# Question about Michael Jackson's skin. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 30, 2005, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-michael-jacksons-skin/314873 "2005-07-30T09:45:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Liz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/liz/32/17737_2.png) [@Liz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liz)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-michael-jacksons-skin/314873/21 "2005-07-30T22:39:45Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I’ve never bought the vitiligo stuff. What seems like the more natural, common sensical solution: filling in the “pale” areas with brown make-up (which any billionare could afford, easily) or dayglo-ing your whole body? He picked the extreme route, if he indeed has the condition. How convenient, too, since it goes well with the wittled-down nose, the bone straight hair (damn he got some good weave), and the white children his loins have supposedly produced. > > I believe he has Self-Hating Negro Syndrome, a disease much worse than vitiligo. Haha! Shit, your post was funny. Anyway, I’ve often wondered if Michael isn’t a closeted transsexual. All of his alterations seems to be directed at making him look like a white _woman_ instead of a white _man_. Whatever the case, I hope he’s using his new-found free time to seek therapy. It’s a shame how disturbed he is. As for the skin issue – I’ve know people with severe vitigilo and makeup doesn’t really do shit for it. They’ve weighed in that they think MJ does have it, FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![cruel\_butterfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5daacb/32.png) [@cruel\_butterfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cruel_butterfly)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2005, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-michael-jacksons-skin/314873/22 "2005-07-30T22:45:57Z")
> [@Ashes](#): > > \That website **Askia** found was frightening/pathetic. I had to restrain myself from correcting all the grammatical and spelling errors. “poepel says tings…” yeah, me too. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2005, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-michael-jacksons-skin/314873/23 "2005-07-30T23:49:49Z")
> [@chatelaine](#): > > Anyway, I’ve often wondered if Michael isn’t a closeted transsexual. All of his alterations seems to be directed at making him look like a white woman instead of a white man. [It’s only a matter of time](http://williambader.com/mjdiva.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-michael-jacksons-skin/314873/24 "2005-07-31T02:38:18Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > [It’s only a matter of time](http://williambader.com/mjdiva.jpg). Why did I have to click??? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-michael-jacksons-skin/314873/25 "2005-07-31T03:09:39Z")
> [@Ashes](#): > > Perhaps you thought I was referring to make-up when I wrote: ‘Why lighten instead of darken. The way I understand it, it’s very difficult to apply color and have it look right. Much easier and better looking results from bleaching, since you can’t really screw up and get more light than nothing.’ Well, that was the bit I quoted in my reply. > [@](#): > > The application of color to which I was referring was tattooing. That’d be different then. > [@](#): > > The one thing I actually know about him is about his nose. I have an insider secret that could net me some cash if I just had physical evidence. But I don’t, so I continue to wallow in poverty. Darn! Uprovably speculate away… ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-michael-jacksons-skin/314873/26 "2005-07-31T04:43:32Z")
So, how would one go about lightening one’s skin? I mean, is it like a pill, or an injection, or a cream, or what? And would it be permanent, or would you have to go in for treatments every few weeks, or something? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-michael-jacksons-skin/314873/27 "2005-07-31T04:46:56Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > So, how would one go about lightening one’s skin? I mean, is it like a pill, or an injection, or a cream, or what? And would it be permanent, or would you have to go in for treatments every few weeks, or something? Wikipedia says it’s a topical application, which I presume means a cream or something like it. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-michael-jacksons-skin/314873/28 "2005-07-31T04:51:46Z")
Whatever the precise nature of the bleaching agent, it would have to be reapplied regularly. It’s not like Wite Out. ---
**Author:** ![Liz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/liz/32/17737_2.png) [@Liz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liz)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-michael-jacksons-skin/314873/29 "2005-07-31T04:54:34Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > So, how would one go about lightening one’s skin? I mean, is it like a pill, or an injection, or a cream, or what? And would it be permanent, or would you have to go in for treatments every few weeks, or something? Most often creams, can be pills, can be lasers, never heard of injections. They’re all repeat processes AFAIK. The problem with lightening, as seen with MJ, is that the vitigilo will often appear in lighter and lighter patches until you have to bleach bone white to match the skin tones. It’s usually only recommended in very severe cases. A friend of mine did it, but she was already pale-ish to begin with, so the change wasn’t that drastic. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-michael-jacksons-skin/314873/30 "2005-07-31T04:56:44Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > So, how would one go about lightening one’s skin? I mean, is it like a pill, or an injection, or a cream, or what? And would it be permanent, or would you have to go in for treatments every few weeks, or something? The book [_The Odd Body_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0740741888/qid=1122785646/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-2295881-2767245?v=glance&s=books&n=507846), by Dr. Stephen Juan, says that Michael Jackson has “almost certainly” been using monobenzone to bleach his skin, whether as a treatment for vitiligo or just to depigment his skin because he likes it better that way, and that the monobenzone is a topical solution that must be applied on a regular basis or the original skin pigmentation returns. He concludes this segment by stating that “The truth is that Michael Jackson could return to his original skin tone any time he wants.” (I’m paraphrasing from memory because I can’t find the book at the moment, but that was pretty much what he said.) ---
**Author:** ![Ashes\_Ashes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@Ashes\_Ashes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashes_Ashes)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-michael-jacksons-skin/314873/31 "2005-07-31T08:37:42Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Unprovably speculate away… It’s not speculation it’s fact-- wait! Aaaah that’s right, it’s only _speculation_, that is correct. This wild imagining would finally confirm what everybody’s been guessing for ages, but sadly it is just a whimsy, no more. Well, suppose there’s this imaginary girl whose roomate’s dad was a modest reconstruction-specializing plastic surgeon extraordinaire and general Good Guy, unwittingly cursed with a daughter who used to pick up things because she was devious and snoopy in the\* extreme\*. Let’s daydream that this surgeon-father had a certain client at one time, who came to him and his partner with a botched nose job. Actually, you might say many botched nose jobs. If you were the sort of person to speculate about such matters, you might speculate that the person owning the botched nose job was in deep trouble because most of the small amount of skin and tissue remaining had been stretched too tightly over the mix of cartilege and other building materials that had been jammed in there. It would be interesting to dream a wild dream where-in this had caused the nose to essentially die. That is when the totally fictional surgeon-father and partner did all sorts of work to put things back as best they could. One could imagine that the surgeon-father is still ticked about the patient going on to other surgeons who then messed up all the good work he and his partner did, re-attaching and making the nose look reasonably normal, the way they had. A person could wonder about this completely fabricated scenario and pretend that there was a \*reason \* the nose-in-progress client wore masks all the time at one point, and still does on occasion. If this were real, which it is not. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-michael-jacksons-skin/314873/32 "2005-07-31T15:24:13Z")
And the award for most long-winded hypothetical that can be whittled down to about five sentences goes to…!! LOL. Sorry, sorry. I enjoyed that nonetheless. Puts a whole new spin on ‘nosy.’ ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2005, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-michael-jacksons-skin/314873/33 "2005-07-31T17:55:23Z")
**Ashes, Ashes** , I would suspect that such a story would be worth loads, were it only true… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-michael-jacksons-skin/314873.md?page=1)