My Skin colour doesn't define me! - One Indian Girl's stand against Colourism.
By: Kirti Changlani
Tags: Fairandlovely, Social Impact, Racism, Indianwomen, Colorism

As a little girl, this notion was fed in my head that being fair was being beautiful!

I am somewhere between the scale of too beautiful to too ugly...yes, my color is wheatish, the color of most Indians. And mind you - I didn't make this scale. It has been produced by our beloved society.

Whenever I used to see ads on television - there used to be one average looking girl who after applying a fairness cream - suddenly became a fair model! You know which one I am talking about - That same fairness cream which recently changed their name to "Glow and Lovely". They finally got some brains after ages! Slow claps. Hell! This approach is so problematic and a running campaign from years. Can they undo the already done damage?

Do you know how the ad progresses?

Dark black turns slightly black, then medium and finally FAIR!

Wow! Dear ad industry, I want to ask you - Do you think my skin color is an empty canvas? That you can paint it with any possible shade?

It is a societal notion - Fair is Beautiful. And women who fail to match this standard set by "Fair and Lovely" either don't get a job or won't get married.

Sharing one incident from my life, as a young child, I often felt a sense of inferiority complex while hanging out with some of my "good looking" cousins. And well, this is a double-edged sword. I am sure, all of us have felt this way - some time or the other, right?

And even if I would have a fairer skin shade. Why are the problems of those "First World Nations" being kept in the dark?

Do you know that 'Malignant melanoma - a life threatening skin cancer' , affects nearly 54,000 people in the States?

No?

Wonder why and how is it linked to color?

Let me tell you…

There is a pigment called melanin in our skin. It gives our skin the color it has - and yes, the levels of melanin vary in each body type, also depending on the hemisphere of the country.

Melanin also becomes a natural shield for the skin and protects it from harmful UV rays of the sun. (You know the ozone layer is thinning, right?)

Coming to the point - This pigment obviously lacks in the "Fairer" skin! And hence, when it's exposed to heavy sunlight. It leads to skin cancer. No, I am not hating upon the fairer skin. I am simply telling you a reality.

According to a survey conducted, the darker the skin, the healthier it is. You can read it Here.

You know, we never try to shed off the opinions of our agony aunt who says "Dahi besan laga lo, gori lagogi. Or Parlourwali aunty ko bolo meri wali cream de," and try and do research on our own to find the truths.

A little research shall bring you several answers. It will tell you how each day some crap is sold out to you. Which is making you hate yourself. What if I tell you, you are already enough!?

I just want to leave you with a few questions: Do you think the beauty industry sells us some illusions? Like it's always in their agenda to make us feel ugly - and that to turn beautiful - we must use their products. Strange, right?

India, our beautiful country, has tons of natural beauty remedies - which we've all forgotten about. Each day, the consumerism of the media blinds us to run after the cosmetic industry which yields no good. They simply use the Streotypes fed by the west and feed on your insecurities.

And mind you! We don't have one skin color or the only skin type. It changes from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. It's diverse and we're truly proud of our natural genes. We wholeheartedly embrace our Color!

We’re humans, not a color pallete.

- From a woman of color, Kirti Changlani