User:HelloAnnyong/Bihaku
Bikahu (美白) is a Japanese fashion style where one aims to have white skin, or a general lack of pigment. It is mainly about whiteness in the face.
Summary[edit]
Although skin tone differs based on a person's race, in general skin color is based on the amount of melanin in the skin. Skin color is affected by the amount of hemoglobin in the red blood cells that flow through the capillaries under the skin. Because of this, having pure white skin is difficult, but bihaku aims to bring the skin color as close to white as possible.
In Japan, the value to prefer skin to be white and free of blemishes and spots has been around for a long time. There is a proverb that says "The color white will hide the Seven Misfortunes. （色白の女性は、少しぐらい醜い点があっても、目立たない。）" The droppings of the Japanese bush-warbler (uguisu (鴬)) has been used as an ingredient in face-washing for making the skin whiter.
The word "bihaku" was first proposed to be a fad in the mid-1990s by Sonoko Suzuki, a beauty researcher. Previously, skin care words that referred to melanin problems like "stain" and "freckles" were used.
An opposition to the term "bihaku" gradually grew amongst high school ganguro and gyaru.
Method[edit]
The popular method of bihaku is to use cosmetics that stop the production of melanin.
For skin whitening cosmetics for use by the public, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has recognized a combination of active ingredients. These are mainly Arbutin, Kojic acid. Other ingredients include Vitamin C derivatives, Rucinol (?), Tranexamic acid and ten-odd other types. In many of these active ingredients, an important enzyme called catechol oxidase is present, and it works either directly or indirectly to stop the creation of melanin.
As for other methods of skin whitening, other decolorizing chemicals are used. Aesthetic skin decolorizing surgeries are performed, but excessive cleansings can cause a number of problems, such as facial inflammation, but in the 2000s this is in decline.
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