Holland & Barrett come under fire for selling a controversial skin lightening cream . . . Former model Irene Major is a wealthy woman who knows all about looking after her skin, Daily mail reports.
The wife of Canadian oil tycoon Sam Malin, Irene, who’s originally from Cameroon, West Africa, has a shocking admission; she also regularly uses skin-lightening creams to alter the color of her complexion. ‘When my skin is lighter, I just feel prettier,’ she admits with startling candor. ‘
It’s a taboo subject, and people get judgmental about it, but that’s how I feel.’
Last month, High Street health store Holland & Barrett came under fire for selling a legal skin-whitening product called Dr Organic Royal Jelly Skin Body Whitening Cream, which retails for £9.99.The sale of the product provoked outrage, with some accusing the chain of encouraging racist ideals. Yet Irene, who’s 34 and lives with her husband and four children in a Kent mansion, claims that in some communities the pressure on women to use such products is overwhelming.
‘A skin-lightening regime has been part of my life practically since birth,’ she claims. ‘There are many different types of African skin — from dark charcoal to a lighter version — and you grow up knowing that the lighter ladies are the prettier ones. It’s just a fact.’
Her younger sister, Elsa, 27, agrees, explaining how disturbing hierarchies of skin color are still influencing African girls. ‘Being lighter shows you belong to a different place on the social ladder. All the rich, successful black African men marry either a white or a very light-skinned girl because they too grew up thinking that the lighter is the most pretty. It doesn’t matter how dark a man is, of course — the pressure is all on women.’