Sometimes you see something super simple that should have existed a long time ago. Sometimes, this inspires you to think about stuff you’ve never really considered before. As it turns out, a simple bandage can have a major ripple effect.
There are all kinds of skin tones in the world.
There’s a ton of diversity in how human beings look. There’s no standard and no ideal. Despite this, it can often seem like the western world is catering almost exclusively to white people.
Watch the transformation.
Look on with awe as Barbie transforms from a blonde white woman with straight hair to a…blonde white woman with curly hair. For kids who aren’t white, how must it feel to have so many icons and role models be white?
It affects other areas, too.
For many years, Crayola crayons had a “flesh” colored crayon that more or less mimicked a caucasian skin tone. There weren’t other flesh tones for other races — just this one.
Crayola came around.
In somewhat of a no-brainer, Crayola eventually created “multicultural” crayons with all kinds of skin tones. It makes sense — kids usually draw people, and the people they’re drawing aren’t necessarily going to be white.
On to bandages…
Picture a classic sticky bandage, Band-Aid brand, no name brand, or whatever. About 10% of the bandages I’ve seen feature cartoon characters. The other 90% are in the same peachy Caucasian flesh tone.
I’d never really thought about it.
As a white person, bandages have always blended pretty well with my skin. But for those with darker skin tones, a pale peach bandage is going to stick out like a sore thumb.
One man shared his experience.
Dominique Apollon, a political science PhD from Stanford, shared this tweet recently. At the age of 45, Apollon had finally found a bandage that actually blended in with his skin tone.
It’s a little thing that means so much.
Bandages can be kind of unsightly, so it’s nice when they blend in. Apollon managed to find a bandage not in the standard pale peach color, but in one that actually blended with his skin tone.
He went into detail.
It isn’t that these bandages are a thing that surprised him, but rather the emotional response. Until now, every time he had a minor cut or bump, he’d had to use a bandage that seemed to reject his skin tone.
This is important.
Not the bandage thing per se, but white supremacy. It isn’t that Caucasian-toned bandages are in and of themselves white supremacist, but they’re just one component of a culture that elevates white people — often at the expense of others.
Others shared their thoughts.
Like Sara, I’d never really put two and two together. But I went to school with black kids. If one of these kids got hurt, they’d wear a Caucasian-toned bandage.
John Boyega chimed in.
Boyega, who stars in the new Star Wars saga, said that it’s important for makeup artists to match skin tone when concealing minor cuts or bumps and bruises.
Don’t doubt him.
Look, Boyega is the main star warrior (that’s what the heroes are called, right?). All that lightsaber stuff and general heroics is bound to result in the occasional minor injury.
So simple.
So many products exist in multiple styles and colors to suit individual preferences. But in the world of bandages, it seems like manufacturers have been mostly content to ignore a significant percentage of their potential customers.
What do you think?
This is one of those stories where a small thing is, in a way, a huge thing. Have you ever worn a bandage that doesn’t match your skin tone? What are your thoughts? Share them in the comments section!
