Feel free to exercise your discretion here. Decide how fair a proposition it is to judge beauty by the colour of your skin. The booming market for fairness products definitely drops a hint to what this one-billion-strong nation would possibly think. So, let?s not blame the brands. The free market gives them all the liberty to cater to the growing demand. And moreover it?s no longer just women who want to look fair. Men want to look the same too. ?Even rough estimates wouldn?t put the market for fairness products anywhere below Rs 1,000 crore? and 30% of this share comes from the men,? says Shahnaz Husain who entered this market with Fair One and later introduced Fairone Man. ?The total male grooming market is growing at 25% – 30% annually and the male fairness cream segment has an annual growth rate of 20%,? she says in an attempt to explain her move. Fair One claims to make you visibly fairer in just two weeks! In case you are expecting quicker results, Ponds claims to help you in just seven days! ?Our data demonstrates that Fair & Lovely lightens the skin safely, gradually and most importantly, reversibly, leading to measurably lighter skin in 4-8 weeks,? says a Hindustan Unilever company spokesperson. There surely are many testing those claims already.
?Take the A C Nielsen retail panel data or IMRB?s Household panel data ? the fairness market in India is indeed the largest consumer benefit segment in the skincare industry,? adds Vitika Banerjee, senior manager, skin care, Avon India. Euromonitor estimates the market size to be even higher: the facial care market in India is over $312.7 million and more than 50% of this segment belongs to fairness products. It was on the basis of this estimate that American brand Mary Kay launched its Pure White range in India last year. The claim: noticeable improvements in just two weeks, with remarkable improvements in eight weeks. ?It?s one of the top selling brands for us now, Hina Nagarajan, country manager, Mary Kay Cosmetics shares happily. For Himalaya southern states form the largest slice of fairness cream market, with Tamil Nadu being the largest. ?Consumers there prefer completely herbal preparations and that probably explains our success,? feels Saket Gore, business head, consumer product division, Himalaya.
It is ?fairly? simple to understand how these formulations work. Melanin is what primarily decides our skin colour and therefore most fairness solutions seek to prevent skin pigmentation and repair sun damaged skin.
The imperative question however is: do these claims really stand right for all of us? ?Don?t go by the claims. No product in the market can be applicable to everyone. What works well for me, may not work as well for you because all of us have different types of skins. Moreover, the result would also depend on whether the pigmentation is deeper or superficial,? says Vivek Mehta, dermatologist at Fortis La Femme. But that doesn?t really ease the predicament of the consumer who can easily feel lost amidst multiple brands. ?The best way would be to consult your dermatologist before taking your pick. Not all brands give the details of their formulation and contents. At times there is high concentration of bleaching agent in the cream. So, a prolonged use of such a preparation should be avoided,? he adds.
Mehta must be right, considering that each preparation works differently. Revlon?s Absolute White + has Achromaxyl (helps prevent skin?s natural melanin from forming into brown spots), Fair One has bearberry extracts (has strong antioxidants), Fair & Lovely has niacinamide (vitamin B3), Himalaya has Persian rose extracts ? all that?s besides a host of other ingredients?.
Mega Life Sciences, a healthcare company, meanwhile introduced Glow and Pynocare ? micronutrients that can improve the colour and luminosity of the skin. It claims to work the other way round. ?Excessive melanin formation and skin pigmentation cause stress on the skin from inside. So, that is exactly where you need to treat it…unlike most other products that work only on the upper most layer of the skin,? explains Sudhir Gandhi, the regional director for Mega Life Sciences. The claim: Pop in the nutrients for two months and your skin?s colour should effectively improve by 51%. There are also brands that want to steer clear of such claims. Revlon for instance follows ?the beauty adversorial strategy. People don?t have to be educated anymore. They have evolved as consumers and are a lot more aware than ever,? believes Vanita Kapoor, brand manager skincare for Modi Revlon. Well, well..
Choosing the right formulation isn?t enough though. What happens once you get the desired results? Do you have to continue using it to stay fair-ever? ?Of course you need to continue to take care. I would recommend three simple things to maintain healthy skin ? cleansing, toning and moisturising. Just practise it as a routine. And use a good sunscreen, with an SPF higher than 15,? says dermatologist Anil Agarwal of the Paras Hospital. That does sound pretty simple. So go ahead and take your pick. Or pass it off as Clarke Gable did in Gone with the Wind: ?Frankly, my dear, I don?t give a damn.?