Complexion? You mean, the amount of melanin in the skin?

Anusha Sundar
Sep 4, 2018 · 4 min read
Adam Jones/Wikimedia Commons [Licenced under CC BY 2.0]

For years till now, the topic of complexion has been in hot waters and constant debate as to how each shade of the skin is considered to be a beauty. While there are still ground-breaking movements and strong-willed women standing up against the skin tone discrimination, the beauty of being dusky and dark comes forward to the spotlight, enhancing their position in fashion and styling.

After all this time, complexion has been defined as,”The natural colour, texture and appearance of a person’s skin”, but is this what is really counted when the term is being used? Complexion, as one might see, is been playing a major role in India’s industry of media and fashion. From highly branded beauty products to a commoner’s wish of fair bride, the darker side of complexion has been looked down upon. A major example of this situation is evidently seen when one tries to type ‘Beautiful skin’ or ‘Healthy skin’ into any of the search engines. One can see hundreds of women faces showing, only to be the fair skinned ones. Does this reinforce that only the lighter toned women have beautiful and healthy skin? If so, then the definition of complexion is lost amidst the skin tone hierarchy that has been created by the global community.

Science behind complexion:

Delving deep into this, let us not forget two reasons that makes this whole complexion debate to nothing. One, that the skin colour depends on the amount of colour pigment present in the melanic of the skin. It is no wonder to see the varying amounts of melanin as differing as colours of our eyes or hair. Two, demographically speaking, the latitudinal divisions made split our planet with regions being closer to the sun being darker while regions that go farther from the sun’s rays fairer in order to absorb more Vitamin D from sunshine. Notice how the countries in proximity to the sunlight are dark skinned in order to protect from the harsh rays.

Blast of Bleaching:

Growing in an Indian household, one cannot escape watching the cosmetic adverts that promises fairer skin in a matter of few weeks while still instilling the idea that darker skin equates to failure, inferiority and a subject to career failures that are totally unrelated. In fact, for decades fairness cream adverts ran on the plot of equating fair skin to success and acceptance by society. The multi dollar cosmetic industry that boomed across India, spreading the need for girls to have ‘fairer’ skin than healthy skin silently embedded the hierarchy of skin colour in the Indian society. According to reports by the research firm Global Industry Analysts in June 2017, this money-spinning industry of skin lightening is expected to triple to US$31.2 billion by 2024.

Artists speak out:

From actress Nandhita’s ‘Dark is Beautiful’ campaign to social media trends of using ‘#FlexinMyComplexion’, Indian women have gone past than just tolerating the favouritism and standing strong against the issue to stepping into the same arena of fashion that has been ruled by the fairer skin portion of models. Sure, there has been successful response that has been highlighted in the respective time period, which has been only worn down after a while. Speaking to Ms. Veena Rajagopal, a beautician and owner of a styling and beauty parlour, she says “It’s true that the darker skin tones are being accepted into the society, but still there is a bit of hesitation when it comes to choose a dark model for representing any brand or beauty concept. “Adding to this, she also adds, “They have been segregated as a separate kind of a beauty meant to be used only in few contexts rather than seeing them as a potential face for representing any concept.” On July 7, Aranya Johar performed and posted a spoken word poetry performance on her YouTube channel that went on to speak about the various taunts and issues women face in an ever- discriminating Indian society. Lines such as, “”Forget snow-white/say hello to chocolate brown/I’ll write my own fairy-tale” encourages how women of today’s time should stand up against such petty issues that torments them.

After all this, it is high time that we as Indians realize that the issue created around the skin complexion is not worth to the detrimental impact it is causing to our society, be it culturally, medically or socially. The rise in activists, artists and many common women is just a small step within this big colour stigma that we Indians are holding on to. It is time for each of us to stop looking for a fairer bride, not checking the complexion of a new born and subject her to the mere amount of melanin contained in her skin!

Anusha Sundar

Written by

Aspiring Journalist | Masters in Photojournalism | Passion for human stories | Selenophile | I sometimes write poetry too! https://www.behance.net/Anusha_

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