Years of advertising and marketing strategies had many of us believe that dark armpits, knees, elbows, necks, etc. are not normal. Every inch of our bodies was expected to look texture free and fair. To battle dark and textured skin, a hundred companies would launch a thousand products only to ‘fix’ what is normal.
People online have been expressing how they were shamed for dark body parts, were embarrassed and how they tried to get rid of it.
Dark inner thighs, dark elbows, dark bums and dark knees are very normal and have absolutely nothing to do with hygiene.
— Fitness & Holistic Wellness Advocate🥦 (@Juanita_Khumalo) October 4, 2021
While some revealed that they were called unhygienic, others claimed how they rubbed their dark parts with soaps and creams till it caused rashes and burns.
I tried to remove mine 😭😭 my around VG is so sensitive that it doesn’t want any scented applied around it,so I stopped using the lotion after 2days . It’s normal ,you might not hv them but hv something that you don’t love on your body ,we should stop acting perfect on tweeter.
— Karoline (@Karonkie09) October 4, 2021
Even the skin by my fingernails is several shades darker than the rest of my hand. That is normal. That is how I was born. And when I compare it to white-skinned friends they’re just extra red/pink at the knees/elbows/underarms nobody is telling them to scrub the red off
— Bern Bright (@Bern_Bright) October 4, 2021
Dark neck! No knowledge about hormonal imbalance got me scrubbing my neck until it turned green 💔
Realized that keeping active and eating healthy goes a long way
— Kholofelo Phasha (@DehLyia) October 4, 2021
Someone told me something about the darker inner thighs …..
Says its caused mostly by the skin rubbing against eachother, that she learnt it from her mom and wearing of tights would prevent that, showed me her thighs and it was same tune of ebony as her other parts.— Zeus (@Zeustweet94) October 5, 2021
In August I went for a Pap Smear check up and I was so uncomfortable when the nurse told me to take off my clothes, I was so scared that she was going to see my dark thighs, I told her about it and she assured me that there was nothing wrong with them.
— Mrs Quincy McCall (@LetuOfentse) October 4, 2021
I saw flames when I bought skin ligthning for my inner thighs, it worked like a charm BUT it thinned my skin sore. My skin was jus so thin ndandityabuka!!. Ndayilahla kwasathana!! My dark skin came back as fast as it disappeared, love my dark skin more than ever now.
— Mamela (@njingolo) October 4, 2021
Used to think that everything that could go wrong went wrong with me, dark lips, dark inner thighs, dark armpits, thanks to my it is what it is attitude that I developed over the years that I live unapologetically with my flaws
— motso Sediti (@SeditiIpeleng) October 4, 2021
Dark lips are also natural,i am tired of people asking me if i am smoking or something. I hated by dark lips for a long time,so lets stop ignorant people.
— i am Nokusa 🇿🇦i love animals (@nokusamalinga) October 4, 2021
Yup! Spoke to a derma & she said we damage our skin by treating our melanin like it’s “dirt” especially dark skinned women
— Reabetswe. (@RabbitStew_) October 4, 2021
Some people have creamed their dark parts vigorously without looking at babies looking darker behind ear, elbow, knees and bum. They will say it’s not their natural colour…ogbeni we are dark skinned people. Live with it. It’s not important rara.
— Sirius ßlack 🇳🇬 (@sleekwhale) October 5, 2021
I needed hear this because I am struggling to accept it. I no longer wear dresses because of the way people used to criticise me. I hate tops that show my neck because bare ke tshila. I am slowly try to accept it and love myself the way I am.
— Nelovia (@Yolanda_Mphou) October 4, 2021
I used to think something was wrong because my inner thighs and the backs of my thighs are darker than the rest of my legs. But no matter how hard I scrubbed, they stayed darker. So now I embrace that my skin is different shades in various places due to hyperpigmentation and +
— 🌝Ashley⁸🌝 Black Lives Always Matter✊🏾 (@woosanshome) October 5, 2021
There should be no shame attached to having darker body parts. Unless it is a medical condition, in case of which one should visit a dermatologist, we shouldn’t spare a thought on how to ‘fix’ ourselves.