A Western Standard for Tropical Beauty

Image source: www.beautyredefined.net

Dark spots? Uneven skin tone? Dark Complexion?

In a tropical country like ours, those are the common skin problems for most of young girls and boys today in so much as environmental damage to the skin is concerned.

Aside from environmental factors, however, beauty in the Philippines used to be measured by how white you are. Even today, a white complexion is enough to make people turn heads giving birth to the expression “maputi lang siya” when referring to someone who gets attention because of light colored skin.

But how did white skin become a standard of beauty?

It’s a little historical. We were lead to believe that a person is handsome or beautiful when his or her skin is white evidently during the Spanish occupation. Even the words they used to separate people psychoanalytically gave the impression that being “lighter” is better—back then, people of greater status, who are learnt, and have been to the Europes were called Ilustrados (enlightened).

Today, we watch western movies, commercials, and other multimedia related stuffs. The effects of colonization still manifest today.

In western standards, beauty comes in three forms:

·        Having a fair skin
·        Being Tall and Thin
·        Stylish hair and clothing

But, in recent past, the landscape of appreciating beauty has evolved to favor any skin color—natural has become the new beauty and that’s a good thing! As a citizen of the tropical country, even those of light-skinned origin will have difficulty keeping their color from getting a little tanned because the heat in Philippines can get pretty insane.

Other says that having whiter skin greatly improves their appearance, and preferentially, they could be right but only in as much as those who appreciate light skin. They became more beautiful and satisfied with it. Generally, whatever boosts your self-confidence better is always the way to go; defining beauty still depends on the eye of the beholder. The preference remains the basis of what beauty would look like. Some like those who have dark skin tone, while others like those who have whiter skin tone. 

You decide, would you have your skin remain that way or you want a fairer one? Visit Lumina Skin and Surgery for Whiten Skin.