Fairer and healthy skin

 




As humans, we tend to look for happiness in our beauty from images on TV, online and physical appearance. As an added perk, research has shown that people report happiness and satisfaction with themselves as people with both lighter skin and more motivated work-life, if they have lighter skin. In addition, studies have shown that more widespread use of skin-lightening products and public campaigns have become a more entrenched and normalized way of introducing light to a wide range of people.

 

Many light skinned people may present themselves as healthier as compared to dark skinned people, in light colors with lighter skin can be perceived as healthier, thanks to how we think about the way we look in nature and in most cultures. Research has also shown that while in most cases, darker-skinned people are more sensual than lighter skinned people, light-skinned people are more sensual than dark-skinned people . Likewise, research in women’s skin cancer shows that light-skinned women do not have less risk for skin cancer than darker-skinned women.

 

For some, we want to fit in with a group and our looks. For others, these intrinsic motivations can lead to irregular and poor health. I’m more of the former than the latter and the research shows that the healthy and attractive individuals are, in some way, only more prone to getting cancer and any infections that could stem from it. For others, like myself, the very concept of spending time darker than the rest of my family to protect my skin is something that only makes me more aware that I am more desirable than others, something that can lead to me being more confused.

 

My aim is to change that, to help free myself to have healthier skin. As the mind is not entirely under the control of the physical, this research is essentially making us human. But my heart demands that we explore how the modern society- we are thinking about different types of beauty since we first started. My wish is that this research helps us understand how the media has molded our lives. How we carry ourselves through our lives. How our thoughts about ourselves can impact our health.