do think it was added later.
posted by tavella at 11:45 AM on December 29, 2019

I have an interest in skincare and find the whitening/lightening discussions interesting, particularly as an Asian woman where lighter skin has always been revered. More recently, maybe just a few years ago, CosRx (a “cult favourite”) got under fire for one of their products which they labelled “White Power Essence”. Hand on heart I think this was a translation error and once they became really popular with the western market and told how horrifying this was they changed it quickly.

But they changed it to “Whitening Power Essence”. So the intent to help you lighten your skin was still marketed as a benefit of the product.

It’s current name is now “Tone Balancing Essence”. Which I find super interesting.

This is a single anecdote that I think reflects a more nuanced and complex situation with skincare and skincare marketing.

I think there is a difference between “lightening” and “brightening”, with modern brands talking more about the latter. A way that a skincare blogger I can’t remember explained the difference was that “brightening” the skin is like an art restorer cleaning an antique painting. They carefully remove the dirt and pollution built up over the years to reveal the original painting underneath. The effect may look like a lighter skin tone but the intent is to brighten the original.

I admit it’s a subtle difference but western products are created to do this too, for example acid based toners and Vitamin C serums. The word “brightening” is prevalent but the intent is the same. Edited on preview: the comment above case in point, Ponds is an American brand and even it has a “lightening” product.

I want to make this point because sometimes I feel that these stories are quick to criticise non-western brands and cultures - “oh isn’t it awful how they make their woman want to be lighter skinned they’re so racist to their own.” But I think it’s more complicated than that.

I can want to have brighter skin without being ashamed by my skin color. And I’m part of a large market of consumers with that desire. Unfortunately, I think a lot of brands mistake this desire with whitening, drawing on a cultural history of racism and classism.
posted by like_neon at 12:18 PM on December 29, 2019 [9 favorites]

I want to make this point because sometimes I feel that these stories are quick to criticise non-western brands and cultures - “oh isn’t it awful how they make their woman want to be lighter skinned they’re so racist to their own.” But I think it’s more complicated than that.

I can identify with this as an Asian person, but my understanding of the desire to whitening skin was a classist issue, not a racist one.

This was because dark skin was associated with working outdoors in the sun, while upper class people stayed indoors. It wasn't (at least as told me) a desire to emulate white people. For me growing up this meant seeing a lot of these things and those things. Not sure if my family was using skin whitening creams but I would not be surprised given the ubiquity of cosmetics advertising.
posted by Karaage at 1:05 PM on December 29, 2019 [6 favorites]

dark skin was associated with working outdoors in the sun, while upper class people stayed indoors

Can confirm. Whitenening via makeup (in China, at least) had been around long before western cultural influence.

My mum's sisters often express shock at her uncaring attitude about getting a tan while they strive to remain as pale as possible.
posted by dazed_one at 1:21 PM on December 29, 2019 [7 favorites]

> Whitenening via makeup (in China, at least) had been around long before western cultural influence.

This applies to Korea, too, so attributing this to a desire to look white has always made me uncomfortable.

like_neon brings up good points regarding cosmetics terminology. To add to that, I feel there is a translation issue regarding Korean cosmetics products attributed to be 'whitening' - the term often used is 미백, and while it could interpreted as 'whitening,' the connotation is more of removing any uneven color or spots, resulting in flawless skin. So the intended meaning is more that of 'brightening' as described above.
posted by needled at 2:59 PM on December 29, 2019 [3 favorites]

I once had an absolutely wild conversion with a white anti-racist about, among other things, colorism in China.

I could not convince her that the Chinese preference for lighter skin was not motivated by the same white on black dynamics that drove racism in the US. This despite approximately (to two significant figures) 0.0% of the population identifying as either white or black. And despite the same trend existing in Japan well before they had any contact with Europeans, even the non - contact of their isolationist period.

She was absolutely convinced that China had to take race dynamics as the US.

Wild conversation.
posted by meaty shoe puppet at 3:37 PM on December 29, 2019 [5 favorites]

What would motivate someone selling the cream to tamper with it in this way?
posted by Selena777 at 4:40 PM on December 29, 2019

If it’s being circulated via a black market I think it could be sold as an “enhanced” version that “actually works”.
posted by like_neon at 7:17 PM on December 29, 2019

I can identify with this as an Asian person, but my understanding of the desire to whitening skin was a classist issue, not a racist one.

I’d argue it’s both In some contexts; at least my observation is in India the desire for whiteness has been partially influenced by its legacy of British colonialism.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 10:52 PM on December 29, 2019 [1 favorite]