Haldi. Besan. Curd. Potato. Lemon. Cucumber.

You must be thinking these are the ingredients of a recipe. And yes they are. These are the ingredients used to feed the bias of our fair skin-obsessed society. These items, amongst many others, are suggested to be applied to our skin to make it fair. 

"...When I was a kid, I once washed my face with harpic, thinking that if it makes the tiles white, I'll become fair too..."

"...I have been bullied when I was in class 5 because I'm dark-skinned and I had applied make-up for a school performance..."

"...Once a random aunty came to me at a party and started applying milk and a fruit to my face so that I wouldn't look so dark- without my consent..."

These are stories of women belonging to different age-groups and regions of our country, and yet they resonate with almost all women. How and why did we let this idea of fair=lovely dictate our ideals of beauty? It is because movies, advertisements, songs and society in general have carefully indoctrinated this message. Did you know that the skin fairness industry currently represents 50% of India’s entire skincare market?! 

When will fair mindsets become a preference of our society more than fair skin? 

I am tired of random people suggesting ideas of becoming fair. I am tired of prominent Bollywood celebrities endorsing fairness creams. I am tired of songs teaching me "Kaala chashma" will look good on my "Gora chehra". And, I am really tired of fairness cream commercials telling me that being dark means I won't have a career, a partner or even basic respect in society!

Fair And Lovely is the oldest and most trusted brand by millions in our country. But, they have time and again sold to us the idea of dark-skin being inferior and ugly. 

Now, it's high time that this brand changes its narrative from fair-skin to fair-mind and doesn't demean dark skin anymore. 

It's only fair that I, and millions of girls like me expect that our skin color is not looked down upon by such a huge brand. Its time that Fair & Lovely becomes more inclusive with its products. 

I call out to all the people who have used Fair & Lovely, or who aspire to use it, or simply everyone who stands with me on this idea of #AllShadesAreLovely, to present Fair & Lovely with ideas as to how the brand can end the colorism that it has been endorsing. 

The idea that I propose is for Fair & Lovely to include more shades in its Blemish Balm (BB cream) which is meant to be used as a foundation. It currently has only one shade which is light for most Indian skin-tones.

This could be a way of showing to the millions of people who use the product, that their shade is acceptable too! And they don't need to have to be the lightest shade to be lovely!

This way the brand can actually cater to most people in India who are differently colored than their one standard shade, and who look up to the brand but cannot find the shade that's made for them.

Fair & lovely, be more inclusive and show us that #AllShadesAreLovely