Growing up as a woman in India comes with its own set of challenges. You tend to dissect every part of your appearance. Are you pretty enough? Tall enough? Skinny enough? Fair enough? As beauty standards get dismantled gradually, the conversation around this is being led largely by celebrities. And we are glad at least things are being talked about. Recently, Yami Gautam revealed that she has been dealing with keratosis pilaris, a condition she developed during her teenage years. She opened up about the condition on Twitter, talking about how she spent years trying to cover it up but now she wants to own it.
Hello friends,
I recently shot for some images and just when they were about to go in for post-production (a common procedure) to conceal my skin-condition called Keratosis- Pilaris, I thought, ‘Hey Yami, why don’t you embrace this fact and accept it enough to be OKAY with it. pic.twitter.com/N51MoG0LLr
— Yami Gautam Dhar (@yamigautam) October 4, 2021
So what is keratosis pilaris exactly?
Dr Chytra Anand, Cosmetic Dermatologist and Founder Kosmoderma and SkinQ, says, “Keratosis pilaris is commonly called KP. It is a condition similar to ingrown hairs and commonly seen in women more than men and especially in people with skin of colour like Indian skin. Here, the skin is not able to exfoliate itself or renew its self in a normal pattern every 28 to 30 days and hence you see a clumping of dead skin cells over the areas where there are hair follicles. This is commonly seen on the upper arms on the back of the calves and thigh areas . In severe cases it can be seen on the chest, back and buttocks also.
Around 60% of Indian women suffer from keratosis pilaris. It is aggravated by waxing and dry shaving.
Once you are prone to keratosis pilaris, the little red dot-like marks tend to stay on the skin for a long time but the smoothening of the skin can be achieved through constant exfoliation, use of pumice stones, diamond micro dermabrasion with chemical peeling at skin doctor’s office or even laser for severe condition.”
Obviously, having this condition can affect your confidence…
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Dr Geetika Mittal Gupta says, “Skin conditions do tend to bring down confidence. When it comes to managing problems and gaining confidence, it’s critical to establish and maintain a cleansing practice that’s right for your skin. Taking the time to figure out what products will work best for your skin because everyone’s needs are different. Those with extremely acne-prone skin, for example, may benefit from cleansers containing salicylic acid and also products that contain tea tree extracts and niacinamide.”
Dr Geetika goes on to mention that this skin condition is safe but there is no cure.
For Yami Gautam, she got to a point where she finally embraced the tiny bumps on her skin and we are glad someone like her has opened up about it. As she mentions in her tweet, “I developed this skin condition during my teenage years, and there is still no cure for it. I’ve dealt with it for many years now and today finally, I decided to let go of all my fears and insecurities and found the courage to love and accept my ‘flaws’ wholeheartedly. ”
The pressure to be flawless though, is extremely real
We love that Yami Gautam has talked about a skin condition, it’s so rare. She also mentions that she didn’t feel like airbrushing it this time. We also spoke to Bhavya Arora, a celebrity makeup artist and she mentioned how, ” For male and female actors, it’s not really easy to be in the limelight and be flawed, because, you know, our society and brands and just general capitalistic bend expects women especially to be perfect and to be flawless. And it’s extremely toxic. A lot of young women look look up to celebrities and actors and want to be like them and torture themselves to achieve that sort of flawless skin, hair features and that’s really not possible. And as makeup artists, we are privy to those insecurities. And yes, there are times where the brands or the project requires us to cover those things. I personally don’t even think there are flaws. But then media and peer pressure should not be the cause of wanting to change something. It’s also extremely empowering. I’m sure it’s not easy for an actor to come out and say this, but this is such a beautiful step in the right direction because it just makes so many people feel so much better and just takes the pressure off of everyone. So I think we need more such women and stories in the beauty industry.”
Pictures via: Instagram and Pexels
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