Fair enough?

Hindustan Unilever's Fair and Lovely has changed its name to Glow and Lovely *insert facepalm* 

As kids and adults, we all have come across such advertisements on television where dark or brown-skinned people are mocked by their friends or relatives or even strangers for their skin tone, they lead a sad and depressing life, get rejected by potential life partners, get rejected in interviews, all thanks to their dark skin and how the tables turn after they apply skin lightening product. It has been systematically fed to us that light-skinned people are indeed happier and successful than dark-skinned people. In a country such as India where we naturally have brown or dark skin, how is fair skin even natural? Why are we made to believe that fair-skinned people are superior to their dark-skinned counterparts? Why is colorism so inbuilt in our DNA? Why all kinds of media aggressively market such products and make us believe that only the color of our skin will decide whether we are successful or not? Why do celebrities we all look up to endorse such creams and lotions? Why do our moviemakers cast actors and actresses with significantly fair skin and make them dark deliberately instead of casting a naturally dark-skinned person if the character demands? Why do some actresses undergo skin lightening treatment just to become a part of the mob mentality which promotes such prejudices and then cry on social media about racism? That is plain hypocrisy. Let's dive into this matter a little bit. 

Photo courtesy: Getty Images

While I was researching on this subject, I came across some alarming facts and numbers which made me think hard how as a country we have been subjected to this bias based on skin color and how it has spawned a multi-billion dollar industry of skin lightening creams and beauty products. 

The origin of this vicious trend dates back to the year 1919 when E.S. Patanwala brought Afghan Snow in our market. Interestingly, during the Swadeshi movement, even Mahatma Gandhi endorsed this product as it was made in India and later the brand also sponsored India's first Miss India contest in 1952. Although it was never advertised as a fairness cream and more as a beauty aid, I would still like to believe it did more harm than good to society. Post liberalization in India in 1991, fairness products saw a big boom in our Indian market. Brands like Fair & Lovely, Emami fairness cream, Lakme perfect radiance, Ponds white beauty cream, Garnier white fairness cream, Olay total effects, Lotus herbal white glow, Loreal Paris skin perfect, White tone face cream, Clean and clear fairness cream have all bombarded the market with their claim to brighten our skin with active whitening ingredients and shit. In India, the fairness cream market is reportedly worth Rs. 3,000 crores and is expected to reach Rs. 5,000 crores by 2023 (if at all we survive the pandemic). According to a study by WHO in 2019, skin lightening products take up about half of India's skincare market. 

We have been subliminally conditioned to believe that we need to change our brown/wheatish/dark skin in order to lead a happy life all thanks to the endorsers we all look up to like Yami Gautam, Aishwarya Rai, Deepika Padukone, Sonam Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Katrina Kaif, Preity Zinta, Shahrukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra who cries on social media about how she was mocked as a kid when she was in the USA by her classmates for being dark-skinned (double standards much!). Thankfully there are certain actors and actresses like Abhay Deol and Kangana Ranaut have criticized this trend where famous celebrities endorse such colorism openly and actively campaigned against it. Apparently, many celebrities have declined such offers worth crores of rupees. Nandita Das supported a campaign called "Dark is beautiful" to end the bias based on skin color.

The question is where did this all begin in the first place? Hindu mythology uses colors to differentiate personalities of God and evil but it does not indicate that a particular complexion is better than the other. The age-old caste system in India surely plays a role in discriminating on the basis of color. The upper caste has been perceived to be privileged, rich, and fair-skinned while the lower caste people were dark-skinned as they toiled under the Sun which led to the belief that the color of our skin defines our life and it still prevails even after thousands of years. The most important factor which has contributed is colonialism. India was under the slavery of the British Empire for over 100 years. The people who ruled us were fair-skinned which meant power and we, the commoners were dark-skinned which meant slavery. No wonder it has been deeply ingrained in our minds and culture as well that lighter skin is superior. Max Muller a German-born philologist and a major Sanskrit scholar translated Rigved Samhita and gave the Aryan Invasion Theory which suggests that the Aryans (Europeans) swept into the subcontinent bringing with them their language Sanskrit and their civilization. This theory was dismissed by a DNA study of a skeleton of a woman found in Rakhigarhi which is the largest Indus valley civilization site. But sadly we will never be taught about our real history and will be made to believe that our culture stemmed from a group of fair-skinned people which strengthens the belief that fair skin is indeed superior. 

Apart from these issues, skin lightening products have severe potential health risks as well. Some cosmetic products contain ingredients such as Hydroquinone, Mercury, and bleaching agents such as Hydrogen Peroxide and sometimes steroids which are harmful to our body. In a study undertaken by Agrawal et al. published in the International Journal of Pharmacy and Technology, they tested 23 creams and found that 50% of then contain steroids. A subsequent study also showed an excess amount of Mercury present in these creams. The use of these products leads to skin irritation, inflammation, thinning of the skin, abnormalities in newborn babies if used during pregnancy, kidney, liver, and even nerve damage and these products can be seen in shop present on every nook and corner. There is a treatment call Cinderella Drip which is an intravenous infusion which fights the sign of aging, lightens and evens out skin tone, and boosts skin clarity. There is a laser skin lightening procedure that uses high energy light to remove skin cells and to stimulate the growth of new skin cells. All these treatments are costly and have potential risks to our health. People are obsessing over fair skin and at what cost!

This deep-rooted issue even lies within our household where we are asked not to drink chai as it might make us dark, pregnant ladies are made to drink Kesar doodh so that the newborn will have a fair skin tone. If you Google search "Household remedies for skin lightening" you will find thousands of methods which promise to give results within a month, within a week and sometimes instantly (LOL!). Open Youtube and you will find hilarious videos on such home remedies. The newspaper matrimonial advertisements all have one thing in common where they require "Fair" skinned girl. Nowadays even matrimonial sites have a feature where they ask us to mention our skin color. Thanks to social media we all are under the pressure to look perfect all the time. We upload photos after applying filters and sometime back even I felt the need to use filters before uploading a photo. I am guilty as charged. But I have learned one very important lesson that people who genuinely love you, care for you will not care how you look. Stop bothering about the rest of them. 

All we can do is learn to accept and love ourselves the way we are. Do not fall into this trap and stop discriminating based on color and educate people who do. Confidence comes from within, not from our skin tone. Be proud of your melanin and get over the Colonial hangover. Fair enough?