Skin Wars

There's a clear double standard in beauty today. We all know this. We've lashed out at brands for not being inclusive in their shade ranges...cough Tarte...cough Loreal...cough IT Cosmetics. We've sought out influencers who are ethnically diverse and unique. And we've come a long way in the beauty industry at being more thoughtful about the thousands upon thousands of different skin tones that the human race has.

But a clear double standard remains. (And no, I'm not talking about the fair vs. deep debate. I, rarely, if ever, am able to use drugstore foundations because their shade ranges don't go light enough to accommodate my fair skin. However...this is NOT the same as brands just blatantly excluding an entire end of the spectrum. That's a whole other debate for another time and place.)

The double standard I speak of is how our society places value in both light and deep skin tones depending on what your ethnicity is. Why is it not the same? Let me elaborate...

If you are caucasian. Our society emphasizes the tanner (or darker) your skin is, the healthier and more attractive you are.

But that's not the case if you are a person of color. Instead, the same "society" says that the lighter complexion and skin tone you have, it's more acceptable and revered and beautiful.

So basically, if you sit at the fair caucasian side of the spectrum or the deep person of color end of the spectrum you are not an ideal beauty.

WUT?

In my mind that sounds so crazy. I would never play into that. All skin tones are equally accepted and beautiful.

And then I go and slather myself with stinky, disgusting and messy orange self-tanner so that I don't "blind" people when I have more skin exposed. I spend lots of money on leg makeup and self-tanner and tanning booths and bronzing lotions and other junk to alter my complexion color.

What is wrong with me? I'm literally playing right into this idea that the skin tone I was born with isn't okay. I've had this huge revelation over the last few months as I ruined yet another set of sheets because my self-tanner transfers when I sweat. Or as I dreaded the long and arduous routine of exfoliation, shave, tanner, let it dry, don't shower for a day, worry about staining clothes, etc that happens when the weather turns warm. Or as I envied the women who only have to worry about shaving their legs when they wear a dress. Not whether or not they have applied enough self-tanner or Sally Hansen leg makeup to be considered an acceptable shade of tan to venture into society.

And then I got mad. It's not fair (pun intended) that I have to make myself look like someone else's standard of "pretty". EFF THAT.

And to be quite frank, my time is better spent on other things than the entire self-tanner routine. So, this spring and summer season I think I'm going to embrace my true skin tone and just go natural. No tanner. No stinky orange streaky mess.

And I dare a heaux to ever make a comment about my white legs again :)