Skin Bleaching and Its Negative Effect on the Physical Appearance of the Black Skin (A Case Study of Youthful Ladies and Women in the Ho Municipality in Ghana)

Abstract

Many women and youthful ladies in Ghana attach much passion to beauty than any other thing. In view of this fact, many chemicals, soaps, herbs and other unhealthy concoctions are being used by these fashionable youthful ladies and women in Ghana to bleach their skins giving them a face lift. In the process of bleaching, the skin colour changes from black to fair. The intension of these women is that, beauty is associated with lighter or fair skin. This has driven most of them into the craze of skin bleaching without recourse to the dangerous side effects that the practice can expose them to in the near future.The researchers therefore thought it necessary to solicit vital information from these youthful ladies and women to ascertain their awareness about the hazardous nature of skin bleaching and why they should put an end to the practice.  In an attempt to achieve good results for the research, structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from one-hundred (100) Ghanaian women and youthful ladies residing in Ho municipality in the Volta Region in Ghana using purposive sampling technique. In addition to that, illiterates among the target group were interviewed to draw first hand information from them. Results from the research indicated that ignorance, craze for fashion and anxiety to look more beautiful are the issues that propel Ghanaian youthful ladies and women to engage in the practice of skin bleaching.

Keywords: Skin Bleaching, Youthful Ladies and Women, Physical appearance, Black skin