Melanin

Melanin 

Art by Ayodeleart 

It brings my heart great joy to see black women embracing their blackness, natural hair, distinctive features and beautiful brown bodies! You should be proud of your melanin.

“Melanin is responsible for determining skin and hair color and is present in the skin to varying degrees, depending on how much a population has been exposed to the sun historically.

Our beautiful brown skin was underrepresented in history, media, the cosmetic industry, lingerie collections and Barbie Doll options, just to name a few. And we wonder why a people could be so self-destructive?  Can you say systematic racism?

We’ve come a long way but we still have a long way to go. My hope is that this post can remind you of why you should be proud of your melanin. Why you should be proud of your heritage regardless of how light or dark your skin is.

Why You Should Be Proud of Your Melanin

1. “Stop comparing skin tones. Who cares if your skin is lighter or darker than the person standing next to you? Change can only happen once you can truthfully look in the mirror and love that Deep Chocolate, Cinnamon, Mocha, or Caramel complexion.

2. “…Beauty shouldn’t be defined by whether you wear the Deepest Deep Foundation (like me!) or the Translucent one. It’s all about confidence in your own skin and in your beauty. It’s corny, but it’s true.

3. “…In the history of television and even in film, I’ve never seen a character like Annalise Keating played by someone who looks like me. My age, my hue, my sex. She is a woman who absolutely culminates the full spectrum of humanity our askew sexuality, our askew maternal instincts. She’s all of that, and she’s a dark-skin black woman.

4. “God made me this way so I have to be happy with who I am. And it’s a journey. And I embrace my brown skin sisters. I love them and I hope that they embrace me.