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As someone who has been exposed to the beauty industry for more than a decade as well as found herself situated right in the middle of the crossroads in the world of cosmetics—I’ve truly (hopefully) seen it all.
International beauty brands—think Maybelline, Simple and L’Oreal—are easy to trust and love. These brands populate the shelves of our local drugstores and are probably the earliest (if not the first) brands you try out when you’re a beginner in the world of cosmetology.
What many do not fathom is how reckless we get when it comes to beauty. It’s simple, we see images and videos of the result and we don’t second guess before hitting the “Add to cart” button. But is it really necessary to be so sceptical?
For more popular brands, you’re less likely to read into it too much as they are required to go through rigorous testing and follow specific guidelines and regulations. But let’s reduce the scale and think locally and acknowledge the two polar worlds of the Malaysian beauty industry and why our beauty standards are the poisonous root of all of this.
- The Malaysian Beauty Standard We Refuse to Address
What is the Malaysian beauty standard?
It’s unfortunately simple. It’s white.
Whiteness has undeniably been the standard for many parts of the world at some point in life. Although nowadays, the Western side of the world favours tan, melanin skin and bold makeup looks, it can’t really be said the same for the Southern and Eastern sides which include our Malaysia.
For our side of the world, the appearance of fair and white skin tones has always existed in our history books. It stemmed from the ideology that those who had tanner skin were common folk who had to work under the sun for long hours while the upper class stayed indoors and were always shaded, hence, fairer skin.
Many can easily claim that this is all colourism with influences from the West (*cough* colonialism) but these standards have always been rooted in us. Old wives' tales we’ve instilled in our culture such as using rice water to wash our faces, “bedak sejuk” (water-activated rice tablets) to remove dirty impurities and whitening our skin—the list goes on.
Although somewhat harmless, it’s believed that to achieve the ideal fairness, many would have to go through extreme measures that just weren’t worth the risk at the time. Alternatively, many would apply a thick layer of makeup that was too fair for them that resulted in an ashy grey complexion.
The obsession and desire were a real problem then and it’s no different than today. Despite the present-day beauty scene being more open to embracing natural tan skin and spreading the importance of inclusiveness for all skin types, we still have a major parasite in our beauty industry.
Prior, I spoke of how in the past, you would have to go through extreme measures to achieve white skin such as going through procedures like “skin bleaching” that can pose a series of multiple health issues. However, that is not the case in our current times. In fact, whitening your skin now is as accessible as ever in the worst way possible.
- How Toxic, Whitening-Obsessed Brands are Destroying Genuine Local Beauty Brands
As of now, there are almost 200 known products banned by the MOH (Ministry of Health Malaysia) for containing harmful skin-whitening ingredients such as mercury, formaldehyde, lead, etc. Those are the numbers from reported products but what about the ones that aren’t reported?
Most of these products contain similar formulas that are then mass-produced with different packaging and names. It is simply too hard to keep track of all of them. Matter of fact, this toxic image of porcelain skin that is absent of all flaws has even stemmed into consumable products advertised as drink powders, beauty pills, and more.
You might ask yourself, “Why would one do that to themselves all for the sake of beauty?”. With that, I retaliate by saying that they strive to be beautiful in this society that has created a fixed box for you to squeeze yourself into is exactly why. The pressure to fit in is what makes us go to great lengths.
In Asian countries (including ours) and even most in Africa and South America, the whitening industry is a booming billion-dollar empire. Does this not show enough of the severity and how big the demand of this market is?
With that being said, what about the real local brands we need to shine a spotlight on and actually support and thrive? In Malaysia, we have talented and passionate minds who work hard in their craft. To produce formulas that are safe, effective and sometimes go the extra mile of using biodegradable packaging—these brands are who we should be proud of.
Personally, local beauty brands surprise me with how high-performing they are and the utilisation of local ingredients—it screams “Malaysia’s Pride”! The way their products could outrank some high-end international superstars in my books and many beauty enthusiasts’ is definitely a big plus!
But with risky beauty brands continuing to produce beauty products formulated with harmful ingredients and demand for it is still at an all-time high, it’s genuine beauty brands that have to break the fall.
- Food for Thought: Why We Need to Break the Beauty Standards
At the end of the day, consumers focus on two things: price point and how fast you’ll see results. Evidently, it’s hard to start an argument when you know it’s a losing battle.
There truly isn’t a way to break this vicious cycle as it is deep-rooted in us through generations. We’ve grown to believe this abnormally white complexion is the ideal standard and we live this life striving to achieve it one way or another.
However, they should understand that this vision is outdated and traditional and even in Malaysia many are loving the rise and empowerment of embracing our melanin skin tones. New generational youths are growing and we need to play our part in educating them to love themselves and that their beauty isn’t defined by their skin tone.
Despite that, the influence of social media, peer pressure, and the increase in accessibility to these harmful beauty products—how will we overcome this centuries-old parasite instilled in all of us, and will we ever be able to break this toxic cycle once and for all?