The Skin Lightening Industry

As a child, Faarea would regularly borrow Fair & Lovely from her cousins, and Rahat's grandma always had a bottle of Tibet Snow. In the UK, many of the ingredients found in these skin-lightening products are toxic and therefore illegal. But the industry is booming! In 2017, it was raking in £3.4 billion and is set to almost double by 2027. Why are these market regulations not working? Why is there still pressure on men and women the world over to be fair? Faarea pops up to Birmingham to chat with Somia R. Bibi, a PhD student doing pioneering research into the skin-lightening industry, and comes back with a bottle or two...