The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mojisola Adeyeye, on Thursday, declared a state of emergency on skin bleaching in Nigeria.

Ms Adeyeye said this at the Media Sensitisation Workshop on Dangers of Bleaching Creams and Regulatory Controls, held in Kano.

She said, “The World Health Organization study in 2018 revealed that the use of skin bleaching cream is prevalent amongst 77 per cent of Nigerian women, which is the highest in Africa compared to 59 per cent in Togo, 35 per cent in South Africa and 27 per cent in Senegal.

These scary statistics, she said, have shown that the menace of bleaching creams in Nigeria has become a national health emergency that requires a multi-faceted regulatory approach.

Skin bleaching craze

Gone are the days when we only relied on shea butter or vaseline to achieve a glass-like complexion. Now, thanks to technological advancement, skincare brands are popping up around the country, offering to solve skin problems like sunburns, acne, and rashes within a limited time.

While many of these brands rely on chemicals to provide users with the desired results, some brands pride themselves on using only organic ingredients to make their products.

Within the past few years, organic creams have switched from being a must-have to unnecessary. The latter is mainly a result of the influx of brands that sell actual products that not only make the skin conditions of users worse but harm their health.

However, this doesn’t mean you should ditch the idea of getting organic carrot cream.

If you want the results your skin wants, here are five types of organic cream sellers to avoid.

The ones who promise fast results

Perfect skin does not happen overnight or in one week; it takes months, if not months. Rather than get excited and hopeful when you come across a cream offering to eliminate dark spots in three days, reflect on its authenticity.

In an instance where, based on reviews, the promise seems genuine, you also need to be sceptical. This is because most organic creams only provide temporary results; once you stop using them, your face returns to the way it was.

Their products have no NAFDAC registration number

This is the giant red flag on any organic cream product. There is a reason why regulatory bodies like NAFDAC exist; if a product doesn’t have a registration number, it wasn’t tested.

Social media has made it easy for anyone to create an account and position themselves as a skincare vendor. Many of these vendors don’t follow the protocol; they apply what they were taught at a beauty school and start selling products.

No list of ingredients

Vendors who sell fake skincare products are very sketchy, especially when listing the ingredients used.

Avoid buying creams that provide zero or few details about the ingredients contained in the product. This prevents allergies that might arise using specific ingredients and helps identify if the cream contains chemicals that are harmful to the body.

Has skin problems

Honestly, why would a skin vendor selling a dark spot removal cream have a lot of marks on their face? It simply shows that the product they are asking you to buy is not practical.

Every entrepreneur is the reference image for their businesses. So, if a vendor cannot get rid of that acne, rash, or boil with their product, what gives you the impression that it will step up your skin game?

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Uses Snapchat filters

Similar to the previous point, if your organic cream seller uses Snapchat filters in videos or pictures, you should stick to your shea butter products than waste hundreds of thousands.Using Snapchat filters connotes that they are not a hundred per cent proud of their skin, translating to the possibility of bad skin.