Thailand's whitening creams: Comfortable in your own skin?

[webfact]

Thailand's whitening creams: Comfortable in your own skin?
Jody Houton


Mew Mew with a skin-whitening product.

PHUKET: -- It’s been a dark few weeks for skin-whitening companies in Asia.

First there was the October 23 public apology by Japanese cosmetics giant Kanebo, following their shocking announcement that around 15,000 consumers of their skin-whitening creams had developed blotches on their skin.

A day later, Thai cosmetics company Citra Thailand rejected allegations that their campaign to find the university girl with the whitest skin – officially, the ‘Citra Search for Clear, Soft and Glowing Skin’ – was not promoting racial discrimination, or implying that white was good and dark was bad.

Netizens disagreed.

In fact, a brief stroll through the cosmetics section at any supermarket, a flick through any Thai magazine, or even just watching local TV, it is quite easy to see why Thailand’s online populace disagreed – having white skin is big business in the Kingdom.

Former model Phatsorn ‘Mew Mew’ Akaradejthananant has four branches of her Rassarin beauty and cosmetic stores in Phuket; one in Patong and three in Phuket Town.

As well as numerous anti-ageing creams and lotions, Mew Mew’s other big sellers are her Rassarin-branded skin-whitening creams. All of her products are made in Phuket.

She stresses to The Phuket News that all ingredients used are safe and legal, such as vitamin C, vitamin B3 and kojic acid.

The latter is a mild inhibitor of pigment in plant and animal tissues. It is used in various foods and cosmetics to preserve or change colours of substances.

It also increases skin sensitivity and decreases the amount of melanin in your skin, meaning users must be careful about being out in the sun.

Mew Mew says she sells her Rassarin products mostly to young Thai women, though she does also have male and foreign customers of all ages. However, the results are not standard across the board.

“People have different skin colours, so it’s impossible for everyone to have white skin.

“For many with dark skin they choose to have the glutathione injection which is very dangerous. This gives the skin a brighter tone. We do not offer it here.”

The injection was not originally intended for its whitening effect though.

According to online medical site WebMD, “Healthcare providers give glutathione as a shot (by injection into the muscle) for preventing poisonous side effects of cancer treatment (chemotherapy) and for treating the inability to father a child (male infertility).”

In a recent interview with The Bangkok Post, to promote a series of lectures he was giving in the capital, Canadian physician and glutathione expert Dr Jimmy Gutman, said, “In North America people don't want their skin to be whiter than it is.

“It's kind of disappointing to see people here trying to use glutathione to whiten their skin. Besides, the fact is that taking it orally as a pill or powder doesn't work – it's a waste of your money."

He also questions the safety of injecting the substance for the sake of vanity. "In the ER, we inject a drug that raises glutathione level as an antidote to paracetamol overdose," he said.

"If you use it as an injected whitening agent, it's not very physiologically effective because cells have an innate intelligence to limit the amount of glutathione produced. So there's no point raising it to a high level and moreover we don't know about the long-term safety."

Although not illegal, the US Food Drug Administration has also not classified glutathione as 100 per cent safe. Despite this, there are many clinics on Phuket that do offer the service.

Mew Mew believes that one of the reasons Thai women go through such risk in the pursuit of perceived beauty is to feel better by “looking better”.

“All the actresses and singers on TV are white. Thai women feel more confident and like to compare with their friends to see who is whiter.

“They think it’s more beautiful to have white skin.”

As ever, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/whitening-creams-comfortable-in-your-own-skin-42688.php


-- Phuket News 2013-11-04

[RickeyParkany]

You're never *white enough*, Not even a W.A.S.P....don't play this game...have pride in Your ethnic & cultural traditions and natural beauty. ;-} rap.

http://www.waspnation.com/

[jaltsc]

"She stresses to The Phuket News that all ingredients used are safe and legal..."

By whose standards? A few years ago, tobacco was considered "safe and legal". It even was promoted as being healthy and it's use enhanced calmness. Of course, the calmness was as a result of alleviating the withdrawal systems to the addicting nicotine. The use of cigarettes was promoted by actors, athletes and other role models. So, a good part of the attraction was to look cool. Any negative health effects were denied by the manufacturers and distributors. Sound familiar?

These products and procedures are promoted to increase self esteem and worthiness. To belong. To be better than those who do not have a particular look or habit. Any product that changes the natural make up of ones natural physical make up cannot be healthy. So, those women in the west with low self esteem use cancerous tanning booths to attain a darker skin and those in Asia use cream and other methods to attain a lighter skin. Getting people to buy into this facade is not too difficult to do when the accepted norm for beauty is a photo shopped image of a model whose characteristics are impossible to attain naturally.

Edited November 4, 2013 by jaltsc

[marcusd]

There is no such thing as a whitening cream. It only lasts until you wash it off

Sent from my RM-892_apac_laos_thailand_219 using Tapatalk

[Misterwhisper]

Look at that "Mew Mew" thingy in the OP pic. She is unnaturally white. If it wasn't for her dark eyes, I'd suspect she's an albino, or might assume that she suffers from Vitiligo. In any case, it looks unhealthy.

Heck, even I appear rather dark compared to her - and I'm a northern European who spends most of his time locked away in an office and removed from even the slightest sun exposure.

Ironically, she unwittingly even exposes whitening treatments as the sham they really are: “People have different skin colours, so it’s impossible for everyone to have white skin.

This obsession with being white, whiter and whitest really is becoming absurd and ridiculous.

[pgrahmm]

Personally I prefer the darker skin & really wouldn't care to know/date anyone that wants to lighten up. They should be thankful they are beautiful and healthy.

I do realize that some see it as culturally demeaning......

[DocN]

Great piece of free advertizing for her products....the rest is crap the whole way.

As usual!

[GrantSmith]

I wonder what the Ginger Association have to say about this?

Surprised they're not protesting out in the streets - or at the very least the malls! But then again, the outdoors might be too harmful.

[LuckyLew]

I got some special cream for all the cute girls out there

[bluemoon58]

Personally I'm a firm believer in "each to their own" but like one of the other comments, prefer the more natural look.

What does amuse me though, is the females that have the whitening cream on and they've just slapped it on and not even bothered to rub it in...!!!

[Chao Lao Beach]

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/586489-thailands-skin-whitening-craze-reaches-womans-intimate-areas/

[kotsak]

phartley58, on 04 Nov 2013 - 15:33, said:

Personally I'm a firm believer in "each to their own" but like one of the other comments, prefer the more natural look.

What does amuse me though, is the females that have the whitening cream on and they've just slapped it on and not even bothered to rub it in...!!!

You mean like the Burmese?

[BuddhistVirus]

Meow...

[Joe Mamma]

The dark truth is that with the depleted ozone layer and the cancerous suns rays aging us quicker then ever. It is best to avoid more than 10 minutes in the oven. The white skin /wealthy high class is bullshit as companies make billions from our insecurities and white skin can utilize hundreds more synthetic products. People need to go barefoot on the Earth and get grounded daily, period!! The positive charged free radicals will be neutralized by mother Earth.

[Thai at Heart]

Look at that "Mew Mew" thingy in the OP pic. She is unnaturally white. If it wasn't for her dark eyes, I'd suspect she's an albino, or might assume that she suffers from Vitiligo. In any case, it looks unhealthy.

Heck, even I appear rather dark compared to her - and I'm a northern European who spends most of his time locked away in an office and removed from even the slightest sun exposure.

Ironically, she unwittingly even exposes whitening treatments as the sham they really are: People have different skin colours, so its impossible for everyone to have white skin.

This obsession with being white, whiter and whitest really is becoming absurd and ridiculous.

I agree. There are degrees of whiteness and I am sure these pictures are heavily Photoshopped. It's impossible for someone to be absolutely freckle free.

At the end of it, there is a healthy color and shape for women to be and whilst models may have a style that is attractive momentarily , it starts to look unhealthy after a point.

Stare at her long enough and you wonder of she spends her life in a hermetically sealed bubble. Could you imagine living with someone who was that obsessed about staying that white?

It's an anti lifestyle choice, probably akin to anorexia.

[circusman]

I got some special cream for all the cute girls out there

PIG !

[Thai at Heart]

She looks like the elfine archer character from Lord of the Rings.

[cocopops]

phartley58, on 04 Nov 2013 - 15:33, said:

Personally I'm a firm believer in "each to their own" but like one of the other comments, prefer the more natural look.

What does amuse me though, is the females that have the whitening cream on and they've just slapped it on and not even bothered to rub it in...!!!

You mean like the Burmese?

I'm guessing she is just a kid, but this healthy-looking girl is still much prettier than the model pushing whitening products...

Edited November 4, 2013 by cocopops

[PhilipCook]

she's cute but the whitening products are silly. I saw adverts in India for whitening roll-on deodorant, imagine how that would look on someone who isn't pale skin.

[lempereur]

Personally I prefer the darker skin & really wouldn't care to know/date anyone that wants to lighten up. They should be thankful they are beautiful and healthy.

I do realize that some see it as culturally demeaning......

many Thai girls do use dose creams look like ghosts dam white skin an dark legs very silly

[CapeCobra]

My friend lived in Cape Town and like most Germans he loved the so-called Cape Coloured girls. The Apartheid educated white Boere friends used to ask him about his preference and boldness to go out with some Whitney Houston lookalike in public. Not so long ago they would have put him in jail. He said "I didn't come all the way from Cologne to look at pink nipples." Comparing their skin colours was a big thing amongst these girls, exactly as in Thailand. India, with her disgusting Caste System, probably, tops the passion for whiteness in Thailand. This article by American writer Lindy West talks about an Indian ad for vagina whitening. http://jezebel.com/5900928/your-vagina-isnt-just-too-big-too-floppy-and-too-hairyits-also-too-brown Though, I feel sorry for girls getting worried about areas where the sun don't shine, Lindy's rigorous prose made me laugh. I will discuss some of her hilarious ideas with my Thai connections.

[davejones]

Brown people want to be white. White people want to brown. Same same.

[winstonc]

Personally I'm a firm believer in "each to their own" but like one of the other comments, prefer the more natural look.

What does amuse me though, is the females that have the whitening cream on and they've just slapped it on and not even bothered to rub it in...!!!

thats the burmese girls with there white powder hahahahahaha they dont earn 300 baht a day to buy the real fake thing

[salavan]

if you got white skin do you still pay the thai price for things

[pitchag]

I tell my t/g/f I love her coffee coloured skin, falang women lay in the sun to get to the same colour, Thai women should realise we love the brown silky smooth skin they have we don't want the dried up sun damaged skin of the western women

[GrantSmith]

I tell my t/g/f I love her coffee coloured skin, falang women lay in the sun to get to the same colour, Thai women should realise we love the brown silky smooth skin they have we don't want the dried up sun damaged skin of the western women 

How's that cliché go again?

To each his own? Or something like that...

Different strokes for different folks etc etc...

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[allucero]

Brown is beautiful in America. Everyone wants to be tanned multi billion dollar operation!!!

[tingtongteesood]

If your stupid enough to believe all the advertising and dumbness and rub that chemical mess all over yourself, a big som nam na if it makes you look weird....

[bangon04]

Personally I prefer the darker skin & really wouldn't care to know/date anyone that wants to lighten up. They should be thankful they are beautiful and healthy.

I do realize that some see it as culturally demeaning......

many Thai girls do use dose creams look like ghosts dam white skin an dark legs very silly

But not really more silly than in Hollywood where gay men go to clinics for anal bleaching procedures, right after they have come from the tanning salon......and not only gay men probably

[surangw]

"She stresses to The Phuket News that all ingredients used are safe and legal..."

By whose standards? A few years ago, tobacco was considered "safe and legal". It even was promoted as being healthy and it's use enhanced calmness. Of course, the calmness was as a result of alleviating the withdrawal systems to the addicting nicotine. The use of cigarettes was promoted by actors, athletes and other role models. So, a good part of the attraction was to look cool. Any negative health effects were denied by the manufacturers and distributors. Sound familiar?

These products and procedures are promoted to increase self esteem and worthiness. To belong. To be better than those who do not have a particular look or habit. Any product that changes the natural make up of ones natural physical make up cannot be healthy. So, those women in the west with low self esteem use cancerous tanning booths to attain a darker skin and those in Asia use cream and other methods to attain a lighter skin. Getting people to buy into this facade is not too difficult to do when the accepted norm for beauty is a photo shopped image of a model whose characteristics are impossible to attain naturally.

' are safe and legal." Only when not combined