It’s time we start talking about skin positivity

While body positivity gets a fair share of attention, we attempt to find out why skin positivity didn’t experience the domino effect

In 2019, when Kendall Jenner posted a picture in collaboration with US-based skincare brand Proactiv, netizens went bananas. She mentioned “suffering from acne” was “debilitating” for her in the caption of the Instagram post. While we do construe the backlash, we’re also forced to think about how a sizeable share of women (and men), especially impressionable minds, echo Jenner’s thoughts and feel the same way.

A survey verifies that acne is a significant cause of embarrassment and reduced self-confidence among teens and adolescents, almost 71 per cent. Being insecure about the physical appearance of one’s skin and associating it with one’s self-esteem has been force-fed to us through television commercials and marketing communications of beauty products. So how does skin positivity collar its overdue eminence?

The purport of skin positivity

We define the concept of skin positivity as “loving the skin as it is, in its truest, rawest and barest form,” but we do realise that it is easier said than done. “For me, being skin-positive means being happy and content with my skin colour, type and condition and not comparing it to what’s trending on social media and losing my confidence in the process,” says content creator Prableen Kaur Bhomrah.

Being skin-positive isn’t limited to being acne-positive; there’s so much more to it. Skin positivity allows you to break free from the clutches of regressive societal conceptions of beauty and embrace your skin the way it is, no matter which bucket of ‘imperfections’ it falls into—acne, vitiligo, pigmentation, texture and more. That it also helps you adopt a care-first approach instead of one that implies major camouflaging, is an added bonus. For model and content creator Prarthana Jagan, being skin-positive is being uninhibited; she discerns her vitiligo as her weapon, not a roadblock. In her opinion, skin positivity furthers the practice of self-love and self-care.

Why is skin positivity relevant?

For all these years, the information fed to us has created a skewed idea of what healthy skin is. Today, the plight has multiplied exponentially, owing to ungovernable exposure to social media and the unrealistic standards that it champions—whether it’s photoshopped celebrity images or a glossy editorial cover. Pursuing idealistic aspirations sans adequate knowledge of what goes into the making of these images only means more unacceptance, thereby, more damage. To collectively shape a future devoid of social insecurities, it is paramount to bring authenticity under the spotlight. “No matter where you are with your skin or body, being able to say ‘I still love you’ is winning half the battle,” believes Jagan. 

Are enough brands promoting skin positivity?

Consumers across the globe have been perceiving beauty products as ‘transformative’ items with a pinch of aspiration for as long as one can remember. The sad truth is that brands have followed suit aimlessly, in the hope of guaranteed sales. However, Gen-Z and millennials are here to change things for the better. There’s a perpetual desire for representation, across body and skin types, to be able to resonate with a brand and its offerings. Thus the younger, well-informed audience appreciates unfiltered digital creators like Kaur Bhomrah and Jagan who propagate the mantra — ‘every skin is beautiful’ as they incomparably resonate with them. By featuring in-brand collaborations and social media advertisements, such creators spearhead the shift in the portrayal of beauty.

Talking about how her profession and social media platform have helped her stir up a conversation about real skin, Jagan says, “Instagram is flooded with acne-positive creators and content and I’m living for it. It [acne] is most normal and most people experience it so why hide it behind filters? Why even have that insecurity? I’m glad people are standing up for themselves, unbothered by what people have to say about their dark circles, wrinkles or acne. I’m happy to be a part of the change.”

Kaur Bhomrah, who encourages her followers to share their bare-skin photos through her #NoFilter repost initiative believes that brands have started understanding the importance of showcasing real skin and working towards an authentic marketing approach, which wasn’t the case even until five years ago. However, the skin positivity movement still has a long way to go. Both Jagan and Kaur Bhomrah agree that while there are efforts being taken in the skin positivity space, it is yet to solidify before it stands at par with the body positivity movement. 

Noteworthy implementations

While monumental changes haven’t been made by brands, some key industry players as well as new entrants have taken remarkable initiatives to stay ahead of the cultural curve. While nascent beauty brand Superfluid keeps diverse skin types at the forefront of its social media communication, much-loved K-beauty brand Glow Recipe, who popularised ‘glass skin’ has now decided to keep away from terms like flawless, poreless, anti-ageing, anti-wrinkle and so forth. 

US-based JUNOCO’s recent #ToBeHuman has also recently garnered attention and appreciation. “Gen Z tends to value authenticity, so I imagine this trend will continue as their spending power and influence increases,” Kayla Villena, a consultant at research firm Euromonitor tells Vogue Business. 

Closer home, brands like Fae Beauty, d’you, foxtale, Gush Beauty and Ilana, that consider Gen-Z as their target audience, feature raw and real skin. They take a largely educational route to market their products and steer clear from using problematic, clickbait-y words or relying on celebrity faces to maximise profits.

“We know that chronic skin conditions cannot be cured, which is why we take the focus off of having ‘perfect’ skin and instead celebrate funner flare-ups or the idea of less painful and less frequent flare-ups. The next generation demands authentic engagement and wants beauty brands that support and reflect their own values and beliefs. They are also extremely savvy and can spot ‘real-washing’ and inauthentic brand values from a mile away,” Olamide Olowe, the Gen-Z founder of Topicals told Vogue. Jagan also believes that a lot of people, especially on YouTube, speak about skin positivity and talk about celebrities’ real skin which goes to show how lighting and camera effects make one seem to look different from what they do in real life.  

The road ahead 

Content creator Aastha Shah says that a lot is yet to be done when it comes to skin positivity. “Earlier, brands looked out for quintessentially fair and beautiful models. But things are changing now; models of all body and skin types are being featured. The day this becomes a fundamental, non-negotiable standard, people will feel encouraged to show their true selves. In my opinion, brands and magazines should stop setting any beauty standards at all.”

As we mentioned in our recent story about fat-shaming, the goal is to go beyond tokenism and normalise real skin’s depiction for a skin-brightening cream’s advertisement just as much as for a red lipstick that pops. Jagan feels brands should stop photoshopping their advertisements and keep away from using make-up when creating content for a skincare product, and even if they do, they should disclose the same. “It’s not that deep, it’s just transparency,” she says.

“Scaling up the ‘no filter’ idea across the board, having more candid interviews, getting relevant and prominent celebrities to talk about their real skin and showing raw, textured skin for digital campaigns are some ways to further the movement,” says Kaur Bhomrah. Going by the consensus, we can conclude that the audiences have made a crystal-clear modification in their perception of beauty and are ready to see true-to-life visuals, it’s for brands and the media to jump on the bandwagon.

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