I’ve been using sunblock on my face since around age 11 in an attempt to a) prevent too much tanning and of course burning and b) prevent premature aging. Granted, I was never a white-skinned Asian to begin with given that my mom is part Vietnamese, giving me more of an olive-tan natural hue than a white hue. But I also never wanted to be white-skinned, either. In America, people are obsessed with tanning; it’s a compliment when someone tells another that, “You look tan!” Tanned skin is healthy skin here, which is glowing. White skin is perceived as ghost-like and unhealthy. These people are often called “pasty.”

It’s so amusing how different it is in Asia every time I go, how white skin is considered the holy grail. Women carry parasols to block out the harmful UV rays and oftentimes in China would wear loose long-sleeved shirts to protect their precious skin. In Korea, I’ve noticed women applying white powder on their faces from their little compacts. If you go into cosmetic and skincare stores, the foundation and compact shades rarely get any darker than my own skin tone. I overheard someone, a white American woman on our DMZ tour, say that she really wanted to buy a cushion compact, but at all the stores she visited in Myeongdong, the shades were all very light in their limited range; None were as dark as her own skin (she was medium-toned, hardly dark at all).

Several times when I walked into cosmetics stores, the assistants assumed I was interested in whitening products. Each time they asked this of me, I smiled and politely said no, I’m not interested in whitening. I don’t even think my skin is capable of turning lighter, even if I stayed out of the sun 365 days a year!

Another funny thing: on sunscreen bottles in Seoul, the label oftentimes advises that you should stay out of the sun as much as possible even after application. No sunscreen bottle here in the U.S. says that.