By Jia-Rui Chong Tribune Newspapers: Los Angeles Times Wed Jul 27, 9:40 AM ET
For many Southern Californians, summer is the season for beaches, chaise longues and the quest for the perfect tan.
Not for Margaret Qiu. She and thousands of other Asian-American women are going to great lengths to avoid the sun--fighting to preserve or enhance their pale complexions with expensive creams, masks, gloves, professional face scrubs and medical procedures.
For them, a porcelain-like white face is the feminine ideal, reflecting a long-held belief that pale skin represents a comfortable life. They also believe it can hide physical imperfections.
"There's a saying, `If you have white skin, you can cover 1,000 uglinesses,'" said Qiu, 36, a Chinese immigrant who lives in Alhambra.
I'm not much for proverbs, nor do I know much about what women do to look the way they do. I don't like the indoors look, nor do I like ultra-tanning. What I see as healthy or natural may still be elaborately contrived, but I'd like to put in a word for natural beauty. I urge caution once skin treatments cross from health measures to cosmetic. Two words: Michael Jackson.
No comments:
Post a Comment