Beauty by Culture

They saying goes beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But truthfully it’s often just as much to do with the room you are in. Walking from a room full of models into a room of ‘average’ looking people may mean your ‘stock’ increases but do the opposite and you’ve suddenly dropped a few so-called leagues.
And this is not just some bitchy comment. I’ve actually had conversations with people who say they purposely hang out with lesser attractive friends as it makes them look better.
Attractiveness is trait that is put on a pedestal.
Good looks are considered a positive attribute and benefit around the globe. And yet the very idea of beauty changes from group to group, culture to culture, country to country. Your level of attractiveness entirely depends on whether you are in a Westernised, celebrity obsessed, fashion led country, or a tribe which reveres those with curves, or even in a society which completely covers all flesh but the eyes.
When I left the UK to go travelling, I packed a minimal bag of toiletries with the idea of being able to buy whatever I needed in this global economy we live in. And for the most part, I managed to pick up makeup items and other products when I ran out. But imagine my horror when scouring the shelves of a beauty shop in Hong Kong, only to find them bare of the one item that many pale skinned girls rely on before braving a short skirt. Yes, fake tan is a non-seller in HK! Well, at least none that I could find in the many, many, many shops I tried.
I had only the dregs of foam left my bottle and despite the great weather I had yet to go a sufficient colour to bare my legs. The very idea of going out with my legs on show sans tan had me weighing up staying in versus getting so tipsy I’d forget about my pasty legs – and yes I do agree that pale can be beautiful and I admire many women like Dita Von Teese and Nicole Kidman but they appear to have the flawless skin of a twelve-year-old who’s never seen the light of day or suffered the shame of cellulite.
Since tights were not an option due to the simmering heat, I had to make a choice – was I going to miss out on the nightlife and cover up my legs during the blistering heat of the day?
After discussing the matter with some friends who reside in HK, I found that fake tan is just not something they use. There were mixed opinions on the matter – some favoured the natural warm complexion of their Asian skin, others were repulsed by the images of fake tanned girls in celebrity magazines and could not understand the need to look “so fake”. Even went so far in the opposite direction that their beauty regime included whitening and bleaching products. I imagined having the same conversation in reverse back home in the UK.
I found whitening products in numerous brands in every shop and while I found it a little contradictory that some girls would find darkening their skin distasteful and yet were happy to lighten it, I had at least found a temporary solution to my dilemma.
I applied the lightening powder to my legs and glossed them up so they glistened and had a smooth complexion. Having to adjust my makeup involved watching lots of YouTube tutorials and changing my entire colour palette.
It took a few days and nights to get accustomed to my new look. It helped that I had seen in selfies how fake brown I looked next to my natural friends.
Now I would never suggest that everyone adapts to fit in with the crowd, for the most part, this was a case of needs must since I ran out of my precious fake tan. However, it was certainly a revelation for me to see how other cultures view each other and I must admit I enjoyed trying out a new look!
And so as another popular saying goes…’As they do in Rome…’

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