1. Skin whitening

Since the 1980s, cosmetic products with whitening or lightening properties have been key products in the global cosmetics industry, due to their considerable volume and the different audiences they reach.

This "whitening" trend is thought to have originated in the United States in the 1960s, when the action of hydroquinone on black skin was discovered. Indeed, the skin of black rubber workers exposed to this chemical agent lightened over time. Whitening cosmetics were soon developed.