Makeup can enhance your natural beauty and gives you a confidence boost, says Sonam Rajal

Sonam Rajal is a makeup educator, a vitiligo acceptance advocate and a women empowerment enthusiast of Indian origin from London.

She is a strong voice for accepting oneself as it is because imperfections make the person unique and beautiful.

As a social media influencer having a passion for makeup, she wishes to redefine the meaning of being beautiful.

Her mantra is to celebrate what you have instead of running behind exaggerated beauty standards.

For me, makeup is all about fun and creativity that allows me to express myself. I started using makeup to cover the spots on my face but now I wear it to be creative and feed good. It’s not a masking tool anymore because over the years, I have realized that I am beautiful and worthy both ways- with or without makeup.

The beginning of a long journey

Sonam got her first vitiligo patch under her eye when she was around 10 years old. It was a tiny spot that she even didn’t notice but her friend at the school pointed it out.

It grew slowly over the next couple of years until the age of 18 when it started spreading symmetrically to the different areas of her body in a bit aggressive manner.

The young Sonam was never bothered too much of the patches but her mother was really worried and she could not believe that her daughter has to live with a lifelong skin condition.

Her mother could certainly forecast the challenges ahead because vitiligo is a stigmatized skin condition in South Asia, including India and people with vitiligo are considered ‘less’ than others.

People would stare at her spots, whisper amongst themselves and feel sorry for her believing that she has a very bleak future ahead. Sometimes, those aunties would suggest home remedies and treatment ideas to her mother making her more concerned.

To save her mother from the embarrassment of people asking questions about her daughter’s skin condition, Sonam started using fake tan to cover the vitiligo spots.

It allowed a breathing space for Sonam as well because she was tired of the comments and the awkward stares that she used to get all the times.

It took her fair amount of time to become comfortable with her uneven skin tone and wear it with confidence.

She was not very confident in wearing a sleeveless top in public or donning a bikini set while on vacation. But over the years, she became more and more confident and had the courage to showcase herself, just the way she is.

Does makeup go against the spirit of body positivity?

Some people may find it contrary that Sonam claims to encourage body positivity and at the same time, she is high on makeup.

Well, it’s an extreme opinion to say that if you support body positivity, you have to part ways with makeup.

Both can go hand in hand because makeup is very much a personal choice of a person and wearing makeup does not mean that you are uncomfortable with your appearance.

Someone like Sonam who believes in and practices body positivity does not need makeup to feel beautiful because she has realized that she is inherently beautiful in her own ways.

Women in general love makeup and there is no harm in that.

So, Sonam is a vitiligo acceptance activist and at the same time, she is beauty and makeup enthusiast who she loves to explore different makeup styles and products and share her expertise with her fans.

I never felt bad about the vitiligo patches as such, but it was the people’s reaction and comments that made me use fake tan to avoid the stress and embarrassment. Gradually, as I grew older and become more assertive and confident, now I don’t bother too much about people’s opinions and do answer back in a polite but firm manner if someone pin points vitiligo as a weakness or show sympathy.

Sonam’s journey of embracing herself 

Vitiligo was never painful or uncomfortable on the physical level but she was insecure about her looks because of people’s behavior. So, she started experimenting with makeup from the young age of 16 as a vitiligo coverage strategy and it helped her face the outer world with confidence.

Eventually she developed a keen interest for beauty and the fashion industry and gets exposed to the body positivity movement that calls for accepting and embracing all bodies as beautiful irrespective of shape, size, skin condition and physical abilities.

She never disliked her skin; it was just the lack of self-love to take a stand of her unique appearance.

Taking inspiration from body positivity influencers, she finally decided to set herself free and do all those things that she always wanted to do such as flaunting her patchy skin on the social media and going out in a sleeveless or a revealing dress without bothering about public stares.

The emergence of unique models, including those with vitiligo, further propelled her to become open about her skin condition and embrace it as normal.

The good and not-so-good of social media

Social media played an important role in her progress as she got to meet and communicate with so many people with vitiligo from various parts of the world.

Before, she was hesitant to share her photos on the social media fearing negative comments because she was unsure about people’s response.

As she got to build her own small group of friends from the vitiligo community, she became quite comfortable with her appearance because having people in your life who can relate to your experiences can be a great confidence booster.

Now, she regularly shares her photos on the social media receiving encouragement and love from her friends and fans. There would be a few distasteful comments sometimes as well, but she ignores them for good.

But not always social media have a healthy environment.

People are often deceived by what they see on social media and start comparing their lives with others. For example, when a woman (or girl) sees the photoshopped pictures of movie actors, fitness models and celebrities on the social media so frequently, it can make her conscious of her looks and develop a subtle sense of poor body image.

The women with vitiligo are already struggling to accept their real self and such a comparison would add to their pain. That’s why she wants everyone to be mindful of social media’s negative influence.

She neutralizes this influence by following the other vitiligo queens and kings on the social media platforms and getting inspired from them.

The takeaway message

With unconditional self-love, she emerged out to be beautiful, inspiring everyone and winning their hearts.

Now, she calls everyone with vitiligo to fall in love with their authentic and unfiltered self because it is the ultimate key to lifelong happiness.

Beauty does fade away with time, but what stays is one’s true inner self and that is what matters at the end of the day.