All Lives Matter
How would you feel if you whizzed past the beauty alley in a supermarket and a face mask shouted out loud, “feeling beautiful”. Would that be a question or an answer? Would you stop in your tracks and read further?
What if one flavour read, “PURIFYING avocado + oatmeal”, while another said, “OIL ABSORBING mint + lemon”. I don’t know about you, but these colourful tubes got my brain working this morning and the idea of an avocado salad tossed with a dash of mint and the zest of lemons, finished with rolled oats, popped up. And voila, breakfast is served!
So what’s more important then, eating real food, feeling full and radiating confidence or using a face mask that is made up of ingredients that are actually meant to be eaten, that keep you light on the stomach while making claims of feeling beautiful? Needless to mention, I choose to eat my salad over spreading it on my face. But wait a minute, what happens when the mask or some cream on the shelf promises fairness or skin lightening, which is perceived as beauty?
Since the recent ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement garnered strength, companies worldwide have demonstrated solidarity for the cause. And beauty brands in particular, have been forced to rethink their strategy. Several beauty brands have responded to this new wave of change with acts like renaming creams, stopping sales of a particular line of products and doing away with words like white, light and fair. While discontinuing a product line is a very bold and praiseworthy step, renaming a cream or dropping obvious words is like performing magic tricks for kids.
Everyone knows, the end result won't change. At the same time, how can one stop the production of goods that account for millions of dollars in earnings? Because beauty and looking good is inflation resistant, isn't it?
As a woman who is neither black, nor white, life is all about the fifty shades of grey, oops brown. So how does some beauty cream make me equal or more beautiful? And with whom? We are all born different, like flowers in a garden. Would we want to colour all flowers in the same shade, say white? Why should accepting another human for who he/she is, need a movement then? Why should beauty be a shade that can be numbered like lipstick or the right of a group of humans coded by colour? Why should the right to life be more for someone who was born with white skin?
Every brand tells a story. The story of confidence, in some cases beauty and ultimately happiness if you own/possess it. It’s time to create your own story; the story about feeling complete, equal and beautiful as you are. Just like one of the beauty brands claims, ‘Because I’m worth it!’
P.S. With the virus around and face masks here to stay, it’s the eye makeup that sets you apart, not your skin colour. And I do not know of any person who shapes their eyes with a white eye liner. There are plenty of colours that light up the eyes - black, brown, green, grey and blue, just like colours during sunset. All lives matter, and I pledge my support to life, every single of it. Colour free. And you?