The beauty of melanin

My black sisters, melanin is pigmentation that gives your skin colour its brown shade.  Dark-skinned people have more melanin in their skin than light-skinned people have. Melanin is an effective absorber of light; the pigment is able to dissolve over 99.9% of absorbed UV radiation. Because of this property, melanin is thought to protect skin cells from UVB radiation damage (sun damage), reducing the risk of cancer. Studies have shown a lower incidence for skin cancer in individuals with more concentrated melanin, i.e. darker skin tone.

In light of the function of the black skin, I find it really heart breaking when I see my brown sisters bleaching their skin or promoting the use of sunscreen or tissue oil to reduce the signs of aging, or sun damage. Your black skin already does all this and more. Hence the term, ‘black don’t crack’.

Black people who promote the use of sunscreen or tissue oil are black people who want to be white and don’t know who they are. It is another form of self-hate encouraged by the media. And these skincare corporations put a black face to their products that we don’t really need, so that we can buy into the idea. Celltone is one of the products that have recently done this. Boity Thulo is an ambassador for their tissue oil range. If you check the comments on the Celltone Facebook page, you’ll see that it is not working for some of the black sisters. Ladies, you don’t need to spend R500 or more to protect your skin from the sun. Your skin already does that for you…naturally. For free. Mahala.

It is white people who actually need the sunscreen, etc. as their skin doesn’t absorb the rays of the sun. They are also prone to skin cancers because the sun damages their skin.

Black child, know thyself, embrace thyself, L.O.V.E thyself…