Sunday Essays: Papaya - Food for the skin?

Saturday, April 16, 2011

MANY Filipinas tend to believe that the whiter your skin is the prettier you are. Thus, different whitening products are advertised all over the country, the most popular being papaya soaps. But are they really effective?

The love for fair skin can be traced to the Spanish era. Those who worked in the fields under the hot sun had dark complexions and the men and women who stayed indoors stayed pale. So the belief on people who are dark are slaves and people who have fair complexions are rich started.

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Nowadays, ghostly white faces of celebrities are seen in advertisements and shows. The beautiful and admired faces are those who resemble porcelain rather than the tropical skins of our pretty girls.

Skin care in our country is a 22 billion pesos market wherein whitening is the front and center of the industry. The desire to be white is so prevalent, it's difficult to buy beauty products that are without whitening ingredients.

Papaya has become known a leading ingredient in skin whitening products because it contains “papain”; a natural enzyme that promotes skin renewal and softens skin.

Dra. Dina Calderon, a dermatologist, claims papaya is good for the skin such that she already makes her own line of papaya soaps. It does not only whitens skin, she says, it also helps reduce acne problems.

According to her, papaya helps acne-prone skin as it removes dead skin and excess oils that clog the pores and result to pimples.

Ginger, a 23-year-old nursing graduate with acne problems, revealed that her secret to her healthy and glowing skin is papaya soap. “I have been using papaya soap since forever,” she said.

The main ingredients of papaya soap are water, coconut oil, papain enzyme and sodium hydroxide. Some papaya soaps have ingredients that can be harmful for the skin. Sodium Hydroxide also known, as “lye” is a strong chemical basing that is used in soaps so that they can be stored for a long time. It can be harmful for the skin and can irritate eyes.

Some papaya soaps have kojic acid produced from the fermentation of rice in Japan. It has been used in skin-lightening products for over a decade and when it is absorbed in the skin, it can produce rapid and long lasting results. But some complain of irritation on their face because of the combined powerful ingredients.

A college student named Andrew who suffers from acne problems tried papaya soap. For him, papaya soap made his skin very dry.

According to Barbara Simonsohn, author of the “Healing Power of Papaya”, the regular use of papaya soap can cause mild skin lightening over time. Many papaya soaps are marketed with these claims but unlike the skin bleaching creams and other whitening products, papaya soaps do not chemically lighten the skin.

Papaya soap or other soaps users should always complement their papaya regimens with other nutrients and ways to protect their skin such as sunscreen and daily moisturizing. Regular care maintenance and good hygiene are components of naturally beautiful skin after all.

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* Sunday Essays are articles written by Ateneo de Davao University Masscom students for their journalism class.