Quest for fair complexion the dark side of cosmetics

By Ingrid Maack

JAKARTA (JP): While many Western women slather tanning lotions over their body for an exotic, dark-skinned look, their Indonesian cousins turn to skin-lightening products. They apply chemical concoctions to their faces and necks in the hope of achieving a fairer complexion.

"Using a skin-lightening product is a woman's personal choice. It's all about making people feel better and to look more beautiful," George Lorz, director of L'Oreal Consumer Goods Division, said here recently at the launching of its skin- lightening product, White Perfect.

"Europeans like to look tanned, but our research has shown that fair skin is what Indonesian and most Asian women want. We are simply responding to market demand."

It is this market demand, however, which is of concern. In these uncertain economic times, many Indonesian women are turning to cheap imported products, the ingredients of which are often unclear. Last month, Extraderm, a skin-lightening cream from the Philippines, was withdrawn from the market and banned by the Ministry of Health because of its high concentration of the chemical hydroquinone.

The Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) is currently testing other skin-lightening creams.

According to YLKI vice chairman Agus Pambagyo, before entering the market all imported skin products must pass tests and be approved by the government's Food and Drug Administration Board. But he said the agency was a haven for corruption and riddled with loopholes which allowed companies to export their products to Indonesia without undergoing the necessary tests.

"Many companies register more than one product under the one registration number, which means they can bypass the tests. Because of this, almost any skin-lightening product can enter the market," he said.

"It's a very dangerous environment at the moment; because of the economic crisis, the government doesn't have the funds to allow the department to monitor the market or to take legal action against companies who break these laws. Also many women are buying cheaper alternatives, but they are unaware of the ingredients of these creams."

Known as hypopigmentation or skin bleaching, skin-lightening creams interfere with the production of melatonin in the skin's upper epidermis. The process reduces the amount of melatonin pigments in Asian skin to a level similar to those in Caucasian skin, and may lighten the skin after long-term use.

The effect is only temporary, however, with the skin returning to its normal pigmentation, in much the same way as a tan fades, once someone stops using a lightening cream.

Yani, a 20-year-old student from Trisakti University, is skeptical of the products' promises. Her attempts to lighten her skin were unsuccessful, even after using a well-known product for six months.

"I didn't notice any change in my skin color, although my friends told me my skin looked nicer," she said.

Dr. Retno Trangonno, a dermatologist and director of cosmetics manufacturer Ristra, warns that problems arise when women use a lightening cream but do not also use a sunscreen.

"Melatonin is nature's own sunscreen, so when women use a lightening cream on their face they reduce their natural protection," she explained.

Most whitening creams do not include sunscreen in their formula, but sell it separately within the range, along with a moisturizer, cleanser and toner. "The problem is many Indonesian women can't afford to buy or know to buy the accompanying sunscreen."

She said that in the 1970s she treated many patients with skin disorders resulting from an imported Chinese skin-lightening cream. Despite a worldwide ban on the product, the authorities appeared unaware that mercury was an ingredient.

A Usage and Habit study conducted in 1997 revealed that 85 percent of Indonesian women have brown skin, and 55 percent of Indonesian women desire lighter skin.

Where does this great white hope come from?

Retno said white skin was always considered beautiful in Indonesia. She noted her mother's generation's use of traditional cosmetics, namely a face powder made from rice flour to lighten the complexion.

Sita Aripurnami from the Kalyana Mitra women's center in Jakarta said the cosmetics, fashion and media industries dictated what is considered beautiful, such as white skin, and work collaboratively to encourage women to consume more and more beauty products in order to meet that ideal.

"The social concepts of femininity, masculinity and beauty are social values which are interrelated and perpetuated by these industries," she said.

Skin-lightening products, she said, in many ways endorse a beauty ideal which is largely unattainable and beyond the budget of many Indonesian women.

Sita attributed the desire for white skin to Indonesia's status as a former colony. Using postcolonial theory, she explained that on a subconscious level Indonesians want to look like their colonizers, and try to adopt their physical identity, namely white or fair skin.

This white-is-beautiful concept is perpetuated by exposure to Western media and also is a feature of Indonesian media, she said.

"In Indonesia's advertising and film industries, most film stars and models are fair skinned and have Western features -- many of them are only half Indonesian. They are successful because they look like bule (Westerner)," she said.

If advertising messages work on a subconscious level, media messages such as the brand name White Perfect, with implications of white perfection and brown imperfection, suggest just that to the Indonesian consumer.

Editor of Gadis magazine Petty Siti-Satimah agreed that white or fair skin is a beauty ideal in Indonesia at the moment. While she conceded that advertising and the media may have helped in creating this ideal, she said that her publication equally featured models with fair and dark skin.

"The important thing is not whether the skin is brown or white, its about having a smooth texture and healthy looking skin," she said.

To meet the desire for white skin, many Indonesian women undergo dermabrasion -- an exfoliating surgical procedure -- or chemical skin peeling in an attempt to achieve a lighter complexion.

Women in the West go to similar lengths, risking skin cancer by sunbathing and visiting tanning salons. They are just as easily exploited by the cosmetics industry, slavishly buying tanning lotions that promise that exotic, brown tan.