Stripping my tan away? No way… that’s crazy talk!!!
Women in Asia go to great lengths to keep their skin fair and to avoid the sun. Women walk down the smoking hot streets with face visors, umbrellas, oversized hats, long sleeves, long pants and even wearing socks under their flip flops… basically doing everything in their power to avoid the sun’s rays. In Asia it is the exact opposite to the West… tanned skin is considered ugly and white skin is considered beautiful. In no way am I advocating gratuitous sunbathing, obviously I am aware of the medical reproductions of such practices.
Most of the skin products in South East Asia are geared towards whitening the skin. Something in the Western countries that just would not sell well. It is almost impossible to find a facial product that don’t contain a whitening formula. Whether it be facial cleansers or moisturizers or body lotions or underarm deodorant… almost everything is whitening. Even the big names like Loreal, Estee Laudier, Lancome etc have a line of whitening products. When Andrew and I go to the store to buy products we literally have to scourer the shelves to find something that won’t strip away our hard earned tans!
In contrast to Asia we in the West try our hardest to look like we have been on vacation by tanning, using bronzing makeup, spray tan, self tanners or tanning beds. I have spoken to a few locals about this topic and they can’t understand why would want to have dark skin…something that comes so easily for them in their tropical climate. They find white skin to be exotic in contrast to us finding dark skin exotic. I think that saying “The grass is always greener on the other side” applies perfectly to this!
No comments:
Post a Comment