Aanand asks: For about 2 years, my skin has been becoming darker. Now I am 13 years old. I will be 14 years old within 2 months. I want to look more beautiful.
Hi Aanand –
Thanks for your question about your skin getting darker.
Although we dogs aren’t nearly as interested in looks as we are in smells and sounds, I understand your desire to look more beautiful. It’s clear to me that when I’m dirty and covered in burrs and smells, most people don’t want to pet me, and even Handsome just does enough that it’s clear he’s just letting me know he still likes me. But when I’m clean and brushed and not so smelly, so many more people want to hug and pet me, and kiss my nose and all. You just want to be more attractive, and that makes total sense.
But you bring up a really important other issue as well. It sounds like you’re saying that your skin getting darker means you’re getting less beautiful. This of course isn’t your fault at all, but I have to say, if I’m reading this right, I HATE HEARING THINGS LIKE THIS! There are beautiful people of every skin color, and anyone who tells you that your skin getting darker is a loss of beauty is… well, they may not be racist themselves, but they’re coming from a mindset created by racism. It’s just about the saddest, most ridiculous thing about the human race.
Of course it used to be much worse. Almost all the major movie stars who played romantic leads had white skin. When women talked about a man being “tall, dark, and handsome,” they pictured a dark-haired white man like Clark Gable or Cary Grant! Luckily times changed. While social changes were happening everywhere from Africa to the Middle East to the streets of Paris and Montgomery, that would change racial issues worldwide forever, we started getting different images of beauty, from Omar Sharif and Sidney Poitier and Dihann Carroll to Halle Berry and Usher and Jennifer Hudson and Seal and Imam and Denzel Washington and Kim Kardashian and… to paraphrase that famous song, the times they have a-changed!
If you’re having a problem with blotchiness in your skin, you should definitely consult a dermatologist, as there are probably things that can help that. But if you’re just simply getting darker, I really want to tell you… that’s not less attractive! Why do you think so many white people pay money to sit in tanning machines?! Dark skin is gorgeous!
I want you to do me a favor. I want you to look in the mirror and say to yourself “You are beautiful. Your skin is beautiful. Everyone thinks so.” Say it about a hundred times a day. Because the only reason for you to feel otherwise is that you’ve heard the opposite said thousands of times. And it was a lie every time.
I love being orange and white. But I see Labrador Retrievers and German Shepherds and Chows and Newfoundlands and Portuguese Water Dogs, and they’re all darker than me, and they’re as beautiful as I am. And if anyone tried to tell them that being dark kept them from being beautiful, I’d gladly join them in chasing that person down and turning a good part of him dark. As in black and blue!
And always remember, Aanand, it’s the beauty inside you that people are most attracted to anyway. Even if you’re lucky enough to be dark like Will Smith and Jada Pinkett and Beyonce Knowles and Bruno Mars and Jay-Z and…
Be Strong!
Shirelle