<p>We all want what we can’t have and the grass is forever greener on the other side. It’s that pesky affliction called human nature. If only we had that extraordinarily expensive pair of designer shoes, the big mansion or the luxury car our neighbour just bought, our lives would be infinitely better, happier and more fulfilled. When it comes to our appearance things are no different. <br /><br />If only we were a little bit taller or shorter, had more pronounced features or less pronounced features, straighter hair or curls, were a little bit thinner or a lot thinner (I am being told there are women out there who actually want to put on weight but I have yet to meet one) – if only we were just that little bit more beautiful, our lives would be complete. Especially us women have elevated criticising our looks to an art form. In fact, studies have shown that 90 per cent of us are dissatisfied with one or more aspects of our appearance. The other 10 per cent are liars. Show me a girl who is not unhappy with certain parts of her body and I’ll show you a corpse! Not only are we able to find endless flaws with our looks, we generally desire just what we don’t have. <br /><br />So maybe it should not come as a surprise that while us firangi girls are forever longing for the perfect tan, people in India are obsessed with fair skin. Yet it still baffles me. A fair complexion seems to be synonymous with beauty and coming from a culture that worships the ‘Lord of Tan’, I cannot understand why. Apparently every Indian girl wants lighter skin and my husband tells me that every Indian mother is praying for a fair bride for her son. Ha! I guess his mother got a bit more than she bargained for. After she met me, she probably went back with the prayer: “I know I said I wanted fair, but not THAT fair! Now can you please make the firangi go away and send my boy a nice Indian girl? I guess it’s okay if she has dark skin…” Just goes to show: Be careful what you wish for!<br /><br />To me, dark skin is absolutely beautiful but some of my local friends were shocked to hear that in the West we actually want to be dark. Yet we do. A tan makes you look healthier, gives your skin a lovely glow, makes you look thinner (don’t ask me how this works, but it definitely does), reduces the appearance of cellulite, and even makes your clothes look better. When on holiday most of us spend their entire days by the pool or on the beach roasting ourselves in the glaring sun. Nothing will stand between us and the perfect tan; not even a heat stroke or the threat of skin cancer. Who cares about melanoma later, when the goal is to be pretty now! For those of us unwilling or unable to imitate a roast turkey, the beauty industry has been kind enough to supply various other solutions for transforming our pale white skin into a luscious golden brown: self-tan lotions, spray tans, dark body make up, solariums – plenty of chemical options for the beauty seeking female. <br /><br />Judging from the amount of commercials for skin whitening products, the quest for beauty is also big business in India. If you banned all advertising for these products, the annoyingly frequent commercial breaks would only be half as long. And if you also banned any ad that features something to do with cricket and/or Shah Rukh Khan there would be no advertising left at all. <br /><br />One product in particular promises to ‘reveal your natural fairness’ that is ‘hidden beneath a layer of dark skin cells’. Really? I am pretty sure that nothing much is hidden under anyone’s skin, with the exception of bones and flesh. <br /><br />Yet there is nothing natural about skin whitening – just as there is nothing natural about self-tanning products. It seems to me that we could all do with a bit more of self-acceptance and less self-criticism. Maybe we can learn to appreciate our bodies just the way they are. Take it from me: you really don’t need to be fair to be fabulous!</p>
<p>We all want what we can’t have and the grass is forever greener on the other side. It’s that pesky affliction called human nature. If only we had that extraordinarily expensive pair of designer shoes, the big mansion or the luxury car our neighbour just bought, our lives would be infinitely better, happier and more fulfilled. When it comes to our appearance things are no different. <br /><br />If only we were a little bit taller or shorter, had more pronounced features or less pronounced features, straighter hair or curls, were a little bit thinner or a lot thinner (I am being told there are women out there who actually want to put on weight but I have yet to meet one) – if only we were just that little bit more beautiful, our lives would be complete. Especially us women have elevated criticising our looks to an art form. In fact, studies have shown that 90 per cent of us are dissatisfied with one or more aspects of our appearance. The other 10 per cent are liars. Show me a girl who is not unhappy with certain parts of her body and I’ll show you a corpse! Not only are we able to find endless flaws with our looks, we generally desire just what we don’t have. <br /><br />So maybe it should not come as a surprise that while us firangi girls are forever longing for the perfect tan, people in India are obsessed with fair skin. Yet it still baffles me. A fair complexion seems to be synonymous with beauty and coming from a culture that worships the ‘Lord of Tan’, I cannot understand why. Apparently every Indian girl wants lighter skin and my husband tells me that every Indian mother is praying for a fair bride for her son. Ha! I guess his mother got a bit more than she bargained for. After she met me, she probably went back with the prayer: “I know I said I wanted fair, but not THAT fair! Now can you please make the firangi go away and send my boy a nice Indian girl? I guess it’s okay if she has dark skin…” Just goes to show: Be careful what you wish for!<br /><br />To me, dark skin is absolutely beautiful but some of my local friends were shocked to hear that in the West we actually want to be dark. Yet we do. A tan makes you look healthier, gives your skin a lovely glow, makes you look thinner (don’t ask me how this works, but it definitely does), reduces the appearance of cellulite, and even makes your clothes look better. When on holiday most of us spend their entire days by the pool or on the beach roasting ourselves in the glaring sun. Nothing will stand between us and the perfect tan; not even a heat stroke or the threat of skin cancer. Who cares about melanoma later, when the goal is to be pretty now! For those of us unwilling or unable to imitate a roast turkey, the beauty industry has been kind enough to supply various other solutions for transforming our pale white skin into a luscious golden brown: self-tan lotions, spray tans, dark body make up, solariums – plenty of chemical options for the beauty seeking female. <br /><br />Judging from the amount of commercials for skin whitening products, the quest for beauty is also big business in India. If you banned all advertising for these products, the annoyingly frequent commercial breaks would only be half as long. And if you also banned any ad that features something to do with cricket and/or Shah Rukh Khan there would be no advertising left at all. <br /><br />One product in particular promises to ‘reveal your natural fairness’ that is ‘hidden beneath a layer of dark skin cells’. Really? I am pretty sure that nothing much is hidden under anyone’s skin, with the exception of bones and flesh. <br /><br />Yet there is nothing natural about skin whitening – just as there is nothing natural about self-tanning products. It seems to me that we could all do with a bit more of self-acceptance and less self-criticism. Maybe we can learn to appreciate our bodies just the way they are. Take it from me: you really don’t need to be fair to be fabulous!</p>
