BEAUTY REDEFINED; Black is Beautiful, Again

July 15, 2017
2,569 Comments

Ain’t it funny how all of a sudden, the love for melanin and the natural afro hair has grown so popular. We see our ladies now posting hashtags such as #MelaninLoaded, #MelaninGoddess to mention but a few. Where did time go? It feels like just yesterday when nobody wanted to be “black”. It was as though being black was a crime. Everybody was bleaching. Nobody could understand. If you were black, then sorry ‘cos you are likely going to receive a bashful comment from someone on your timeline, be advised to do something about your “color” situation, or well, just land in a funny meme, thus, if you are lucky enough. The love for light skin was, and is still shocking. Of course hashtags were all over with popular ones being #LightSkinBae and #TeamLightSkin. What did melanin do to society? Surprising how skin pigmentation could become such a big deal. The war against people with #MelaninOverdose has been existent for a very, very long time. It’s always funny how it seems as though black people began their existence during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade era. Anyhow, there was never a time when young ladies hated themselves this much because of the color of their skin than we have seen during our generation. One could side with the fact that society has played a massive role in turning the minds of young, black and beautiful women against their own selves. How pathetic!

Nyakim Gatwech from Sudan

There’s nothing more refreshing and self-satisfying than looking in the mirror and smiling ‘cos of who you are and not what you have become. Growth is good. Transformation is needed. Change can be scary, not avoided, but controlled. How I wish certain times our lives could be like the computer where we are always guaranteed a “Ctrl+Z”. Sadly enough, life doesn’t work that way. Some damages are fatal and permanent. Watch before you leap they always say but our generation tends to even nose-dive and not think twice. Very sad how ladies feel dejected and rejected just because their skin is of a darker shade. The acting and model world aggravated the whole situation as magazine covers and lead roles in movies and television always somehow ended with light-skinned ladies. We have all heard stories where casts for photo shoots and movie roles were denied opportunities simply because they were “too dark”. As to whether these events happened or not, one cannot really say. However, we all bear witness to the fact that there were hardly any dark-skinned models and the cover pages of our magazines were always graced with the beauty of the light-skinned lady.

Maria Graobe from Cameroon [Photo by: @spotlightpi]

It really took some brave women to cause changes in the model industry. It was not until these valiant ladies rose to do something about the whole “anti-black skin” campaign that we started to see dark-skinned ladies pose in front of the camera without shame nor fear. It was not uncommon to see ladies with very dark skin colors get ridiculed for the apparent reason of not possessing a skin that was light in complexion. Is it not exciting to see young, pretty girls who are not ashamed of their bodies but are also willing to share it with the world as well? It did take a while but it is an awesome feeling to see it happen. It is disheartening to see factions even among “black people” and Africans. Just because you are of a lighter shade never meant you were free or had the power to discriminate. Take pride in your dark skin and live the life of joy! After all, black is beautiful, again!!