Unique Qualities Of A Black Skin
There is no such thing as anyone having skin as white as snow, as black as night, or as yellow as a canary. All skin, no matter what color it is, has an outer layer called the epidermis. The epidermis contains pigments, or coloring matter, which are responsible for the color of your skin. The amount of brownish or yellowish pigment, called melanin, in your skin determines how light or dark your skin will be.
Large amounts of brown pigment and small amounts yellow are found in black people; large amounts of yellow pigment and small amounts of brown are found in Oriental people; and small amounts of both brown and yellow are found in white people.
These changes in skin color probably occurred early in the history of man, when skin color changed to meet the changes in climate. Dark skin protected people in hot, sunny climates, while lighter skin permitted the body to get Vitamin D from the sun in cold climates. Skin colors were then transmitted to succeeding generations. So the amount of pigment you have in your skin depends upon the amount your parents have. Because people have such different amounts of pigment, many shades of skin color exist throughout the crossbreeding
In summary, from currently available information, the really important factor in determining skin color is melanin — the amount produced.
What does melanin do?
It protects the skin against damage by ultraviolet light from the sun. If you have too little melanin in a very sunny environment, you will easily suffer sunburn and skin cancer. If you have a great deal of melanin, and you live in a country where there is little sunshine, it will be harder for you to get enough vitamin D (which needs sunshine for its production in your body). You may then suffer from vitamin D deficiency, which could cause a bone disorder such as rickets.
We also need to be aware that we are not born with a genetically fixed amount of melanin. Rather, we have a genetically fixed potential to produce a certain amount, and the amount increases in response to sunlight. For example, you may have noticed that when your Caucasian (white skinned) friends (who spent their time indoors during winter) headed for the beach at the beginning of summer they all had more or less the same pale white skin color. As the summer went on, however, some became much darker than others. And also some fair skin babies usually grow darker on excess exposure to sunlight.
Our skin color is a blessing not a curse, a unique feature inbuilt to help us survive and thrive our harsh environmental condition. So rather than sending time and money on becoming light skinned we should sit back and enjoy our advantage.
Next time we’ll be discussing makeup potentials and way to makeup to the best advantage of our black faces.
There is no such thing as anyone having skin as white as snow, as black as night, or as yellow as a canary. All skin, no matter what color it is, has an outer layer called the epidermis. The epidermis contains pigments, or coloring matter, which are responsible for the color of your skin. The amount of brownish or yellowish pigment, called melanin, in your skin determines how light or dark your skin will be.
Large amounts of brown pigment and small amounts yellow are found in black people; large amounts of yellow pigment and small amounts of brown are found in Oriental people; and small amounts of both brown and yellow are found in white people.
These changes in skin color probably occurred early in the history of man, when skin color changed to meet the changes in climate. Dark skin protected people in hot, sunny climates, while lighter skin permitted the body to get Vitamin D from the sun in cold climates. Skin colors were then transmitted to succeeding generations. So the amount of pigment you have in your skin depends upon the amount your parents have. Because people have such different amounts of pigment, many shades of skin color exist throughout the crossbreeding
In summary, from currently available information, the really important factor in determining skin color is melanin — the amount produced.
What does melanin do?
It protects the skin against damage by ultraviolet light from the sun. If you have too little melanin in a very sunny environment, you will easily suffer sunburn and skin cancer. If you have a great deal of melanin, and you live in a country where there is little sunshine, it will be harder for you to get enough vitamin D (which needs sunshine for its production in your body). You may then suffer from vitamin D deficiency, which could cause a bone disorder such as rickets.
We also need to be aware that we are not born with a genetically fixed amount of melanin. Rather, we have a genetically fixed potential to produce a certain amount, and the amount increases in response to sunlight. For example, you may have noticed that when your Caucasian (white skinned) friends (who spent their time indoors during winter) headed for the beach at the beginning of summer they all had more or less the same pale white skin color. As the summer went on, however, some became much darker than others. And also some fair skin babies usually grow darker on excess exposure to sunlight.
Our skin color is a blessing not a curse, a unique feature inbuilt to help us survive and thrive our harsh environmental condition. So rather than sending time and money on becoming light skinned we should sit back and enjoy our advantage.
Next time we’ll be discussing makeup potentials and way to makeup to the best advantage of our black faces.
