As dancehall artist Vybz Kartel launches his own range of skin lightening cosmetics, it looks like this controversial fashion could be in danger of spreading beyond women. Bleaching, whitening, lightening. Whatever you call it, the business of cosmetic enhancement to make dark skin look paler continues. Creams, pills and surgical treatments are used across continents by darker-skinned ethnicities hoping for a whiter complexion.
But the problem, like most of those thrown up by the cosmetic industry, is often seen as largely as the concern of women. Men have been averse to skin lightening but it seems that dancehall artist Vybz Kartel is breaking conventions. He has previously explained that his use of skin lightener is purely for style – that he sees it as being no different from women straightening their hair – and in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine he made his feelings on the subject clear: “I have said in a statement that when everyone stops doing all of that, we can all live naturally ever after.”