The world is at a point, at this very moment in time, where skin care is reachable and affordable by the vast majority, and good products are no longer considered a luxury. There were days gone by when we had only the most elite bandings of society able to indulge in such frivolities as ‘skin products’ as the pricing was astronomical, and the availability was for those who were deemed ‘worthy.’ Thankfully those days are long gone. From the young student who has concerns about skin changes, to the mature matriarch who would like to keep her skin looking its best, products and services are available to all. The only concern now, is the vast and disturbing plethora of ‘misinformation’ that seems to be rampant in society. 

An area that finds the scariest of misinformation is the so called ‘fairness industry’ that in reality is far from ‘fair’ in its lack of research and horrifying in its claims and promises. In one of my past articles I wrote on the regional obsession with being white, that no doubt stems from deep rooted insecurities contextualized through our colonial pasts. It is bad enough when brands claim the impossible of changing one’s skin color, but when supposedly professional beauticians and dermatologists spew the same rubbish? It’s a clear sign that the medical and the certifying cosmetologist’s boards need to re-think their stamps of approval. 

Living in and being South Asian, where we run the gamut of ethnic mixes, with millennia of racial ‘mixing and matching’ the skin tones of our regional populace also spans the spectrum from palest Ivory to darkest Ebony. Looking back on the historical contexts of the pre-colonial and colonial eras, we cannot fail to realize that there have been obvious ‘dashes and splashes’ in the gene pools of many of our ancestors. Am sure if we travelled back in time many of us would have a good laugh at the fabulous romps involving those in our genealogy who had a bit too much fun! This amounts to some reasoning behind the fantastic mixes of color palettes we encounter in the skin area, on a daily basis. 

My maternal grandmother and her family of the feisty and fabulous Don Carolis clan had a mix of light complexions, and hair color that naturally spanned the spectrum from Auburn to Raven. Now we have no doubt that the numerous mixes made for these exotic combinations and this too passed on down to our generation including my cousins. Living in reality, we also have a firm understanding that we have to make the best of what we have and try to maintain the best in skincare etc. without attempting to evolve into a whole other ethnicity! This unfortunately is not the case in most situations.

Enter the cosme-docs and beauty gurus who put the capital Q in the word ‘Quack!’ Donald Duck could not quack as much as these characters who spew absolute rubbish to anyone who gives them ear and listens to their dribble. I think, in my humble opinion, one of the biggest issues is that these professionals have the minimum training, and in hindsight, do the maximum damage. As Alexander Pope said, “A little learning is a dangerous thing,” and we see this when these dodgy ‘professionals’ go from claiming their brews and stews result in miracles, to pushing products with dubious origins that could end up being damaging and disastrous. Do these characters have any qualifications? I shudder to think who would have been insane enough to certify these snake oil peddlers. Claiming that these concoctions can reverse signs of aging, embodying the cinematic character of Benjamin Button, through to changing one’s complexion from the areas of being Sri Lankan to Swedish, these so-called experts have the gullible groupies eating out of the palm of their grubby hands. 

Cooking up dreams and products in the depths of their kitchens, the claims are as fantastical as the imaginations of those insane enough to buy them. Without any list of ingredients, and no proper clinical trials, these products flood the market and make the weak-minded ‘dream catchers’ dish out the coin to look like something, or someone, they can never be. 

The other area within this ‘quacking quotient’ includes derma-docs and beauticians who suddenly see themselves as the faces of their treatments and brands. Twirling their locks and twisting their tresses like bashful school girls in a 1960’s Sinhala film, these characters have taken to mediums such as TikTok to re-imagine their long-lost teenage dreams, while promoting products and advise. I am 50 years old, and from what I have been told, have pretty ok skin, for which I am ever grateful to my genetics. I lived in Los Angeles for over two decades and know a thing or two about skin care and the directions of trends, including what is realistically achievable and what is not.

Most of these doctors and beauticians want their clients to believe that if they don’t spend a King’s ransom on products, their skin is on a path to assured damnation and destruction. Caked with layers of makeup five shades too light for their natural complexion, they have the audacity to speak of, sing, dance and dish advise on good skin. Good skin? Not anywhere that we can see! Perhaps if they actually spoke of good skin, with any of their skin actually showing from beneath the makeup and the multitude of filters, prospective clients with some intellectual capacity, may actually heed a bit of their advice. 

To top off the nonsensical farce that makes up most of the local beauty business, the docs and beauticians get local ‘celebs’ who think they are celebrities to promote their rubbish. Filtered and flashed to within an inch of their lives these ‘promoters’ claim that their ‘looks’ are due to the amazing talents, or the amazing products of some quack. How about using a cleanser and being sans makeup, and not using a filter when speaking of the wonders of one’s skin? Also, how about having brand promoters who actually look, in real life, like they do in the brands’ promotional material? That would greatly help consumers look at the brand and products as somewhat authentic. 

Beauty maybe in the eye of the beholder, but beauty is also part of the of the whole that makes up every being. Apart from the trivialities, and frivolities, beauty, like youth, is fleeting, and if one puts all one’s proverbial eggs in that one ‘beauty basket’ one is bound for an existence deeply rooted in discontentment. Enjoy being on this ‘beautiful’ journey of life, and let us at the same time understand that the way one looks does not make a person who they are, and also let us use our knowledge and intelligence to stay away from the ‘falsies’ who claim that the unattainable is attainable. The fountain of youth has never been discovered, and I don’t think that our local ‘beauty gurus’ have a hidden pathway to it either. Enjoy life in its many stages and most of all, smile. That is after all the feature that truly brightens all.