The tanning brand Fake Bake has just launched a new range in the UK called ‘Vitiligo Vanquish’. Yep, vanquish, you read that correctly.
The products in question are “designed to help flawlessly blend uneven skin tones for those that prefer to cover and blend signs of pigmentation loss,” according to a press release from Fake Bake. In which they say “Fake Bake, one of the original self-tan companies, co-created the lightweight Vitiligo Vanquish liquid product along with Jackie McDonald to help camouflage lighter patches of skin. Once applied, this simple liquid kit is designed to last over the course of two to three days. Using a spray, brushes and a mitt, the product can be customised to match a wide range of skin tones using a combination of blue or black drops. ”
The brand do note that it's all personal preference when it comes to covering vitiligo: “Whilst individual preference guides how each person chooses to manage the condition, some research has shown that the impact of this visible skin condition can affect an individual deeply. Designed to complement all skin types showing depigmentation, the easy-to-apply Vitiligo Vanquish product helps co-creator Jackie to work with, and not against, her skin. ”
In the statement, Jackie, who has vitiligo, says she's not ashamed of her spots. “There is no reason to be ashamed of your spots and I’m not ashamed of mine,” but that she just enjoys going “out into the world as one colour and not being Jackie with vitiligo but just Jackie.”
There are a lot of products out there that cover up vitiligo, and dermatologists may even recommend certain brands - fine! But, what is not okay, is any inference that vitiligo should be covered. Or, errm, vanquished.
GLAMOUR's Georgia Trodd has vitiligo. “Anyone seeking help with their vitiligo will likely have been recommended various camouflage methods by their GP and/or dermatologist, so the product itself is not the issue at all (in fact it’s welcomed)," she says, "but my question is why the brand decided to use the word ‘vanquish’?”
By dictionary definition the term literally means to conquer an enemy in battle. “Vitiligo does not fit into either of those categories. It is not something that needs to be diminished, squashed, or anything that anyone should be afraid of. It’s not the bad guy in some movie, it’s something that 1% of the world’s population lives with,” Georgia adds.
For anyone with a skin condition, messaging like this reinforces what archaic beauty standards have been: that any uniqueness should be smoothed over, and hidden. It's up to those in the beauty industry to push against this, and help shift negative attitudes to ones of acceptance.
Georgia believes that “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being someone who prefers to cover up their patches – I’ve done it myself many times – but it becomes a huge issue when beauty brands are enforcing the idea, and are telling people with the skin condition that they should ‘defeat’ it entirely. That’s a message enough to make even the most confident person with it feel like shrivelling up.”
Jackie McDonald, the Cocreator of Vitiligo Vanish (VV), spoke with GLAMOUR saying, “I have had vitiligo for 28 years. I think it is important to embrace all views and awareness around vitiligo, and also the different options we have to choose from in terms of treatments and in camouflages. It was originally called Vitiligo Vanish as that is what happens when you apply it… The vitiligo appears to vanish.”
Jackie continues: “We were starting production and calling it “VV” for short. The legal department found a copyright on the word vanish for certain cosmetics. We needed to come up with a similar word starting with the letter V this is how it was named Vitiligo Vanquish, mostly everyone including myself refer to it as 'VV'.”
Jackie says that the product came to being after accidentally dropping some furniture stain “on one of my spots I noticed when wiping off that stain, my vitiligo appeared to vanish.” Adding that “It looked exactly like my pigmented skin. I then spent the next 20 years trying to create a non-toxic stain for depigmentation. I altered a Fake Bake product, came up with a delivery system, and added blue drops to tone and black drops to darken so it would be useful for any person of any skin colour if they chose to use it.”
Jackie says the name does “absolutely not meant to offend," and that "it is simply an option for those who have depigmentation and desire uniform pigment colour,either on occasion, or on a regular basis. Our customers are very happy it exists, and we are aware of and very supportive of the vitiligo communities.”
Georgia has had vitiligo since she was four and whilst she's come to terms with it being part of who she is, advertising like this has thrown her off, “It’s coming across as yet another way to pray on people’s insecurities and make money from it.”
So, let's all remember this: skin is an organ, the biggest we have. It is as unique as the person it covers, and there is no such thing as ‘perfect’ or ‘imperfect’ – all there is, is you. Whether it's eczema, psoriasis, acne or vitiligo, the choice it yours when it comes to using makeup or not. One thing's for certain, it doesn't need vanquishing.
