Dear artists around the globe,
I love it how you always come up with so many unique ideas and fill our hearts with the kind of art our world will be dull without. But, I would like to request all of you to stop creating vitiligo looks using foundations.⠀
I know your intentions are good, and I respect the fact that you want to support the vitiligans. But, creating fake foundation spots is an unacceptable act for those who are fighting from depression, social anxiety, insecurities, and low self-esteem.⠀
How you feel about your skin is not always the same for a lot of people. The fact that you can remove these foundation spots after a shoot is disturbing for many vitiligans who are living with the fact that they CAN’T REMOVE THEIR SPOTS.⠀
Not all vitiligans are the same. Many of us are fighting our own battles to accept these magical spots. When we are dealing with a roller coaster of emotions, seeing a picture like these makes us think of how easy it is for you to just create, shoot, and REMOVE once for all.⠀
I know it takes a lot of time and energy to create such looks and I appreciate your efforts, but I would like to recommend some other ways to support vitiligo if you want to:
1- Hire a vitiligo model and create any look you want to.⠀
2- Raise awareness through verbal art. You can write empowering texts on the face.
3- Use your platform to educate others to make them stop with those unwanted stares, suggestions, and weird Questions to vitiligans.⠀
4-Do a portray/painting/MUA look of people with vitiligo to make them feel important and pretty.⠀That’s all!
Much love,
Mehak
About the author: Mehak is Pakistan’s first and probably only vitiligo awareness activist. From giving in to unsolicited treatment suggestions and awful remarks to letting her followers know that “it’s okay to have vitiligo”, she has come a long way during her 16 years long journey with vitiligo. Mahek makes the most of her social media to normalize vitiligo and challenge society’s self-imposed beauty standards.