The complications of complexion

“ ये काली काली आँखें ये गोरे गोरे गाल”(These black eyes, these fair white cheeks )

“चिटीयां कलाइयां वे ओ बेबी मेरी वाइट कलाइयां वे” (Fair wrists, oh, my white wrists)

“तेनु काला चश्मा जचदा ऐ,जचदा ऐ गोरे मुखड़े ते” (Black shades suits you, suits your fair face)

 “गोरे रंग पे ना इतना गुमान कर, गोरा रंग दो दिन में ढल जायेगा” (Don’t be so proud of your fairness, fairness will fade away in two days) 

“हो तुझे देख के गोरिया बेयोन्स शर्मा जाएगी”  (Beyoncé will feel shy once she looks at you, fair girl)   

Sorry for ruining your favorites with these translations, but do you see a pattern here?

All these Bollywood hits centralize the idea that fairness is equivalent to beauty, and even Beyoncé will feel shy looking at such a fair lady. But is it only limited to our entertainment industry? Well, in some households, pregnant women are made to follow a diet that majorly comprises food items believed to lighten the skin color of the baby. We all might have come across at least one Desi Aunty who advised us not to drink tea, coffee, Coca-Cola, or Pepsi, not for our health but to avoid getting darker skin. Let’s not just talk about the slangs, we all have heard them.  Girls are conditioned to think of fairer skin as beautiful, and thus, they end up using over the counter commercial fairness creams and home remedies without regulating their usage. The fate of marriage is judged by the complexion of the bride and groom, and dark-skinned people are often subjected to large sums of dowry. Finding the right shade of foundation or face powder for a dark complexion is next to impossible in most of the Asian countries. Society has a notion that dark-skinned people are less attractive, less competent, less confident, and less successful. 

Even our fairytales have fair-skinned princes or princesses, and the antagonists are portrayed as dark-skinned, thus, ugly. Is it justified to appreciate or depreciate someone for their skin tone? How is having a fair complexion an achievement? Why is dark complexion considered ugly? Is it justifiable to mock a person of a certain color which is something beyond his/her control? Let’s answer these questions one by one!

Why does the Variation exist?

The amount of melanin (Colored pigment expressed in skin cells) produced by the melanocytes (cells that produce melanin) decides our skin color. Pheomelanin (Reddish-yellow pigment) and eumelanin (Brown-black pigment) are the two types of melanin produced by melanocytes in the skin, which type of melanin is produced more is determined by genetic inheritance. As the number of Melanocytes is almost the same in everyone (as far as the number is concerned, we are all made equal), the amount of the pigment produced is responsible for the skin color. But why does this wide variety of skin color exist at all? Well, melanin protects us from harmful UV rays that can damage skin cell DNA and lead to cancer. Melanin absorbs UV radiation, covers the nucleus (inside which the DNA resides), and neutralizes the free radicals formed in the skin as a result of UV damage. So, as we evolved, we lost more of our body hair, and the melanin production increased to protect us. The stronger the UV radiations, the darker is the skin color (as more melanin is produced), and vice versa. That is why people living near the equator or high altitude have a darker skin tone than those living near the poles.

Due to the biological adaptation of populations to different solar conditions around the globe, different skin colors arose. So why does light skin color exist at all if melanin serves the protective function for us? Because a small portion of UV light (called UVB) is essential for the production of Vitamin D (yeah, the one that is important to strengthen our bones and immune system). In the areas receiving lesser UV radiations, dark skin would absorb almost all of it and hinder Vitamin D production which might lead to Vitamin D deficiency. Thus, the variation in skin color arose to fulfill our need to protect our cells from the harmful UV radiations and use a portion of it for Vitamin D production. The trait evolved through time as people migrated to places with varying availability of UV radiations. The color of our skin is purely the product of thousands of years of evolution and is not subject to any judgement. As was said in a TedEd video and I quote “Skin color may absorb light, but it certainly doesn’t reflect character." 

(Image by- Mana Kash)

Are fairness creams really worth it?

Acceptance of oneself is the key to a happy life, but this doesn’t seem to be prevalent in recent times. With the increasing standards of beauty and its common linking to skin color has made people rely more on beauty products to get fairer skin. The main target for all these fairness creams and skin whitening treatment is to decrease melanin production. Tyrosinase is a key enzyme in the synthesis of melanin thereby tyrosinase inhibitors are the major constituents in such treatments and creams. Other ways to curb melanin production includes blocking receptors or interference in the normal melanin synthesis pathway. The frequently used constituents of fairness creams that cause skin whitening are hydroquinone, retinoic acid, corticosteroids along with various other chemicals. As the saying goes, no pain, no gain – similarly, these have adverse side effects on our health. Hydroquinone usage strongly correlates to the development of cataracts and long-term usage causes nephrotoxicity (i.e. deterioration of kidney function) and leukemia (blood cancer). Similarly, long-term usage of corticosteroids leads to percutaneous absorption and causes skin atrophy (thinning of skin), glaucoma, edemas, and cataracts. Thus, we need to make a sound decision as to at what cost we are willing to use such beauty products.

Tanning

Sun tanning is due to UV exposure that leads to an increase in the amount of melanin, thus acting as a natural mechanism in our body to combat the ill effects of excessive UV radiation. Contrary to the belief that exposure to the sun can lead to permanent skin darkening, tanning is just a temporary process and after a week or so, it starts to fade away as the outer layer of our skin begins to exfoliate naturally.

Effect of diet on skin pigmentation

If you ask whether the food we eat affects our skin, then the straight-away answer to it is yes. A healthy diet will keep our body as well as our skin healthy. It has been seen that foods rich in carotene and antioxidants, like sweet potatoes, carrots, etc., prevent the skin from hyperpigmentation and sun-burns. These foods will not cause instant skin lightening. In fact, no food can do that. Similarly, no food causes skin darkening. Now hyperpigmentation should not be confused with developing a darker skin color. Hyperpigmentation is a harmless condition where some part of the skin becomes darker than the rest. For example, the skin around a wounded area turns dark or the appearance of freckles or age spots on the face. 

Several skin diseases are wrapped by societal stigmas and are often considered to be caused by eating certain food combinations. One such disease is vitiligo (a skin condition characterised by light patches across the skin due to the death of melanocytes in that area). It is often considered that certain food combinations cause or worsen the condition and mixed race kids inherit vitiligo. But there is no evidence supporting these notions. People with vitiligo suffer from prejudice and rejection which deeply impacts them.  

The insanity of skin-care hacks

The dramatic worries for our appearances have made us try everything that the internet serves us for the bait of glowing and flawless skin. Nevertheless, we fail to check the credibility of these sources and the downside of using the suggested stuff on our faces. These beauty tips and tricks often go too far and end up suggesting the items that should be kept away from our faces. For instance, from using glue to make peel-off masks and applying toothpaste on acne to exfoliating skin with baking soda and applying egg whites on the face, these outrageously stupid hacks can not only harm the skin irreversibly but can also leave one with some permanent scars. So before trying these hacks on your precious face, prefer doing some research.

We are Beautiful!

Michael Schenker once said, “If everyone would look for that uniqueness, then we would have a very colorful world.” I think God also gave a similar thought while creating us. 

However, people have different beliefs about it, a fair complexion is often correlated with prosperity, and higher socioeconomic status, on the contrary, darker skin tone is considered low-ranking according to the conventional beauty standards. We are subjected to Colorism every day by accounting lighter skin tone as premium. Our Indian mythology has an endless list of dark-skinned alluring ladies who were considered the epitome of beauty in their era. Draupadi is described to be a dark-skinned, head-strong woman, and Sita is often described as peach-and-cream in complexion. So, how did we come to this? These ideas of beauty were planted in our minds by colonialism. 

As people are becoming more aware of racism, we are finally beginning to realize that dark is equally beautiful. ‘Beauty comes from within’ holds irrespective of our skin tone. So, let’s look into the mirror, and say “I AM BEAUTIFUL.”