How to lighten your skin tone.

Feb 1, 2015

Chintu P.

I'm dark skinned as you can see in my profile need help! I want my skin to be fair and flawless please help.

Feb 1, 2015

Mallory L.

Ooooooooor you could just love the skin you're in. All skin colors are beautiful.

Feb 1, 2015

Alexis C.

I agree with Mallory (:

Feb 1, 2015

Mich N.

Easier said then done but you need to change your mindset not your skin color!

Feb 1, 2015

Traci L.

Hun please do not try using any bleaching agents on your skin , there dangerous, toxic , damage your skin and also can cause cancer, you really should learn to love yourself , beauty comes in all shades not just the lighter ones.

Feb 1, 2015

Shelley W.

I agree with all the beauties above. I'm not fair skinned...very obvious in my pic, but I LOVE skintones darker than me and there was a time that I would spend serious money on self tanners to get darker. Yep. Love your skintone beautiful and embrace it to the fullest because there are people running around trying to be of your complexion.

Feb 1, 2015

China D.

I agree. Your Beautiful!

Feb 1, 2015

Ziar K.

Or you can be dark and flawless. Every skin tone is flawless :)

Feb 1, 2015

Riff W.

Guys, I agree that you should love the skin you're in but I understand what she's saying. I'm part Hispanic so I have a natural tan and I hate it. Some people just don't like it and want to change it and you should respect that as well. You tell us not to do it and then make fun of us when we wear a light foundation that makes us paler. However I definitely agree that you should learn to love the skin you're in and then see if you still want to change yourself. But definitely stay away from stuff like skin bleaching as it is very harmful. Maybe you could find a full body foundation or something of the sort.

Feb 2, 2015

Ziar K.

Well Riff W. there's no possible way to safely and permanently lighten your skin and putting on lighter foundation is temporary so why waste so much time trying to look different than who you actually are when you can just accept that you can't change your skin color and that you're beautiful already beautiful just how you are? I see no reason in trying to change yourself to fulfill imposed expectations from our society...

Feb 2, 2015

Riff W.

It's not to form into society's perception of beautiful. It's just want some people want. I don't understand. A girl I saw on here wanted to know how to get larger breasts (and there's nothing wrong with that) and everyone was very supportive. But God forbid someone wants to change their skin color.

Feb 2, 2015

Shelley W.

It seems to be that the ideal beauty is a skintone that is fair skinned and porcelain clear that is fueled by media and society as a whole. And lets not forget about caste systems in various ethnic groups. I don't agree with lightening one's skin to fit in with some ideal perception of what is deemed beautiful. I think all skintones are beautiful...from the lightest to the deepest of the deepest. There are some deep-seated reasons as to why some people wish to go from dark to light/fair skin and its not about wanting it just because that's what they like. You take India for example...the country still has a caste system in place. It basically dictates what jobs a person holds which equates to their level of wealth. Family members who have darker skintones are often made fun of and deemed unworthy by their own kin. And if you're a woman...very hard to place in a arranged marriage. Those with lighter skintones are treated like royalty. Look at many of the Bollywood actors and they are majority fair skinned. There are a few that are darker but for the most part gained their fame in the EU versus in their own home country.

That is why so many of us here frown upon drastic skin lightening. It goes much deeper than what you think.

Feb 2, 2015

Winnie B.

If you think skin lightening is not a deeply rooted issue, then you should look again and reevaluate.

Feb 2, 2015

Winnie B.

And I also want to point out that (because this is a constant response to skin lightening ):

Tanning is not the same as skin lightening. Tanning is reversible, also used as a means of decoration. Skin lightening is not reversible, and used as means of survival (as Shelley pointed out in her examples of the caste system of India, but also throughout history, especially in the US among people of color). By survival, I mean the the lighter your skin the more opportunities you have to compete with those who have the privilege of yes, fitting the idea of beauty standards, but also the general idea of worthiness.

There's a lot more to the issue, but the point is that by advising this girl on how to alter herself in a harmful way just helps perpetuate the light skin ideology.


TL;DR love the skin you're in, it's hard to do, I understand. The easiest way is to surround yourself in people and things that support and glorify you the way you are, not the way they think you should be.

xoxoxo

Feb 2, 2015

Traci L.

There is no safe way to lighten your skin color permanently, only toxic caustic products are used , if you wanted to be taller can you just change from 5 feet to 5'9 no you can't some things you just have to learn to accept and move on wanting to lighten your skin is a serious problem and it can't be fixed cosmetically it needs to be addressed on a much deeper level ,

Feb 2, 2015

Riff W.

I feel as if people are taking what I said the wrong way. I'm not saying "change yourself to love yourself" at all. I think you should learn to love every inch of yourself before making any changes. However, if she's in love with herself but still wants to, she can find a way. Using a body foundation isn't permanent and I used to use an extremely light foundation simply because that the way I wanted to look and after putting it on, I hated it. After making such a drastic change to yourself, I find that more often than not you'll learn to appreciate your original self more. Now I use a foundation only slightly lighter than my skin tone because one shade darker is far too dark for me.

Feb 3, 2015

Shelley W.

@Riff W. thank you for the clarification. Its just a really sensitive topic here and its always nice to have varying view-points it just has the ability to go into scary territory because so often beauties can go to extreme lengths based off misinformation. You are beautiful yourself and I'm glad to hear you no longer wear the extremely light foundation...nothing more prettier than seeing one's true skin coloring.xxxx

Feb 3, 2015

Mariana E.

Yes! Dark skins, white skins, spotted skins are all beautiful and FUNCTIONAL when they are healthy.
Plus, dark skins can enjoy the perks of looking fabulous in bright intense colors.
It is hard not to want to look different. Everyone needs to freshen up every once in a while but one must always remember what things are not to be tempered with.
We live in a world that makes us believe that our bodies are projects that need to be worked on, in order to look better every time.
Maybe it would be a good thing to remind ourselves that our bodies, although beautiful can be much more than just a project but a tool to experience the world. And we need to keep it healthy, and again, FUNCTIONAL! ❤️