You know how everyone in the US and Europe wants to be tan? People in India want the opposite: to be fair.
I remember growing up how jealous all my classmates and friends always were of my skin tone. By the time we were teenagers, most of them would spend summers laying out by the pool. In the fall and spring, they would go to the tanning salon to get ready for Homecoming court and Prom. Now it's even easier to get a tan without even laying out or going to the tanning salon - you can simply pick up a bottle of spray tan from your neighbourhood store and apply it as you wish.
In India, the desire is not to be darker but to be fairer. Here, fair people are considered to be more beautiful, more desirable. Many beauty companies have "whitening" creams on offer which employ a mix of chemicals to essentially bleach the colour out of your skin. Every time I go to the parlour to get my upper lip threaded, the ladies there always ask me if I want to get my face bleached. Me. Now, even though I am considered tanned in the US, I'm quite fair here in Bangalore. But apparently there is always room to make myself even whiter.
On one hand, you can't blame people. The society here has made it this way. Teachers and other children in schools shun children who are dark. There are companies that hire only fair people. All of the famous Hindi-language actors and actresses have fair skin. Nearly all of the models and spokespeople on television are fair and are advertising for fairness creams. One of my favourite actors did a fairness cream ad and completely ruined my opinion of him.
I'm sure it's a combination of where I grew up and how I was raised, but I don't understand the obsession with colour - and that goes both ways. Maybe it's because I'm quite lucky in that I tan easily but also revert rather quickly back to my original colour. But I am of the opinion that we are all born the colour we are supposed to be, and we should embrace it.
And I really, really wish they would stop showing ads for whitening products. It's just not natural.
xx
I remember growing up how jealous all my classmates and friends always were of my skin tone. By the time we were teenagers, most of them would spend summers laying out by the pool. In the fall and spring, they would go to the tanning salon to get ready for Homecoming court and Prom. Now it's even easier to get a tan without even laying out or going to the tanning salon - you can simply pick up a bottle of spray tan from your neighbourhood store and apply it as you wish.
In India, the desire is not to be darker but to be fairer. Here, fair people are considered to be more beautiful, more desirable. Many beauty companies have "whitening" creams on offer which employ a mix of chemicals to essentially bleach the colour out of your skin. Every time I go to the parlour to get my upper lip threaded, the ladies there always ask me if I want to get my face bleached. Me. Now, even though I am considered tanned in the US, I'm quite fair here in Bangalore. But apparently there is always room to make myself even whiter.
On one hand, you can't blame people. The society here has made it this way. Teachers and other children in schools shun children who are dark. There are companies that hire only fair people. All of the famous Hindi-language actors and actresses have fair skin. Nearly all of the models and spokespeople on television are fair and are advertising for fairness creams. One of my favourite actors did a fairness cream ad and completely ruined my opinion of him.
I'm sure it's a combination of where I grew up and how I was raised, but I don't understand the obsession with colour - and that goes both ways. Maybe it's because I'm quite lucky in that I tan easily but also revert rather quickly back to my original colour. But I am of the opinion that we are all born the colour we are supposed to be, and we should embrace it.
And I really, really wish they would stop showing ads for whitening products. It's just not natural.
xx
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