Bleaching is a thing in Nigeria; a very serious thing. To understand just how serious it is, Bobrisky, one of Nigeria’s cross dressers claims to “gross over N2 million, sometimes N1.5 million monthly”, and his profit is “N300,000-400,000 monthly”. That’s just one individual. If you enter Balogun market in Lagos Island, there’s a bleaching cream hive nestled there, full of expert cream mixers. Again, that’s one market in one city in Nigeria.

Why do women bleach, though? Why do we have a bleaching industry in Nigeria? Could it be because Nigerians (men) have sorta always had a preference for light skinned women, considering them flashier, prettier, showcase material, even. That’s certainly the image cream mixers sell, isn’t it? Toke Makinwa has revealed in her tell-all memoir launched just yesterday that she bleached because of Maje’s relationship with Anita.

” I had been with Maje from when I was an immature teenager, through my twenties, and for most of those years, Anita had been the standard I had to live up to. I had lightened my skin at some point – Anita was half Lebanese and half Ibibio, and Maje made me feel like he preferred her lighter skin.”

And in this thread, @MakiSpoke is draws a relationship between bleaching and opportunities in Nigeria, equating it to the privileges being white affords one in America.

Do see below:

https://twitter.com/MakiSpoke/status/803206942214778880

https://twitter.com/MakiSpoke/status/803207128504791040

https://twitter.com/MakiSpoke/status/803207540255375361

https://twitter.com/MakiSpoke/status/803207859089670144

https://twitter.com/MakiSpoke/status/803208024684949504

https://twitter.com/MakiSpoke/status/803208924023390208

https://twitter.com/MakiSpoke/status/803210814551420929

https://twitter.com/MakiSpoke/status/803211108131684353

https://twitter.com/SHIAMANI/status/803211273504751616

Whatever the pros, bleaching remains dangerous. Do not indulge.

Op-ed Editor