Jasroop Singh is among the torchbearers for vitiligo acceptance movement in the South Asian community

Jasroop’s transformation from a shy, hesitant teenager crippled with poor body-image to a bold and beautiful vitiligo model is the testimony of her incredible life journey so far.

The conventional beauty standards are all about the outer appearance and unblemished, fair skin is among the topmost requirements to adjudge someone beautiful and attractive. In some parts of the world, including South Asia, being fair and flawless is related to being beautiful.

It’s disheartening to see that how the skin appearance dominates every other parameter to define a person’s personality and worth.  Some people just can’t look beyond the skin and appreciate the person for who they are as a whole.

People like Jasroop Singh prove that skin is just the outer layer and true beauty is determined by what’s inside. She has risen above the social stigma of ‘flawed’ skin and now wears her skin like shining armor, setting an example for everyone to rise above the superficial standards.

Jasroop has had her share of hardships and social abuse

Raised in the UK, Jasroop developed vitiligo at the tender age of 4 and she has had her own share of emotional stress and anxiety just like anyone else with vitiligo on the visible body parts.

Kids at the school would make fun of her just because she looked different. Whenever she would visit any public place or social gathering with elderly South Asian women in the audience, she would notice their awkward stares and weird looks interpreting that something is extremely wrong with her appearance. Sometimes they would start whispering to each other as they stare at her.

On a few occasions, someone among those aunties would walk up to her mother and out rightly say things like, ‘oh she is so young and she had her whole life ahead of her’ as if having vitiligo has ruined her life. Such an insensitive comment would leave her completely heartbroken, to say the least.

These distasteful experiences had a deep impact on the young Jasroop’s subconscious mind and she gradually developed a poor body image.

She started concealing the spots with makeup and clothes to avoid the stares and comments.

Daily encounter of social stigma for a condition you have no control over was so overwhelming for her as well as her parents.

Did her family try enough to get her a cure?

Vitiligo is a chronic autoimmune skin condition that causes loss of skin pigment in the form of patches. It is not contagious or painful, but it has no known cure either.

So, when a child got diagnosed with it at such a young age, it’s obvious for the parents to try everything they can hoping to stop the further progression or reverse the skin de-pigmentation.

It started a long, frustrating journey for the young Jasroop and her family to get it cured.

There is a belief that if vitiligo is diagnosed at an early stage, it can be kept under control and even the patches can go away with proper treatment. But, this ‘theory’ didn’t work for Jasroop.

Having roots in India, her family tried Ayurveda and Indian herbal treatments as well in the addition to the conventional medical treatment. She recalls that in childhood, most of her trips to India would get ‘wasted’ in travelling here and there to get medicines and treatments.

My family didn’t leave any stone unturned to get me rid of vitiligo. For many years, I used to think that I am the only one who tried so much and all went in vain. But, later after getting in contact with many other people with this skin condition, I realized that almost every one of us spends an enormous amount of time, effort and money in getting back the ‘normal’ skin which is quite an unrealistic goal to be honest.

It was not only frustrating but also emotionally burdening for her, because if you are taking a skin treatment, it means you believe that your skin is imperfect and you need to fix it.

Taking treatments for a prolonged period of time with almost no long term success was an everyday nightmare because every time she would take a pill or apply some cream on the skin, it’s a reminder that her skin is not good enough.

After trying all sorts of treatments for nearly eight years, she decided to stop taking any more medicines because her skin didn’t improve a bit and her mental stability was all over the place.

Her family supported her decision because they also realized that it is causing more harm than good.

So it was a consensual decision to let the things take their natural course. If vitiligo spreads further, let it be.

To be honest, there is nothing to heal in the first place. It is just how your skin looks and it is high time that we normalize that.

From there on, she finally decided to embark on a new journey to embrace her true self.

Reclaiming her freedom from the shackles of self imposed restrictions

Jasroop decided to give up on this constant combat of matching up to the beauty standards and looking ‘acceptable’ to the society.

After years of hesitation and covering up, it was not easy to accept and embrace her natural skin as it is. But, she was determined to break the shackles of self imposed restrictions and experience the true freedom.

One fine day, when going out with her family, she finally gathered up the courage to wear a pair of sleeveless top and shorts. It was such a liberating experience and she felt so light and good.

Being your true self and being happy about it feels extremely good and peaceful and Jasroop could finally feel what she has been missing out on all these years. She finally decided to not pay any heed to the negative comments and was ready to feel confident in her own skin.

I was like why did I hid behind layers of makeup and clothes all these years?

Choosing modeling as a bold career option

2020 was a turbulent year for all of us due to Covid-19. But Jasroop decided to make a difference and it was the first lockdown of 2020 when she first decided to give modeling a fair shot. Growing up, her cousins would always tell her that she would make an amazing model, but Jasroop never took it seriously. She never considered modeling as a career option because she disliked her skin.

Now that she was quite comfortable in showing her spots, she finally decided to try her luck in modeling.

Her first modeling shoot was for an Indian brand and thereafter, she got signed to a modeling agency for regular work.

Opportunities started to flood in since then.

She has worked with Photo Vogue Italia and she is also renowned to be the first model with Vitiligo, to shoot for one of the leading South Asian wedding magazines in the U.K, named Khush Magazine.

Jasroop is in this industry, not just because she loves it, but also to raise awareness among people.

After years of feeling ashamed and covering up, I have finally learnt to wear my skin with pride and enjoy all the attention I receive. So, as I want to celebrate my unique beauty, there is no better career path than modeling to do so. But, I am very clear here that my desire to spread awareness has led me to modeling and not the other way round. So, doing my bit to normalize vitiligo and other skin conditions will always remain the core of my modeling journey.

Family support has been the key throughout her journey

She says that none of this could have been possible without the support of her family. Had it not been for them, she would have never developed the confidence to love herself in the first place. Jasroop now believes that the vitiligo stains on her skin are the souvenirs of the battles that she has fought, some against the opinions of people that she never asked for and some against those awkward stares that she used to get. She won it all and her family is super proud of her for that.

Reconnecting to her Punjabi roots as a Vitiligo advocate

Jasroop is a proud British Indian Sikh woman with roots in Indian Punjab. She has been featured in the music video for the Punjabi song ‘Nadaan Jehi Aas’ (innocent naïve hope) sung by the famous Sufi singer Satinder Sartaaj, filmed at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Jasroop Singh (@jasroop.singhx)

In this video song, it has been shown that Jasroop is initially hesitant to appear in public owing to her patchy skin. Throughout the song, the singer Satinder Sartaaj tries to explain to her that she is uniquely beautiful and if she can recognize and appreciate her inner beauty, world will eventually embrace her outer beauty.

This beautiful song and music video helps create vitiligo awareness in the Punjabi speaking community across the world and it is supported by The Vitiligo Society, the UK.

Jasroop’s wise words for everyone

Jasroop believes that everyone is beautiful and enough in his/her own skin.

It has taken more than a few years for Jasroop to take complete control of her life as she no more allows others to impose their opinion on her about her appearance.

Now, she wishes others with a skin condition to develop the same kind of attitude and become in charge of their lives.

The opinion of others should not bother you, the only thing that matters is- how you feel about yourself. If you feel you are beautiful, you are.