How Can Brown Women Enjoy a Sunless Tan This hot Summer?

 Stella Simona, a high schooler growing up in Los Angeles, went to her neighbourhood Sally's to get some self-tanner one day around the year 2000. She eventually sampled her first bottle of bronze when she got home. You could assume this is perfectly normal adolescent behaviour until you realise Simona is South Asian American.

Tanning does bother you?

Getting a tan—whether from the sun, a spray gun, or a bottle—is not a radical act for most people. Except if you're South Asian. A tan of any kind has long been considered insane in our culture, and it's nearly hard to really get how rebellious and defiant Simona's tan was if you haven't grown up with that training.

"There was a lot of pressure [from my family] to be more fair-skinned, to avoid going outside, to use bleaching creams—all of that was encouraged and very normal conversation growing up," she says. "The most important message I received at home was that having fair skin makes life easier, having a dark skin color makes life more difficult, and I will have to take what I can get."

Simona, now a creative entrepreneur, content producer, and mother of two, fit that mould until she didn't. "I'm comfortable in my own skin and eventually I realized that and also I'm sick of others making me feel uncomfortable," she says. The most essential message I received at home was that having fair skin will make life easier; having dark complexion will make life more challenging, and I will have to take what I can get."

Around the same time, she noticed something odd about the girls with her complexion walking the Victoria's Secret runway.