Tashana Sasha Ramdeholl from Guyana is an epitome of inspiration for everyone with vitiligo

Taking pride in covering her wide spread vitiligo spots with make up or clothing is not Tashana Sasha Ramdeholl’s style. This young beauty from Guyana proudly wears her white patchy skin because the occurrence of vitiligo has made no difference to her as a person.

So instead of surrendering to the society’s orthodox beauty standards, she has decided to propagate the idea that beauty comes in all shades (skin colors) and a woman with vitiligo is as beautiful and normal as any other woman.

The beginning 

It all started when she was 18, with a small white spot on her face. That spot soon grew bigger and more spots were seen all over her body gradually spreading. She now has patches of white skin covering her whole body including face, hands and legs.

Tashana wasn’t sure about the exact name and nature of her skin condition until her hairdresser noticed it because she was also dealing with vitiligo.

My hairdresser noticed a spot on my toe because the spots on face were covered with makeup. She told me confidently that its vitiligo and she is also having the same thing on her skin.

To confirm, she visited a dermatologist and finally, she was officially diagnosed with vitiligo.

She took treatment for some time, but stopped because it was not giving any results, also the complexity of the treatment was a big turn off as well.

It was such a brave and life-changing decision as she decided to embrace her skin as it is instead of chasing a cure. It was something unthinkable and surprising to the society as outer appearance is given so much importance and her patchy skin was making her look different.

Since then, she has been redefining the meaning of being beautiful and creating space for people with skin ‘flaws’ to feel confident and beautiful.

Daily challenges of living with vitiligo

Living with a chronic skin condition that affects a large area of the skin does have some consequences to deal with.

She loves the outdoors.

Even though she is adventurous and outgoing, she has to remain indoors. That’s a bit disheartening sometimes as she can’t remain under the sun for long. When travelling, she has to be extra cautious to avoid sunburn or other injuries to the skin.

I can’t tolerate the Sunrays for more than 15 minutes and I would feel burning sensation and sometimes, would leave blisters on the skin if exposed to the sunlight for long.

On the emotional front, her life is largely at peace as she rarely faces discrimination or indifferent behavior from people around.

Sometimes, small children would look at her with curious eyes, but that’s not in the bad taste. They just want to know that why her skin doesn’t have one complexion.

Also, she spends time researching and reading on the Internet about do’s and don’ts of living better with vitiligo.

Tashana is a proud and loud vitiligo acceptance advocate

She believes in walk the talk. Now that vitiligo has covered a large area of her skin, she does not camouflage the vitiligo spots anymore and wears them with confidence and grace.

 

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For Tashana, real beauty is skin deep and she doesn’t need any treatment or covering up strategy.

Tashana has realized that living with vitiligo can cause significant mental issues to a person such as poor body image and social hesitation. So, whenever she sees an opportunity to raise awareness, be it any event or social gathering, she would talk about the non-communicable nature of vitiligo to dispel the myths.

It’s important to spread the word that vitiligo does not curtail a person’s abilities and it makes sense to accept it than trying to cover or deny it.

With this positive outlook towards life, she has become a living inspiration to all of the girls out there, hiding behind their skin conditions, feeling insecure.

Having said that, she does have those moments of frustration when she would feel low in confidence and wish to have the ‘normal’ skin tone like everybody else.

Recently I attended a beauty pageant wearing a red gown and I became conscious of my appearance feeling sad that the skin patches are downgrading my personality and I just can’t do anything about them. I think no one is immune to such sudden mood swings especially when you are all those beautiful women with spotless skin to look at.

Being confident in her own skin

It took her a while to accept her skin condition and become open about it. She attracts a lot of attention wherever she goes owing to her dual skin color. Initially, it was a bit uncomfortable, but now she enjoys all the attention as it makes her feel special.

Now, she is happy and content with her life as she takes vitiligo as an ‘innocent’ part of her life that does not stop her from becoming a good person.

I don’t cover it up anymore because this is my true complexion and this is how I look. My skin color makes me the center of attention sometimes and there is no harm in that. The society should appreciate me for who I am inside than judging me for my skin. I have never stopped growing and living life on my terms and I plan to continue to do so. 

Spreading the message of accepting oneself

Ramdeholl owns a venture with the name ‘Sasha’s Beauty shop’ where someone can buy beauty, fashion and lifestyle products at an affordable price.

With this shop, she tries to inspire her customers to love and accept themselves as they are rather than masking their marks or spots with fancy make up products.

When customers, particularly young women, see Tashana vibrating with confidence unfazed by vitiligo spots, it motivates them to stop hiding behind make up and just love the skin they are in.

Make up is a wonderful tool of self expression and every woman love to explore make up products. The same goes for me. In fact, I am a certified makeup artist and nail technician. But to use make up product to camouflage your imperfections make no sense to me. Self love is the way to go.