melanin-endowed
i used to belong to that school of thought common to pinoys that fair skin is (more) beautiful. growing up alongside an older sister with ivory skin, i used to resent having a skin tone euphemistically termed as kayumanggi. i hated it most when we’d visit relatives and my sister would reap compliments about her fair skin, whereas i’d be chided for playing too much out in the sun. playing outdoors might have contributed, yes, but the fact that even 6 years of living in comparatively sunlight-deprived germany, more than half of which was spent fully clothed in several layers hasn’t gotten me any close to my sister’s skin color proves that i am genetically doomed to be brown.
but that perpective changed when i started working in an international community. like many other things, i guess, it seems that when you see white skin everywhere everyday, the fascination wears off and that’s when you start seeing things objectively, the way you really see it, and not the way others would like you to believe.
fast forward a few years and i’ve made a 180 degree turn. instead of lathering myself in the SPF40 sunblock jan uses, i’ve got an SPF 4 tanning oil in my bag. two trips to the pool and my skin reached the color it would take others here the whole summer to achieve, if at all. and i say that with pride and satisfaction, not disdain. afterall, with very little effort, i’ve got a tan 90% of the germs at the poolside would die for (er, literally, considering how they grill themselves under the sun).
now that’s what one calls being comfortable in your own skin!
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14 Responses to “melanin-endowed”
July 20th, 2006 at
looks healthier nga eh. tapos, wear pa a while shirt para lalo pa umangat ang kulay. nice!
I feel sorry nga for those who stay long under the sun here. No matter how long they stay, most of them just look like lobsters instead of brown.
July 20th, 2006 at
ehem, i belong to the same club, experienced the same experience with my 3 sis, ako lang ang negra. my mom probably wanted to balance the atmosphere so she always told me black is beautiful hehe… here, of course everybody wants to have my color, i even wished my daughter gets at least half of my color so she wont stay under the sun bbq herself… and now, halfway on summer, she already reached my level of tan hehe..
July 20th, 2006 at
When we visited the Phils. last year, my aunt was confused. She works for an American company and she was wondering why my mom would still be hiding from the sun, when we’d go to the beach, for pete’s sake. She thought my mom had become Americanized. Not so. Me, I’m so proud of the fact that I tan nicely.
When we went to Morocco, everyone would also comment on my nice “couleur”, and they’re already olive-skinned there. But you know its the same there in that country. The more elit you are, the lighter you’re supposed to be, except after tanning at the beach.
July 20th, 2006 at
i know what you mean! I have 3 bros and I was the darkest. My older brother had the fair skin. I was too dark.. I hated swimming in the pool.
And fast forward too… I just play under the sun and voila! Super tan! hahaha… I don’t have to sunbathe at all. :p
gotta love our color! We are blessed.
July 21st, 2006 at
brown is beautiful!
hay oo…here, everyone wants to be fair-skinned. once, we went swimming and forgot our SPF’s. i went to buy one and the saleslady offered me the SPF 40. when i asked for SPF 8, nagulantang ba naman at sabay tanong, why do you want to be dark?! hehe
July 21st, 2006 at
hay naku, that’s why napagpasyahan na ng inampalan na ako ay mamalagi sa ibang bayan. Sapagkat dito, ako ay “IN”!! Honestly, I’ve never really appreciated my dark skin tone until I moved here. In the Philippines kasi I felt like I was a second-class citizen dahil maitim ako.
July 21st, 2006 at
AnP: true. some people i see are so pale, minsan nga parang gusto kong abutan ng tanning oil, hehe…
analyse: yeah i heard that a lot, too: black is beautiful. imagine my reaction when i learned that black beauty was a horse, haha! my son is lucky enough to inherit a fair amount of pigments, hehe. he’s not as brown as i am, but still, even in winter, he’s a nice color.
pinayhekmi: that’s curious. here, some people consider it a sign of wealth pag tan. it means you were able to afford a holiday to some warm place in the south.. or to the solarium, hehe…
tanya: yes! i just sunbathe to even out my farmer’s tan, hehe..
justice: well, if i live in a country na all year through mainit at maaraw, i probably also wouldn’t go down to SPF8 when i go swimming. i think i’d be too dark even without trying.
rhada: mismo. itinakda tayo ng tadhana na mapadpad sa mga bayan sa kanluran. amen!
July 21st, 2006 at
ruth, you have no idea how many similarities Woody and I find with regards to our culture. Anyway, this skin-cism isn’t just isolated to Philippines. Makes one wish sometimes that we were all color-blind.
July 22nd, 2006 at
i wish i could stay under the sun for a long time. but i am terribly allergic. i need to put TOTAL block if i am to bask under the sun and about SPF20 when roaming around the city. strange because i didn’t use to have this condition back when i was still in the philippines. i remember playing all the time in the beach without having to worry about the heat rashes. yes, i get dark but it soon peels off. now, if i get darker, it is always coupled with itchy prickly heat rashes.
July 22nd, 2006 at
pinayhekmi: hm, could it be the pinoys look up to the states in a similar way as morrocans look up to their northern neighbors?
ladycharlie: poor you! you might find an entry on my other blog useful: http://www.allergizer.com/50226711/website_and_support_group_for_people_with_sun_allergies.php
July 23rd, 2006 at
same experience as charl! i get skin rashes when i stay too long under the sun, heck, even when i sweat i get rashes!
July 23rd, 2006 at
Count me in the Kayumangi club too. I think it is just the same everywhere. I am married to a fair skinned black american, and he said when he and his sisters were younger, they received the same abuse for being light skinned, from the african-american community. I think it is just inherent in our nature to try to find a way to set ourselves apart from everyone else to make ourselves feel better. Just wish we learn to love our own skin earlier and avoid all the angsts.
July 24th, 2006 at
count me in! count me in! hehe
before migration to US: extraderm hahaha
a few months after migration to US: (maraming pinoy sa lugar namin na ganyan ang mentality kahit nasa ibang bansa na) likas papaya all over
fast forward to now: wala na. kahit ano na lang.
i was telling an acquaintance about how i used to get ridiculed in school because of being not-so fair skinned. tawa siya nang tawa kasi nga naman sa states, naglalaway sila sa mga kayumanggi. sabi ko nga, nung nasa ‘Pinas ako, very insecure ako sa kulay ko. pero since nung nalaman ko na taglay ko ang kulay na kinaiinggitan ng mga taga-kanluran…hah! sumobra naman ang kumpyansa sa sarili.
July 25th, 2006 at
Tama yan! Itaas ang bandera ng mga kayumanggi! Kakainis nga ang mga whitening products dito sa Pilipinas — grabe ang mga advertising budgets! We gotta teach people to love his/her own skin — brown and all!