Welcome back to This is India! I always have funny/weird stories about India to share with friends or family when I talk to them. This is just meant to be an honest portrayal about my life in India through short anecdotes. I also share here what I’ve been up to online outside Hippie in Heels.

What I was up to other than here:

  • I am in the mountains seeing amazing tribes & experiencing so much I can’t wait to write about! I’ll check in with more next week. Until then, PLEASE follow along on Instagram and Facebook! :)

Now your story,

This isn’t actually a story. But, it’s something that surprises a lot of foreigners when I tell them.

When I come to India, I bring loads of junk food back with me but I also bring a lot of toiletries… deodorant, lotions for skin and face and stuff like that.

One of the reasons is that I like certain brands, but another is that many of the toiletries you can get in India are for fairness.

That means they have chemicals in them that whiten your skin. You can buy spray on deodorant that will start to bleach your armpits. Your face wash will lighten your face. All the commercials for beauty in India are about fairness. “look how fair she looks!” It’s the same for the men.

At first I was really surprised to see brands like Loreal, Garnier, and all the rest advertising like this because at first it seemed kind of wrong to want to lighten your skin so much… but it’s not wrong it is just the way they want it to look just like I like to look tan and want to be as brown as possible.. so I waste time laying out in the hot sun with oil on and risk getting skin problems, which seems much crazier than bleaching your face, doesn’t it?

Either way, it just shows a small difference in culture. Sometimes while I’m basking in the sun an Indian friend of mine will stay under the umbrella so they don’t look dark. It’s not really that they have racism against being dark, but more a preference for beauty.

On the other hand, some Indian friends of mine who are quite western love to lay out and get darker – so it’s not something everyone is into. Have you experienced this when you travel?

This is India!

Did you enjoy this post? Let me know in the comments or by sharing it with the social media links! I’d love to keep giving you travel tricks & tips so feel free to subscribe by e-mail in the big purple box below. Don’t forget you can follow me on facebook, twitter, instagram & bloglovin‘.