愛上原來的膚色 Appreciate your skin tone.

以為白皮膚是美人的唯一標準，直到遇見不同的審美觀，自己開始喜歡原來的膚色。

在東亞到處都是以白皙皮膚才是美女為主流的想法的地方長大，我從前也是和大部分的人一樣，總是想盡辦法要美白，但是天生偏向健康膚色；黑肉底的我，出門一曬馬上變成小黑人，關於膚色這件小事多少讓我覺得不喜歡自己的膚色，直到去了不同的地方旅遊；遇見不一樣的人、不一樣的審美，漸漸發現原來健康膚色也可以是很吸引人的。

馬來西亞沙巴自助旅行，曬得黑黑的皮膚，是讓路人吹口哨的膚色，和海邊救生員聊天後自己半信半疑，但總覺得不那麼煩惱在海邊把皮膚曬黑了。（封面照片就是和朋友去沙巴的時候，大家都曬成了小黑炭）

遇見從美國來台學習中文的Stephen，因為家族來自愛爾蘭，是紅髮超白皮膚的外貌，好像是台灣人眼中標準的白人，一起在台南路邊旅遊閒晃，還有路人要跟他合照，但當時的我從沒想過他會說；這樣的膚色和髮色，在學校常常被同學取笑，才知道原來很白的皮膚也會被評論膚色。

在義大利開架保養品店發現了一種不可思議的產品，原本是想買防曬乳，發現防曬乳不一定買得到，但是有一種產品曬黑乳，是塗上之後可以使肌膚較容易曬成古銅色的肌膚，表示比起白皮膚，他們更想要曬黑。

對於肌膚審美的原因有很多，有些是因為西方殖民強權影響，讓東方人或非裔人覺得白皮膚就是比較高層次的人，在台灣也有原因可能是以前只有富有人不需要在外面拋頭露面工作曬黑，所有造成白皮膚有社會地位較高的概念，而相反的聽外國朋友說，只有錢有閒的人才可以到海灘曬成古銅色肌膚，所以特別喜歡這樣的膚色。

現在的我，愛上我原來的健康膚色，只要用心照顧自己皮膚，不管深淺，都可以散發自信的光芒。

You should start to like your original skin.

The white skin is the only standard for beautiful people was a mentality of mine until I met different aesthetics. I start to like the original skin.

I grew up in East Asia where the mainstream standard of beauty is white skin girls. I used to have the same idea as most people. I tried to do whiten with cosmetics, but I was born with a healthy skin tone which is a bit tanning. Once under the sun for a short time, my skin turns darker easily. The little matter about skin colour made me didn’t like my skin tone until I went to different places to travel; I met different people, different aesthetics, and gradually found that the original healthy skin colour can also be very attractive

In a backpacking journey with good friends in Malaysia Sabah, we all got tanning skin which is the colour that could make passers-by whistle. After chatting with the lifeguards on the beach, they agreed on the skin colour we had were nice. I let thought of my skin is not looking good go.

I met Stephen who came from the United States to study Chinese in Taiwan. Because his family is from Ireland, he has the appearance of red-haired and ultra-white skin. It seems to be the standard white people in the eyes of Taiwanese people. When we were walking around in Tainan city, and passengers even asked to take photos with him. But I never thought he would say it at the time; such skin colour and hair colour were often teased by classmates at school. I realized that the white skin would be also commented on the skin.

When I was in Italy, I saw an incredible product in a cosmetic store. I originally wanted to buy sunscreen, however, the sunscreens are not always available. There was a product that helps the skin gets tanning easier, which means they want to tan than white skin more than make the skin whiter.

There are many reasons to shape the aesthetics of the skin. Some are due to the influence of Western colonial power. People who are oriental ethics or African-American feel that white skin is a relatively high-class person. In Taiwan, there may be reasons like only wealthy people did not need to show up outside and work under the sun a few decades ago. That created the concepts that white skin people usually have a higher social status. While the opposite cases from foreign friends, only those who have money and leisure can go to the beach to make tanned skin, so they especially like the bronze skin tone.

Now, I am in love with my original healthy complexion. As long as I take care of my skin with my heart, no matter dark or light, I radiate confidence all the time.