What is Skin Neutrality?
In a social media-driven world that prioritises perfection, many of us can feel pressured to hold ourselves to conventional beauty standards. “Social media is filled with apps like Facetune, Photoshop and filters. While ten years ago only magazines and advertisements would alter their images, it’s now widespread and pervasive. Your work colleague, that woman you went to school with, your teenage niece… we tend to trust people who are ‘normal’ more than celebrities. So, in a way, the everyday alterations to images by people in our direct circles are even more damaging” explains British Skin Foundation ambassador and skin positivity campaigner, Lex Gillies.
With the omnipresence of Instagram filters and Facetune, it’s possible to erase any visible sign of ‘imperfection’. “Posting a makeup-free selfie (or a filter-free selfie) should not be a radical act, but it certainly feels that way. The more people embrace their real skin online, the sooner we can all accept the fact that every single person has ‘flaws’ such as spots, wrinkles, redness, hair, scars, texture, pigmentation…perfect skin does not exist,” she adds.
Skincare activists are now preaching skin neutrality as a newer alternative to ease the journey to acceptance with the skin we’re born with.
What is skin neutrality?
Skin neutrality takes a neutral approach by focusing less on the importance to feel beautiful. With the beauty industry flourishing exponentially, a lot of emphasis is placed on living up to beauty standards. It’s a movement that encourages people cut out the shame that can come from having less-than-perfect skin. This can happen by realizing that skin is skin, just an outer layer that has the purpose of protecting us from outer threats.
“Skin neutrality is the belief that our skin is just another body part that doesn’t need or justify attention. Skin is not good or bad, it’s not interesting or a point of conversation, it just is what it is. I see it as the natural progression of the skin positivity movement as it helps us to move into a space where our skin is not the focus,” says Gillies.
As Hasina Khatib for Vogue India writes, “this does not mean that you should not treat the underlying dermatological issue. For me, my acne caused me immense mental and physical discomfort. After all, I went through two rounds of a highly-regulated dermatological drug to try and eliminate my acne. Skin neutrality is a method for eliminating negative thoughts that tether the condition of your skin to self-worth. It is a way for one to distance their sense of being with their sense of aesthetic attractiveness.”
How to practice skin neutrality in everyday life?
1. Recognise the negative thoughts you’re having and address them.
On bad days, you might think ‘my skin looks disgusting’. Question yourself. ‘What would I say to a friend who spoke about herself like that? Is what I’m thinking a fact or is it just my harsh opinion?’ Shining a light on these negative thoughts will help you to see them for what they are — learned behaviours that do more harm than good.
2. Redirect your thoughts.
Instead of looking in the mirror and immediately zoning in on your skin, focus on aspects of your appearance that you do like, or think about things that you achieved the day before that you’re proud of. It takes practice, like any new habit, but it helps to reframe yourself as a worthy human being outside of your skin.
3. Expanding your horizons on social media.
Follow ‘real’ people on Instagram. Follow people with skin that differs from the clear skin norm popularly that you see on Instagram. We tend to get caught up in following people that only fit into traditional beauty standards, and by doing so, we can often feel alone in having skin that isn’t perfectly blemish-free.
Instagram accounts such as @brielamour89 are doing exactly that as part of the skin positivity movement. She illustrates herself and others with acne by using soft pink hues and heart shapes to show that acne is not something to be hated and fought against — it’s just as much a part of us as freckles or beauty marks are.
Follow some of the popular skin neutral hashtags (#skinpositivity, #skinneutral, #acnepositivity) to fill your timeline with real skin and honest experiences to replace the fake images that make you feel bad about yourself.
One of the best things about social media is the community waiting for you to join in — people who make you feel less alone, who offer support and help you to realise that your skin may be out of your control, but the way you choose to deal with it need not be.
