UCR CHASS: Women's Studies

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Student Exhibits

Skin Discoloration Technologies
Patlindsay C. Catalla

Suntans were not always the fashionable trend. In the 10th century, having pale skin was a privilege of the white, beautiful, upper class, and dark skin was the epitome of the colored, ugly, underprivileged laborious lifestyle. This shows the connection of skin color to class, race, gender, and notions of beauty. In the 1920s, the trend to darker skin started by accident when a famous French clothing designer, Coco Gabrielle Chanel, developed a suntan during a cruise. The popularity of tanned skin exploded into the chicest trend, until new studies showed that prolonged sun exposure lead to skin cancer. Although many tan-fanatics still go to the beach for a tan, the rise of skin diseases has affected the ideas of sun tanning.

Conscious efforts lead to the inventions of the sun-less tanning lotion. In 1936, the founder of L'Oreal, chemist Eugene Schueller, invented the first sunscreen (Bellis). In 1944, Benjamin Green first created what is now known as the Coppertone suntan cream in a granite coffee pot, but in 1950, Man-Tan was the first self-tanning lotion to hit the market. Indoor tanning also became another avenue for fake golden skin which was invented in 1970's by a German scientist named Friedrich Wolff (Indoor Beach Tanning Company). The creation of indoor tanning beds was also a coincidence, because its original use was for studying how athletes could benefit from extra sunlight. Lastly, the consumption of tanning pills, containing a color additive- canthaxanthin that changes the skin color, was an even easier method for tanning. Self-tanners lessened the chances of skin cancer and allowed white skin toned females to control their own shade of darkness.

On the contrary, the process of bleaching the skin is even more drastic than sun tanning or sunless tanning products. Historically, bleaching the skin dated back to the nineteenth century when African American women would apply it to their skin "get the dark out”(Mire). Obtaining a paler skin color would allow African American women as well as Hispanic and Asian Americans to pass for being white or whiter. The three poisonous chemical agents that cause the lightening of the skin are: mercury, topical corticosteroids, and hydroquinone. These agents would: arrest melanin synthesis, which hinders the creation of skin pigments and the epidermis, as well as thin out the skin tissue that creates the translucent pale skin tone. The application of these agents cause irreversible damage and constant usage will ruin the skin epidermis, eventually causing the skin to blacken. The most common over the counter agent, hydroquinone, is found in many whitening products. AMBI soap and Palmers Skin Success Cream contained the legal contents of 2% hydroquinone, while Filipino brands, such as Likas Papaya, Eskinol, and Tawas had no lists of ingredients. Unsurprisingly, both sunless tanners and bleaching products advertise results of healthy, natural looking skin and never the serious health risks.

American culture fashions tan or pale skin, but this trend stems from a larger fad that consciously oppresses the beauty of colored girls and women. I believe that both sunless tanners and bleaching products are problematic skin discoloration technologies on female bodies that intersect negative connotations of racial, socio-economical, and gendered notions of beauty. White, privileged, societal ideology drives the production, consumption, and assumption that women need these products to achieve a more beautiful superficial exterior. With a better appearance, a woman can get a better job, find a better mate, and have a better lifestyle. In turn, the ideals for a good lifestyle manifested through skin beauty, perpetuate a correct type of beauty that most young girls and women attempt to achieve. Overall, it seems that these negative effects of skin discoloration technologies are more traumatic to the soul of women and upcoming generations than the physical skin damage.