On the wall, who's the fairest one of all?
Once upon a time, I was fair. Now I come across as a Malayan Tapir. In junior high, I joked with my sister saying "Cool~ I'm a zebra!" And my sister said "You used to be so cute ... what happened?". "Simple, you left me with brother!".
My sister can pass off as an Indonesian Chinese. Few days ago, she brought this up. "You know, when you were small. You looked Chinese when you wore that oriental inspired pajamas.". Between us siblings, my sister is the fairest. My brother and I take turns for the 2nd place. There was only 1 time when I was fairer than her. That was because my sister went hiking and tanned herself. *she was burnt* In the long run, she gave up on advising me to use lotions, creams and stuff to help me regain my fairness. Mum and auntie know me so they shrewdly surrendered without a fight. :)
Now the role is shifted to some of my friends. They tried telling me "You are naturally fair. You just need to lather yourself with some gook and it'd come back easily." My response was "The damage had been severely done. It'd take me eons of being soaked in bleach to neutralize the damaged layers." Then they tried, "Guys dig fair girls. Don't you wanna get married?". I say "Then my husband is gonna be someone who's blind enough to see me for something that others refuse to see." Some tried with "You'll feel good. Trust us." I retorted with "I'm good the way I am, thank you."
Really, I don't understand what is this obsession with fairness. The commercials reverberate on how effective their whitening products are, and I find it creepy when people apply thick foundation, make-up on their faces when we can clearly see from their hands, neck, and feet that they are a darker shade. The lamest ad I ever saw started with women of various shades, emphasizing on how beautiful they are irregardless of their skin color yet in the end, it still came off with "Whatever color you are, we have the whitening product that suits your needs.". You just said they are beautiful the way they are! Needless to say, I also have issues with people using perfumes as if they had marinated themselves in it, but we'll leave that for now. Also, I'm not deliberately coming down on anyone, therefore please do not be offended.
Where's Sleepy?
:: Situation ::
My friend, and I stayed together. Twas bedtime and this came up.
Friend :: Hajar, you're fair right?
Me :: Eh?
Friend :: I mean your skin. You're born fair right?
Once upon a time, I was fair. Now I come across as a Malayan Tapir. In junior high, I joked with my sister saying "Cool~ I'm a zebra!" And my sister said "You used to be so cute ... what happened?". "Simple, you left me with brother!".
My sister can pass off as an Indonesian Chinese. Few days ago, she brought this up. "You know, when you were small. You looked Chinese when you wore that oriental inspired pajamas.". Between us siblings, my sister is the fairest. My brother and I take turns for the 2nd place. There was only 1 time when I was fairer than her. That was because my sister went hiking and tanned herself. *she was burnt* In the long run, she gave up on advising me to use lotions, creams and stuff to help me regain my fairness. Mum and auntie know me so they shrewdly surrendered without a fight. :)
Now the role is shifted to some of my friends. They tried telling me "You are naturally fair. You just need to lather yourself with some gook and it'd come back easily." My response was "The damage had been severely done. It'd take me eons of being soaked in bleach to neutralize the damaged layers." Then they tried, "Guys dig fair girls. Don't you wanna get married?". I say "Then my husband is gonna be someone who's blind enough to see me for something that others refuse to see." Some tried with "You'll feel good. Trust us." I retorted with "I'm good the way I am, thank you."
Really, I don't understand what is this obsession with fairness. The commercials reverberate on how effective their whitening products are, and I find it creepy when people apply thick foundation, make-up on their faces when we can clearly see from their hands, neck, and feet that they are a darker shade. The lamest ad I ever saw started with women of various shades, emphasizing on how beautiful they are irregardless of their skin color yet in the end, it still came off with "Whatever color you are, we have the whitening product that suits your needs.". You just said they are beautiful the way they are! Needless to say, I also have issues with people using perfumes as if they had marinated themselves in it, but we'll leave that for now. Also, I'm not deliberately coming down on anyone, therefore please do not be offended.
Where's Sleepy?
4.58pm Malaysian Time
6 comments:
Lol Hajar ..... I know this really sucks all this whitening thingy ..... I think inner beauty comes b4 the outer ..... :) .... but it's the adds that make it look so ...... probably shez advertising for the company so she meant that evev though shez dark but now shez found something that makes her look fair and so shez beautiful ..... but really some ppl r so obssesed with this fair skin thing that beauty dosen't count as long as the skin is white ..... Allah is the Most Knowledgebale so He knows this fitrah of man and so it is mentioned in the Qur'an that the hoor are like white pearls .....
My friend always asked me, " Why your hands are fairer than your face?"
My usual answer is "I always burnt myself at school. And I chose not to wear any whitening cream since I love my skin."
Fair or tan, it's inside that matters...
Salam,
Interesting post! You know, I was quite obsessed with getting my original skin colour back. When I was in secondary school, i was really "hangus" as in burnt litereally due to my Co-curricular activities which required me to march in the hot sun. Haa..those were the days.
But it's sad how people tend to look at skin colour. Muslims shouldn't. In a Hadeeth, The Prophet S.A.W. said: “All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over a white-except by piety and good action.(Saheeh Bukhari, Vol.7, Ch.3)
Ma assalama
This is something that always baffles me. I cannot tell you the number of times my mother-in-law would talk about someone and say something to the effect of: He/she is very handsome/pretty, BUT they are dark:-(
I just don't get why it matters so much.
Ms. Unique :: Yeap, it sucks big time. Some ads even proclaim that you'll be better off in life if you have it.
Miss Ash :: Precisely. :)
W'salam Heryanti :: LoL. I'm still burning myself. :P
Thinking that fairer people are of a superior race may be one of the reasons alright. Aftereffects of colonization eh. Aih~ I can go on and on.
SolaceInIslam :: Me either. A quote from Pablo Picasso "What is beauty anyway? There's no such thing.".
W'salam,
Hajar
People just want what they don't have. I'm super fair and before my Muslim days I would spend hours in tanning beds. Now, I embrace my whiteness! :)
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