# Spreading of Dangerous Skin-Lightening Products as a Result of Colourism: A Review
## 2 Colourism and the Widespread Practices of Skin-Lightening  
The belief that a fair complexion is a synonym for beauty and the widespread skin-lightening practices that result come from a complex interweaving of historical, cultural, social, psychological and economic factors. Since ancient times, the canon of beauty has included a very fair complexion. During the 7 th century in China, Empress [PERSON] swallowed crushed pearls to obtain her fair complexion, a practice still popular among Chinese women. Greek women painted their faces with white lead (lead carbonate, very toxic) and Roman women adopted this practice using the same compound, which they called 'cerussa', as described by [PERSON]. [PERSON] (69-30 BC), queen of the Ptolemaic kingdom of Egypt, regularly bathed in acidic ass's milk [12]. In different historical periods, there have been many reasons behind skin-lightening practices; they are linked to colonialism in countries such as Africa or India and slavery in America [12]. Dangerous skin-whitening practices are not limited to the past, and the search for means to obtain a white complexion has continued unabated in the following centuries; striking examples are the ingestion of arsenic waffles in Victorian times, the use of radiotherapy at the beginning of the 20 th century, or even, very recently, the oral or intravenous administration of glutathione recommended in some African countries to pregnant women to lighten the skin of babies in the womb [12]. Although [PERSON] made the tanned complexion fashionable in the 1920s, there are still several psychosocial, cultural and economic reasons why people lighten their skin, because light complexion is still perceived as a positive value in many countries and cultures. This prejudice has its origin in so-called colourism; although colourism and racism are often interconnected, they are two different phenomena. Racism is prejudice against people of a certain ethnic group or \"race\", while colourism can be defined as \"prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, especially among people of the same ethnic or racial background\", as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary. Consequently, colourism places a higher value on light-skinned people than on darker-skinned ones. The historical reasons for colourism vary from country to country. In the United States, they are deeply rooted in the enslavement of Africans, while in South Africa, India and Latin America they are a consequence of European colonisation; on the other hand, in East Asia, light complexions were historically idealised and linked to wealth and desirability [7]. Currently, skin lightening is a practice that is mainly used in non-white communities around the world, including Africa, Asia, the Middle East and America; these countries now represent markets where demand for skin lightening products is strong. As reported by leading market research report provider Million Insights [13], the global skin lightening products market size is expected to reach $13.7 billion by 2025, and the CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) is expected to grow at a rate of 7.4% from 2019 to 2025. The Asia-Pacific region is the largest market for this product type, accounting for 54.3% of global revenue in 2018. Skin whitening is mainly practised by women, but in some geographical regions, it is also becoming popular among men and young adults [14]. At the moment, the largest number of studies on the spread of such products focuses on Africa. Skin whitening practices have been popular among African countries since the 1950s; the main motivation behind this phenomenon is the perception of greater economic and social privileges associated with fair skin. It is estimated that about 75% of women in Nigeria, 60% in Senegal, 50% in Mali and 30% in Ghana regularly use bleaching products [15].