Confronting Hypocrisy and Hyperpigmentation

You may (or may not) know that I started creating online workshops for various topics that I’ve been asked dozens (if not hundreds) of times about throughout the decades of my career in beauty.

The most recent online course is about hyperpigmentation; something many people over 40 deal with and feel frustrated about how to handle it when it shows up on their face.  Hyperpigmentation (AKA dark spots, age spots, sun spots, melasma, etc.) is something people want to get rid of because they don’t like seeing it.

And herein lies the problem.

There’s a long-engrained formula for marketing beauty products/services that goes like this:

“You look bad. There’s something wrong with you. And you better do something about it, or don’t even bother leaving the house, trying to get a job or a mate.”

The answer to how “unacceptable” you are, is whatever product is being hocked by that brand.

 

Brands don’t say it quite like that…but that’s what’s going on in the words and imagery presented to you.

I know because I studied marketing and buyer psychology in college, and used to work in marketing at a large cosmetics company.

Last week over tea, I was chatting with a colleague about how it’s a conscious challenge to ensure my marketing materials are in alignment with what I know is true:

Your looks do not define your worth.

 

When I have something to promote, like a course, I’m constantly reviewing my promotional lingo so I don’t reinforce abusive thought patterns around beauty.

So I want to be super honest with you about the process that’s gone into how I write material encouraging you to invest in the (valuable) educational resources I’ve created, which targets specific skin and makeup “challenges” (women tell me they have) — without being a total hypocrite.

The Ethical (less profitable) Path

Now here’s the tricky part, if I followed the marketing formula above, I’d sell more. A lot more.

It’s not easy to be in business, walking an ethical tightrope that I chose to create.

For years I’ve earned less than I could have by avoiding the traditional beauty route — from turning down numerous big-money contracts with major brands to marketing my own educational beauty classes and services.

I walk the tightrope of my talk, because it’s right.

Confronting Hypocrisy

In my most recent launch “Handling Your Hyperpigmentation Safely and Effectively” I grappled with how to say, “I have seriously incredible information on what to do about it (that you’ve been asking for)” without being too focused on that you should even want to get rid of hyperpigmentation in the first place.

Maybe you don’t care about it. And that’s fantastic.

But if you do, like a lot of women who come to see me, then I truly believe you should know everything inside this course before you do anything else because it will save you!

So instead of even relying on what so many other women have told me about their feelings towards hyperpigmentation, I dug into how I was personally feeling about the brown spots on my face before I wrote the sales copy about the course.

Here was the conversation that happened in my head:

“I have deep regrets that I did so much damage to my pale skin baking in the sun at the beach, the pool and even tanning beds to look like the bronzed, beach goddesses that turned heads.

I actually think freckles are wonderfully cute. My mom called them angel kisses, which still makes me giggle…even in fashion makeup we’d sometimes add them to models’ faces.

BUT I am not a fan of a random blob that shows up on my face overnight, and continues to expand in some amorphous shape. I did not sign up for a new blob!

…and I’m kind of afraid those blobs could actually become skin cancer, and it’s freaking me out…

…and I liked my face the way it was. I want it back that way…”

And there I was, staring at the resistance — the “I’m not excited about getting older” bracing we all do when we see it start to happen.

And if I couldn’t be honest about that, then I would in fact be a hypocrite.

Hyperpigmentation AKA age spots, sun spots, liver spots

Those dark spots (hyperpigmentation) are also commonly known as: age spots.

We all know the societal narrative currently is: aging is bad.

So of course you’d feel awful about seeing “age spots” appear.

But these spots are usually from sun exposure, hormones, or other triggers that only show up later in life, but are not a result of the aging process.

Maybe you simply want ways to get rid of hyperpigmentation, without having to really look deeper at the emotions behind how it makes you feel. I get it, but there’s something there to consider…

 

Risky Remedies

We’ve been entrained to shroud our internal shame around beauty, and justify it with secret expensive purchases and procedures in the name of “essential self care.”

That’s when things get risky.

Because any remedy we seek out of desperation and/or in secrecy with shame is when we give into extreme and risky measures.

Unethical brands and service providers are lining their pockets with your hopeful purchases, and aren’t considering what’s best for your health.

Take it from me, you don’t want to mess around with your skin with the wrong practitioners, or questionable internet articles and DIY Pinterest recipes for advice.

I’ve seen a ton of botched procedures on clients.  It’s far more common than you think that people inadvertently wreck their skin for good when trying to improve the situation.

This is why I create my courses.

I don’t want that to happen to you.

Hopefully you know by now that my philosophy is not about attacking/fixing/damning/hating/masking your skin.

It’s about loving, soothing, supporting, nurturing and balancing your largest organ, so it exudes gorgeous vitality in a healthy way. 

So if the dark spots on your face bother you, then the best thing you can do is get honest guidance from seriously experienced professionals, like what’s inside this course.

When you invest in something that really will help you gain the knowledge, tools, and truth, you’ll feel in control; armed with a realistic understanding of what’s possible from both holistic and medical perspectives for addressing your hyperpigmentation – and stop wasting money or risking your health to pursue beauty.

GET THE COURSE ON HYPERPIGMENTATION

 

Images by Lucaxx Freire  freestocks   antonikachanel​