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Ponds beauty - Skin deep?

Written by Virtous from the blog Virtual reality on 27 May 2009
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On a cold Winter evening, I cosily settled in to catch a scene of my weekend dose of entertainment television.
Fortunately, Selimathunzi takes its role very seriously of providing coverage of our local schleb industry so I tuned in and was subtly amazed.

Amazed, because right there on my tv screen was a tall, African model who as face/spokeswoman of Ponds proudly proclaimed that she loves Ponds because “It makes the skin lighter”.
!!!!! These exclamation marks sufficiently explain the awe and honestly, disappointment I felt. In the 21st century, years after African liberation and Black consciousness this woman was stating on a national medium, that she was happy to be using a product that changes the melanin content in her skin.

I thought to myself, okay? What does the impact of her words mean? Does this mean she has low self esteem and needed Ponds to feel beautiful, after all she is transforming in to a light skinned diva.

Then I thought wait, a minute. All age groups are watch this show and especially little girls are sitting there thinking, “Im not beautiful bcause Im not light enough". Then I realised that this only takes us back to the old age argument of light vs dark.

So seeing as this is TVSA, I decided to take it to the entertainment industry streets and let these famous women battle it out.
They are all successful women in their own right, and undoubtedly beautiful.
Personally, I believe that skin colour does not determine beauty, many factors do but lets have your opinion: > Are lighter sisters more beautiful than dark skinned sisters?

> Will this model's words have an impact on how younger girls and women view
their own beauty?

> Or is it simply an ideal of that model having low self esteem or really believing that Ponds has lightened her skin making her drop dead gorgeous?

Lets talk!!!

Gabrielle Union, an American actress and face of a major makeup house. vs

Beyonce

Yup, Beyonce Knowles, the godmother of the term bootylicious, singer, aspiring actress, songwriter, ~~gyrator,~~ dancer
and wife to Hip hop mogul Jay Z.

Naomi

Naomi Campbell, esteemed model, herself having been a face of many brands and one of the models who goes down in history as having being one of the first black supermodels.

The field is leveled against : Tyra

Tyra Banks, former supermodel, talk show host, having acted before and producer of famed ANTM.

Phuti

Former Miss SA teen Phuti Khomo, now businesswoman, former dj, presenter and currently actress.

She goes up against our very own 'IT' girl of the moment Bonang Matheba;

Bonang

Live presenter, part-time dj, and owner of 'Just B' clothing label.

So, who does it for you, the 'light skinned' sista or the 'dark skinned' sista?

38 Comments

blueroze
27 May 2009 11:58

Are lighter sisters more beautiful than dark skinned sisters?
no they are not.
my grandfather used to tell my mom that:
"kana lona ge le ba bona ba le basweu lare ba le phala ka bontle, dilo tse maserwa....
lona le bantshonyana mafrika a nnete"
......guess he had to say that; he was raising them alone since their mom had passed on so it was up to him to help boost their esteem. and he did a good job

ponds ponds ponds......i dont know about this product......all i know is that what KB said had an element of truth (ko bophelong bame)..........................about the product's end results...................i dont know

whoever's light skin comment ke utlwile e buiwa ko metro monday ka show ya aza...............i guess batho ba maketse gore ka nako e mosadi o santse a tshwenya ke gore o chocolate.......i mean for me that is a devine complexion......chocolate beauty.................(eish it reminded me of another bloggers reply about top deck)

mara i think it is not a problem whether one is light or dark........it all goes beyond that

nice
27 May 2009 12:05

Are lighter sisters more beautiful than dark skinned sisters?

Virtuos, oh yes gal, they are perceived like that by most people, me included (I hate to admit this). We are not talking about brown skinned Gabrielle and Phuti we are talking African darkness.

I agree that this view is not necessarily correct , I know a lot of sisters that are much darker than me and are prettier but that is the perception............bomotshwana ke sono ka bona. It is the same thing as aking about skinny and fat, a skinny gal will always be perceived to be prettier than a chubby gal.

All that being said though, if you are dark skinned/fat and are sure of who you are then you are much better than a skinny/ light skinned airhead.

HARAMBE24
27 May 2009 12:12

I think beauty is beauty...light or dark it does not matter. This problem is not only an Blac African one, its everywhere.

In India - bollywood stars happily becomes faces of creams that promises to make one's skin much lighter. In the latin-american diaspora, they dont have soapies but telenovellas..most people who are cast are light skinned. Its like the more lighter skinned you are the more beautiful you are.

I for one it does not matter, as long as the skin is good...i dont care about the tone. And i bow down to Naomi..she is the damn biatch and i love her...

blueroze
27 May 2009 12:17

and i bow to word well put H24:) by the way looooooooove the last fiesty statement....

KeleFabulous
27 May 2009 12:18

to this day i still get sunburnt trying to be darker. i love dark skin bathong. mara re tlare eng ka gonne Modimo o ntimme moo...

yes it's a harsh reality that in this day and age (very) dark skin is still synonymous with ugliness. mara if you're open minded enough then you'll realise gore that isn't the case. personally i grew up knowing and seeing gore light skinned people aren't necessarily more beautiful than dark skinned ones. it's all got to do with how you present yourself to hte world at large. eg this other lady i work with is very dark, even her body is just sooo very dark. i used to call her monthsonyana (she is!) and people thot she was ugly but i kept on saying no she's not, she just needs the right kind of attitude, clothing, walk, etc...today she's much more comfortable in her own dark skin and it shows cos now she radiates beauty instead of bontshonyana. even the clothes she wears now complement her dark skinned beauty. so ja, it's all about the presentation.

Virtous
27 May 2009 12:24

mara i think it is not a problem whether one is light or dark
What is the problem then? Fact is dark skinned women are sometimes made to feel inferior to light skinned women. Think of when 1 is getting married and they sing the song "Mwana utswana lekaladi" (sp) "The child looks like a coloured".
What is this saying about African beauty, that you are not good enough if you are dark skinned?

GML
27 May 2009 12:25

My sister is darker than me. Shades darker. And I sometimes think that sh'e more beautiful than me. If one is confident skin colour should not be a problem. It all depends on how the persons makes other facial features work for her like the eyes, cheeck bones etc- I think

GML
27 May 2009 12:28

TerryN
27 May 2009 12:33

WOW my two favourite gals are here...Phuti Khomo and Bonanga
Phuti i missed that voice of urs!!

JadaPinkett
27 May 2009 12:40

Phuthi en her same hairstyle ngathi there's someone who told her ukuthi it suite her very well but iyamfanela nyani as for Bonang mxmmmmmmmmm i don lyk her.

Eish Virtous u forgot my pic here y vele coz me en PONDS Hhahaha m tellin u

JadaPinkett
27 May 2009 12:40

Nanana
27 May 2009 12:40

Eish,what the big deal,do we have to dissect everything

ANGELIC.SMILE
27 May 2009 12:43

Mmmm... I just think it depends I mean black is beautiful but too much is just nonsense all these ladies are beautiful in thier own unique way not because of thier complexion. but i do add if Naomi was light... I dont think shed be this hot...

TerryN
27 May 2009 12:47

Eish Virtous u forgot my pic here y vele coz me en PONDS Hhahaha m tellin u

LMAO @ JadaP
wena nePONDS since high school days...neh???

dali
27 May 2009 12:51

when i grow up i wanna look like bonang!!!!!!!!!!!!!

felfel
27 May 2009 12:52

wow, clearly i've misinterpreted the whole "lighter skin" yase Ponds. To my understanding they not entirely trying to change the melanin content of one's skin but rather it improves the skin tone, lightening blemishes to match the rest of the tone of ur face. Blemishes are dark marks on the face and they need to be treated with a lightening moisteriser so that they can fade. Many moisturisers which promise to fade blemishes use the word "lighten" because its the correct word to use when referring to combating blemishes. But like i said i never thought of it this way.

Some light skinned ladies are not that beatiful when they dont have nice features, all they have is just the light skin and nothing beyond that.

TerryN
27 May 2009 13:01

when i grow up i wanna look like bonang!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LMAO dali...and i guess u are now 10 years old??
Mina i have a girlish (sp) crush on this gal...she does it for me BIGTIME.

Green.arrow
27 May 2009 13:13

...i will never forget how hurtfull it was to be teased coz i was dark in primary...however my mom always told me im beautifull....i never blived her,,,even to this day i struggle to say i am....
But what really makes me angry is how pple like commenting gore im lighter now....perpertuating indirectly that being dark is bad....

i still remember the dark gal from antm cycle 1....the gal was sooooooo beautiful..with a bold head nogal...bcos thats another thing...ur only pretty if u have long hair.....

btw: i love all those gals up there, 2 me they are all beautifull black sistas...i dont c the colour contrast much...

HARAMBE24
27 May 2009 13:52

Ke end Blueroze...? And for the record, i have never used any special what-what for my face....soap and lotion works for me..LOL

Virtous
27 May 2009 14:05

...i will never forget how hurtfull it was to be teased coz i was dark in primary...however my mom always told me im beautifull....i never blived her,,,even to this day i struggle to say i am....
That is so true, I have a sister who is lighter than me and we look alike. Yet while growing up they dubbed me 'Chocolate' and her 'Caramel', needless to say such labels actually contribute to that whole dark vs light ideal.
We are all beautiful in our own way, wether you have great hair, legs, personality, heart that it is still beauty at its best.

blueroze
27 May 2009 14:15

mara i think it is not a problem whether one is light or dark
What is the problem then?
it is because we like to adapt to how "others" describe beauty....at first beauty pagents we were won by light slender ladies. this is how people perceived lightness as beautiful and dark as otherwise.

mara beauty goes beyond the colour of one's skin.(made me remember the sab advert.....what makes me......is it the colour of my skin.....clothe i wear....blah blah...)

my point is that one tells themselve they are beautiful and the beauty will be seen by the others.....that is a way to boost your confidence

LM
27 May 2009 14:19

To my understanding they not entirely trying to change the melanin content of one's skin but rather it improves the skin tone, lightening blemishes to match the rest of the tone of ur face. Blemishes are dark marks on the face and they need to be treated with a lightening moisteriser so that they can fade. Many moisturisers which promise to fade blemishes use the word "lighten" because its the correct word to use when referring to combating blemishes. But like i said i never thought of it this way. This is also my understanding Felfel. I'm light skinned and am currently using L'oreal complex what what range (ya Teri Pheto) + Garnier (Connie')s + Ambi's range (sometimes) to correct the discolouration caused by blemishes + sunburn

...i will never forget how hurtfull it was to be teased coz i was dark in primary: hawu batho! nna I was teased in high school for my freckles, most of which disappeared as I grew up. now I look at the remaining ones and know they are beautiful.

Blac African
27 May 2009 14:34

Nice topic - I was rather disappointed with the selection of pictures you selected to put in your article. I was expecting much lighter women abo Cindy Crawford not Beyonce.......abo Alec Weck (sp) instead of abo Tyra Banks.....Cindy is light and Alec is dark...

moving along......................this whole issue is just plain racism @ the end of it all....

myname
27 May 2009 14:39

Thanks V bt can u tell me, who is that girl? She is beautiful & she speaks twang!

felfel
27 May 2009 14:40

LM does Ambi work? i tried it too, my chin is a little darker and hasn't always been, i've tried Ambi but no results, i've even tried the lemon juice home remedy,lol, NADA!!! i'm now using the woolies blemish lightening night cream, and guess wat, ZILCH!!!!!!!! lol

Pooky
27 May 2009 14:43

Felfel zama i-Askamel hehhehehe

Blac African
27 May 2009 14:46

when i grow up i wanna look like bonang!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahahhhahahahah phat chance unless you get a face lift......LOL
LM does Ambi work? i tried it too, my chin is a little darker and hasn't always been, i've tried Ambi but no results, i've even tried the lemon juice home remedy,lol, NADA!!! i'm now using the woolies blemish lightening night cream, and guess wat, ZILCH!!!!!!!! lol

then get the hint already, those products do not work...its just advertising nothing else. You are the way God intended you to be no one else.....

myname
27 May 2009 14:46

Guys mna i was dark i mean very dark when i was young. Oh let me say BLACK bt now im light(anyana) i dunno what happened. I do believe amanzi awafani bcoz if im home i become dark bt the moment im here my skin changes again.

LOL Pooky, kanti ne calamine ikhona Felfel

cleve
27 May 2009 14:48

i-Askamel hehhehehe

LOL @ POOKY!!!!!!!!!!

Molilo
27 May 2009 14:51

hawu LM what did u use to remove freckles? I love mine please dont get me wrong

felfel
27 May 2009 15:00

Blac African i doubt God has anything to do with this one, i know my skin type. I wasn't born with a dark chin, it started changing when i stopped using sunscreen, maybe God can drop some sunscreen on my lap, i'll defs be happy then,lol, oh but he did drop R400 bucks in front of me on monday so i ain't complainin.lol

Yhu cabanga myname sendifake iaskamel ne calamine ingathi ndingunontshongo, ndizoshota ngeqhiya nefaskoti mos,lmao!!!! oh ungayilibali iHe-Man or should i try ilight brown polish,hahahahaha

Blac African
27 May 2009 15:03

Really?? ask Him to send me R7000 LOL so the sunscreen or lack of it spoilt your God given beauty?

Pooky
27 May 2009 15:04

Felfel wandigqiba nge He-Man lol....my mom tells me they used i light brown polish as i foundation ngexesha labo kanti

vallie
27 May 2009 15:05

whether we like it or not, society still perceive white(light) as superior to black.(dark)

even when you look up the definitions of the two words in a dictionary, white is associated with purity while black is associated with evil or wickedness.
it is that mentality that gets our dark skinned gogos killed because of the claims tsa hore ba a loya. they are witches. it is just sad that we still do not love ourselves the way we are, i mean we still use those products even though our aunties have dichubaba to prove that some of them dont work. i am sure steven bantu biko is turning in his grave.

Blac African
27 May 2009 15:11

Thank you Vallie...................you are 150% correct

felfel
27 May 2009 15:13

Oh Blac African just hit me wit a verse while u at it, won't u.

tyhini Pooky my older sista used to use it too and i never understood it, i always believed izonditshisa cos it smells strong and i never touched it. U dark brown keyenake, kuthiwa unomkhitha, whatever that means, i guess its a word invented to make some dark skinned people feel better about their tone cos i could never see where the mkhitha was and they weren't that good in explaining it or pointing out exactly where it is,lol

Virtous
27 May 2009 15:41

Thanks V bt can u tell me, who is that girl? She is beautiful & she speaks twang!
I think her name is Tanya Magwanyi, or something like that, am nots sure.

LM
27 May 2009 16:11

Felfel, it worked 4 the first few weeks but realised that pores next to my cheeks n nose became bigger so i went 4 loreal n garnier n im happy with results.no pores. Should just stay away 4rm the sun. Molilo, i used some cream that looked like cream blusher n packaged like a lipstick(light grn bottle).it was available estratini and in those dodgy comestic shops.4got the name though,it hs bn over 12yrs phela since i used it.

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