She knew me so well

Photo credit: IMBB

I was told at a very young age by big sister not to bleach. I will never forget her words as I watched her take some cream in small portions from a jar of mixed concoctions.

"Nwamaka you know that you are lazy and so you will not be able to maintain it".  She went on to tell me that if I did I would never get an even tone. She was so sure that I would skip using the cream some days just out of laziness. Lol! How do you know someone so well.

I used to wonder then why people bothered to even go through all the stress to change the colour of their skin.

It takes a lot of hard work, I know because I saw people close to me to do it. You had to be stark naked and also made sure that the cream got to every part of the body especially the hidden parts like the back of the ear and behind the neck.

For best results one would need an assistant to cover the whole back area including the bum. Also anyone going through this transition must invest in very good air conditioner and must have a back up generator for when the owners of power strike.

The person must also never go out in the sun without sunblock and must also invest in good perfumes and deodorants to cover the onions smell for those who go the cheap route.

I saw what harm bleaching cream caused a lot of people while growing up that made me wonder why it was important to go through all that.

In Enugu then there was a guy called Sonny cosmetics. He was popular for his looks and his expertise in mixing cream for his clients who were mostly females. 

He had a small pot which he used for his concoctions. He knew the right amount of top gel, topromozone and all to add and in seconds he's done; giving his clients their specifications and their money's worth.

Sony looked and dressed like Michael Jackson, his shop in Kenyatta market then was always fully stocked and had mixed scents of all his bleaching agents and cheap deodorants. (Please don't ask me how I know so much about Sony  he sold other body lotions).

At some point Sony went off the radar, his younger brother took over his shop and Sony was nowhere to be found.

When he later resurfaced, it turned out that Sony had found  the Lord and gone through some spiritual cleansing.

As part of his transformation Sony stopped using his own supply. I remember the first time I saw him after his leave of absence, I nearly passed out. Sony was not just dark he was charcoal black and looked like a walking corpse.

The only thing that made me and other people believe that he was the same person was his voice. But that even made him scarier, whenever he spoke it was like his ghost speaking.

Sony lost a good number of his clients and customers after he followed the straight and narrow path.

I've been advised a couple of times by some well meaning friends to tone up my skin a bit. They usually start by telling me that I have lovely skin then ask me to just use a few products to get brighter.

I won't say I haven't succumbed a few times but each time I remember after jumping into bed at night that I was meant to use my "toning" cream, I would remember big sister's warning. She knew me so well.

Besides I do not think that  my skin can be either toned or bleached. The skin is comfortable in its own skin.

I met a lady who is as fair as a Caucasian but her hands are as black as coal. I couldn't resist from asking her what went wrong. I'm still trying to make out the sense in her  response. 

She said that she washes her hands a lot and so the water washes off her cream all the time. I advised her to please have her cream in a small jar in waist pouch all the time so she can apply some each time she washes her hands.

Bleaching is hard for real and so I love and respect all my loved ones who towed that line. Some got it right while some failed woefully.  

Some love their purchased complexion while some miss their old skin colour. Some of us are grateful that we either never tried or didn't go all the way. 

Whichever category you belong to, please learn to love your current skin colour. God loves us regardless. 

By the way congratulations to the Ooni of Ife and his new Queen the Evangelist.