Should Thai Ladies Make Their Skin Whiter? Why Is This Happening?

[tracer5050]

Yes i have heard many times need nose fixed by some of my thai friends . ever body wants to look different , When i lived in korea they all wanted round eyes ..what can you do but love them .

[toptuan]

Should Thai Ladies Make Their Skin Whiter?

what a stupid question! it's none of my or anybody else's business!

A typically enlightening post from this member....

[toptuan]

do these lotions actually work?

Kinda. I have lady-boys in my university classes who look like cadavers. The whitening creams tend to give a very unnatural "dead" look after extended use. Combine that scenario with a bright red lipstick and you've a spittin' image of Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Shudder!

[Gravelrash]

Should Thai Ladies Make Their Skin Whiter?

what a stupid question! it's none of my or anybody else's business!

A typically enlightening post from this member....

I think the avatar says it all.

[JimsKnight]

The whitening creams are nasty! I've seen more than a few girls in Thailang with what appeared to be 'blotching/offwhite patches' around their neck. I've asked a few Thai girls about this and they tell me that unless they buy the really expensive stuff the cheap cream can cause this.

Personally I don't mind a bit of dark or a bit of white, wheat coloured etc but some of the darkest (like darkest bronze) shades of Issan is not that physically attractive to me and I can see why they'd want to keep themselves wrapped up to prevent 'going black.'

Going and getting a tan is great if you're a tourist out for the sun and sand but personally I cover up all the time in LOS. I'm out biking and burn even with factor fifty if I leave it more than two hours. Getting skin cancer from mental tanning sessions is a no-no for me!

Incidentally if you speak to a lot of Aussies they often think we're mad for wanting to go brown!

The sun in Thailand is nasty if you strip off and lie in it for more than a few hours. Only the darkest and thickest of skins can withstand it without burning.

[cathyy]

Ok, here's a new point of view: a farang woman who uses some of the skin whitening products. I have very pale skin even for a Westerner, and I prefer to keep it that color. I have been living in Thailand well over a year now, and am no darker than when I arrived. I may even be slightly lighter. I too go out of my way to stay out of the sun, but that's as much because I physically can't tolerate more than a few minutes of it as because I don't want to tan. I won't tan anyway, I'll just burn and peel and get skin cancer.

There are several different types of products. There are the light-reflective lotions already mentioned. Those same products are marketed in the West to make wrinkles less apparent.

There is a whole selection of products using various whitening ingredients, typically milk-based (lactic acid) or vegetable based (fruit extracts). These should all be safe. Chemical based products make me nervous and I wouldn't advise using them.

There are very expensive products that actually block the production of melanin in the skin. These are effective as well, but as previously mentioned prevent the skin's natural defense from sun damage. However, any Thai female spending that much money on skin whitening has already learned to stay out of the sun and will do precisely that!

The consistent use of sunscreen of SPF 25 or better is the best and most basic tool for not tanning. Combined with a whitening moisturizer and sun avoidance you have a solid and effective pale complexion program.

[Suszzy]

Wanting to look white has got nothing to do with the west!

It is as simple as them thinking that white skin is attractive. Asian men who particularly love white skin are usually the same ones who have not much interests in western women.

very true!!

absolutely agree

[globerunner4]

Classic pole Asians want to be whiter and europeans want to be darker doesn`t figure ooorrrr does it?

When watching Thai tv/commercials I can't get passed the stage lighting and makeup that makes the actors 5 shades whiter. But what about tanning in Japan(seems to be trendy with the girls). Also Filipinos, Hawaiians and other Polynesians don't seem hung up on whiteness? And Why is my profile avatar white here at thaivisa lol? I don't expect to see a brown one but dam_n at the very least it could have dark hair since this is a Thai forum.

[mogoso]

I look forward to your views on this poll.

Why?

.

Unfortunately in the real world that doesn't always work, my daughter is very dark skinned and she hasn't set foot in a paddy field ever..... it's a genetic thing..... she's only seven years old and the most gorgeous child I have ever seen.

Null vote - pointless.

Spoken like a true father. Good for you and good for her.

I myself think my 6 week old grandson is quite the handsome lad, but then again I might be biased

[tracer5050]

I have told my wife that western ladies spend 1000.s to look like them. who cna figure

[cm-happy]

another "brain-amputated" thread.

ditto. brainless, pointless. Worthy of saving for posterity for a good laugh.

[0Mix1up]

another "brain-amputated" thread.

ditto. brainless, pointless. Worthy of saving for posterity for a good laugh.

Why? or dont post with a brain missing reply

The models on tv are as white as ghosts even the most pasty skinned goth cant achieve.

I would, when discussing this with Thai Ladies point to my arms which go dark in the summer (something to do with my ancestry)

They would turn my arm to see the underside, so even though I had same/similar upper skin colour the fact that I had whiter skin on the underside somehow made it acceptable I guess?

I cannot fathom "extra whitening" deodorant.

It is all pervasive though

[tropo]

Wanting to look white has got nothing to do with the west!

It is as simple as them thinking that white skin is attractive. Asian men who particularly love white skin are usually the same ones who have not much interests in western women.

very true!!

absolutely agree

Yes, the OP left out the option that flawless white (asian) skin is far more attractive and looks classy in comparison.

[tropo]

Classic pole Asians want to be whiter and europeans want to be darker doesn`t figure ooorrrr does it?

When watching Thai tv/commercials I can't get passed the stage lighting and makeup that makes the actors 5 shades whiter. But what about tanning in Japan(seems to be trendy with the girls). Also Filipinos, Hawaiians and other Polynesians don't seem hung up on whiteness? And Why is my profile avatar white here at thaivisa lol? I don't expect to see a brown one but dam_n at the very least it could have dark hair since this is a Thai forum.

You should have left out Filipinos from your list. They are even more obsessed with white skin than Thais. Surely you've never been to the Philippines.

[cm-happy]

do these lotions actually work?

Kinda. I have lady-boys in my university classes who look like cadavers. The whitening creams tend to give a very unnatural "dead" look after extended use. Combine that scenario with a bright red lipstick and you've a spittin' image of Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Shudder!

Not relaled to topic but:

Elvira used to have a television show very popular with teenage boys.

To catch a glimpse of the huge chest and pleasing cleavage.

[endure]

Classic pole Asians want to be whiter and europeans want to be darker doesn`t figure ooorrrr does it?

When watching Thai tv/commercials I can't get passed the stage lighting and makeup that makes the actors 5 shades whiter. But what about tanning in Japan(seems to be trendy with the girls). Also Filipinos, Hawaiians and other Polynesians don't seem hung up on whiteness? And Why is my profile avatar white here at thaivisa lol? I don't expect to see a brown one but dam_n at the very least it could have dark hair since this is a Thai forum.

You should have left out Filipinos from your list. They are even more obsessed with white skin than Thais. Surely you've never been to the Philippines.

I used to sail with Filipino crew. When they were working on deck all you could see were their eyes. Everything else was covered up and this was in the Arabian Gulf in the hot season.

[jumnien]

There seems to be a common perception amongst farang men in Thailand that Thai women exist solely to pleasure farang men. Most of these farang men prefer cold beer and lighter skin and perceive any attempt at protecting or lightening skin as a direct attact on the predatorial farang male.

[Ricardo]

It's just a horrible capitalist ploy the same as getting people to buy deodorant, tooth paste and soap. Why can't everyone be natural?

Ah, but you can persuade consumers to pay more, for the same old product as before !

[Stephen Cleary]

Westerners are always bashing Thais and their obsession for fair skin.

Take a close look in the mirror, us Westerners are also infatuated by skin colour. Just as Thai women are splashing on their whitening lotion, Western tourists are lazed on a beach hoping for dark skin - even crazier than the Thais in that they are risking their lives with the possibility of skin cancer.

Just as 'fair= well-off' in Thailand, 'tanned = well-off' in much of the western world. Having tanned skin during the western winters is just 'ego', showing off to others that you have had the money to go on vacation to an exotic country. You haven't had to endure work for a couple of weeks.

So, before anyone continues to take the pish out of Thais, take a look in the mirror and take the pish out of the general farang mentality first.

[Whatever]

I wouldn't equate tanned skin with being weathly in western society; holidays ain't that expensive nowadays, especially with low cost flights. Also more workers get paid holiday so it's not a sign that you can afford to have time off. And then there's the Spanish, Italians, Greeks etc that are already olive skinned and also tanning salons. No, to Western women being tanned is all about making themselves more attractive and goes hand in hand with doing their hair, make up dressing in nice clothes etc. If I see a nice tanned woman standing next to a pastie looking white one I know who I'd go for. It also makes women look more healthy rather than ill.

As for the Thais white envy, I'd say firstly it was the "not wanting to look like a poor farmer" but also to do with looking like a fareng. Also its more to do with looking Japanese rather than Chinese. Most poor Thai people's only contact with European, US and Japanese is seeing them spend sh!t loads of money on whatever they like clothes, food entertainmenta and that equals sucess (and not that we live in a b'stard country where the sun never comes out but have a good exchange rate).

I think that alot of the men that come to Thailand looking for women do it because they find their tanned and olive skin attractive. I wonder if things will tern full circle and Thais will start loving their tanned skin because farengs do and to be fareng is to be sucessful.

I wonder if most fareng were tanned whether the Thai people would be so bothered about being white?

PS My Thai wife now sits in the isaan sun tanning herself (not for too long admittadly) because she thinks it makes her more look attractive in the UK - Go figure

[Whatever]

I geuss what I'm trying to say is:

Westerner tan their skin to make themselves look more attractive

Thais try to lightern their skin to make themselves look more sucessful

In My Opinion

[Travel2003]

I used to sail with Filipino crew. When they were working on deck all you could see were their eyes. Everything else was covered up and this was in the Arabian Gulf in the hot season.

They still do.

I can confirm that.

As soon as the sun is up, they cover themselves.

[Whatever]

Maybe they're really worried and highly educated about the pitfalls of skin cancer.

Or it could be that they don't want second degree burns and they can't afford suntan lotion.

I'd go for factor 40 if I was working on a boat in the sun all day. Mind you I am fair skinned

Edited January 9, 2008 by Whatever

[Prakanong]

I look forward to your views on this poll.

Why?

It's been debated time and time again.

Dark skin = Field worker.

Light skin = Office worker.

Unfortunately in the real world that doesn't always work, my daughter is very dark skinned and she hasn't set foot in a paddy field ever..... it's a genetic thing..... she's only seven years old and the most gorgeous child I have ever seen.

I managed to lose my skin colour prejudices a long time ago (if I ever had any) ...... Thailand has a long way to go.

Null vote - pointless.

Yes, some of the girls in our office have darker skin, sunbathe a little when on holiday, are oversea's educated and as I say to my Aussie pal, "The only paddy fields these lot of ever seen has been from the aeroplane window".

Its an old prejudice but still alive and well all over Asia and not just Thailand

[naka]

Many of the 'whitening' creams do not have any chemical effect on the skin, they are in truth 'reflective emmulsions', the quality of which varies from the top end Estee Lauder et al, down to something which I guess contains reflective road paint.

This explains why many a Farang goes home telling his friends of his happy holiday memories from Thailand and how he was surrounded by beautiful Thai women.... but when he gets the photos out, the beauties look more like a nest of Barn Owls - Their highly reflective face paint bouncing the camera flash back to the lense leaving blank, flat white faces with only dark spots for eyes, nostrils and a splash of red lipstick for a mouth.

Very observant GH

Naka

[Huey]

Westerners are always bashing Thais and their obsession for fair skin.

Take a close look in the mirror, us Westerners are also infatuated by skin colour. Just as Thai women are splashing on their whitening lotion, Western tourists are lazed on a beach hoping for dark skin - even crazier than the Thais in that they are risking their lives with the possibility of skin cancer.

Just as 'fair= well-off' in Thailand, 'tanned = well-off' in much of the western world. Having tanned skin during the western winters is just 'ego', showing off to others that you have had the money to go on vacation to an exotic country. You haven't had to endure work for a couple of weeks.

So, before anyone continues to take the pish out of Thais, take a look in the mirror and take the pish out of the general farang mentality first.

Ok I'll "Take the pish" out of Thais, I'm western (American) and Black. It was VERY common for my people to have this same moronic, self loathing, mentality around the pre 50's 60's civil rights days. Then the "Black is beautiful" empowerment movement came in around the 60-70's and we clued up and generally LOVE our color. I for one would never want to be a shade lighter than what I am. And my Thai/chineese wife is kinda fair and likes to Tan. Not all Thai's are so bigoted and stupid as to want to be white, but sadly too many then what should be.

Edited January 11, 2008 by Huey

[astral]

Having white skin is seen as a sign of beauty by Thai women.

Heaven knows why.

If I had wanted a white wife I would have married in my own country.

Whether they should do it is a personal choice, and not for us men to dictate.

[Heng]

All I know is that I'm thankful for those skin cream dividends 'they' discreetly wire to all of us Thai Chinese.

[pampal]

People will always chase beauty, no more how fleeting it is.

But each to their own.

If they want to tan or avoid the sun, ultimately it's their decision.

[WeeGB]

I think since Roman times (Cleopatra bathing in asses milk), the fairer sex have fallen for every claim made about various creams and lotions. Watch the adverts on TV, it's shampoo vs shampoo, this cream vs that cream. Most women I've known, of all races and skin tones, can happily spend hours in the bathroom messing about. I suppose, in the end it's for our benefit. If dark skinned ladies want to be white and vice versa, then it's up to them, personally I don't care, as long as tea's on t'table when ah gets home.

Incidentally, do other members have wives/ girlfriends that will carry heavy items of shopping home to save a few baht, then go out and spend goodness knows what on these female cosmetic creams? No, I've never understood it either!

Bless 'em all.