While Westerners spend cash topping up their tans to appear attractive, many Asians are slathering on lotions to reduce skin coloring as they embrace a different concept of beauty that for them says white is right.
Studies by market research company Synovate say sales of skin whitening products in Asia are soaring as the region's beauty-
conscious try to lose the pigmentation they consider unattractive.
Nearly half of Hong Kong women surveyed by the company last year bought such treatments, up from 38 percent in 2002. Whitening creams were also bought by more than a one-third of females in Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan.
According to Japanese cosmetics giant Shiseido, sales of skin-whitening products in Asia grew by 20 percent between 1997 and 2003 and accounted for 23 percent of the company's total sales in the region.
In Thailand, the whitening lotion segment accounts for more than 60 percent of the country's annual US$100 million facial skincare market.
In fashion-conscious Hong Kong, moisturizers account for 60 percent to 70 percent of the multi-million dollar skincare market, of which skin whitening products capture 40 percent.
The reason Asian women favor fair complexions is that a majority of Asian men find lighter skin more appealing, Synovate found. The same view was shared by women.
Another study found that 69 percent of Indonesian males and 65 percent of females preferred fair complexions among the opposite sex as did more than 74 percent of males and over half of females surveyed in Malaysia.
Associating lighter skin with beauty is a deeply rooted perception across much of Asia. As the Chinese say: "One white makes up for three bad things.'" (ㄧ白遮三醜).
"The definition of beauty for Asians is definitely different from that of the Western countries," said Bernice Tse, product manager of L'Oreal Paris skincare products in Hong Kong.
"Asian women dislike freckles. Nowadays they are not only asking for no freckles, they neither want the yellow color on their face. The `white' concept is core."
Tse said the extent of the popularity of skin-whitening products could be seen by the wide range of products available in market that began booming in 2000. They all claim to be able to eliminate skin pigment, bleach the skin or lighten skin tone and dark spots.
Among them are Olay White Radiance Purifying Cloths, Loreal White Perfect Triple Whitening Body Moisturiser, Ponds Double White Eye Stick, Nivea Whitening Toner and Neutrogena Fine Fairness Essence. In late 2002, whitening products also found their way into deodorant roll-ons in Indonesia.
"The market for skin whitening products in Hong Kong is now very sophisticated. Consumers are also very knowledgeable on them. They want something that works instantly," Tse said.
But are these products safe?
Doctor Michael Chan of Hong Kong's Prince of Wales Hospital said that products containing dangerously high levels of mercury are being sold by some unscrupulous vendors.
In Hong Kong in 2002, one woman was admitted to hospital and 13 others referred to specialists after they used one of two whitening creams that had mercury levels between 9,000 and 65,000 times recommended levels.
A study of 38 skin-whitening creams by Hong Kong's Chinese University chemical pathology professor Christopher Lam Wai-kei in 2000 showed eight made by global cosmetic makers exceeded the US Food and Drug Administration safety limits for mercury.
"Excessive mercury is very harmful to the nervous system and the kidneys," Chan said.
High doses of mercury are associated with sight or hearing loss and hand tremors as well as personality changes, anxiety, insomnia, memory loss, progressing to cerebral palsy and potentially fatal kidney failure.
But since the outbreak in 2002, Chan said Hong Kong's public was now more aware of the problems that skin-whitening products could cause.
Reassuringly for those looking for a creamy complexion in Hong Kong, a 2002 Consumer Council study found 32 skin-whitening products tested all passed the safety requirement on mercury and lead content.
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