La dépigmentation cosmétique à Dakar (Sénégal) : facteurs socio-économiques et motivations individuelles

Abstract

The cosmetic use of bleaching products in Dakar, Senegal: socio-economic factors and claimed motivations In order to evaluate the reasons for the cosmetic use of skin bleaching products, a questionnaire was proposed to a sample of 368 women presenting at a dermatological centre in Dakar. According to the collected data, bleaching products appear to be more frequently used among women from Dakar, aged from 20 to 40 years, married or having a boy- friend, with an educational level equivalent to primary school, a job implying contacts with customers, and among women having access to certain consumption goods (TV, phone, car). According to their statements, the main motivations of women using bleaching products are the following: be fashionable, be pretty, imitate close friends, practice self- medication. Female friends of bleaching products users are said to often compliment and prompt them, contrarily to family members who generally criticize strongly the practice; the husbands present an intermediary position. These data suggest that bleaching products' s use works like a fashion phenomenon, with both identification to a group (mainly, female friends) and a claim to certain values, especially urbanity, modernity, adult femininity, power of seduction, and access to a certain social level. A wish of emancipation toward classical patterns of women seems present. There is a significant ambivalence of bleaching products users concerning their cosmetic practices. According to thèse data, the usual explanations for the cosmetic use of bleaching products, i. e. a negative perception of black skin making reference to racial typology, are not confirmed. In order to understand the current use of bleaching products, it is essential to adopt a historical perspective, especially with regard to local perceptions of skin colour differences, as to local strategies of seduction.