In my teenage years, the average skincare routine consisted of a cleanser, toner, and moisturizer. Skincare was just beginning to bloom into the multi-billion dollar industry it is today. Sometimes it felt difficult to keep up with the most basic of routines back then. Yet these days, the variety of skincare products on the market feels overwhelming: retinoids, serums, vitamin formulas, you name it. And it’s not just the products themselves that are excessive; growing cultural trends and conversations tell us we need every formula under the sun for every possible skin concern, no matter how small. Why should we…
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Perceptions of beauty tend to change depending on where you are. Notions of “ideal” and “desirable” features change over time, too. Media, pop culture, and even colonialism can play a role in what is defined as “beautiful” across different cultures.…
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I grew up watching light-skinned Indian actresses and models on television, believing that my darker skin made me subordinate. Comments I received throughout those years — don’t play outside in the sun too much; lather up with sunscreen so you…
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Dear Diary, It’s been eight days since the zombie apocalypse. A small group of unlikely friends, including myself, are living in an abandoned weapons and survival gear factory, so we’ve been able to successfully fend off the zombie hordes outside,…
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