Want to Take Better Care of Your Skin? Check Out this Melanin-Rich Mended Murals Initiative with Vaseline
Written by Colin Stutz on March 22, 2024
As soon as you walk out of your house, there’s often a persistent question—especially during cooler temperatures—: Did you put on enough lotion so you’re not ashy? Did you apply lotion to your elbows, kneecaps and whole body in general?
Call it what you want, but we have been lotioning our bodies for years. Vaseline is a brand that everyone, including their mother, grandmother and even aunties, knows and has used. Let’s call it our best friend that we can always depend on to moisturize melanin skin.
This past weekend, I went to Austin, Texas with Vaseline to learn about their partnership with Black Future House and its launch of the Mended Murals initiative. It gives resources and donates to our community to take better care of our skin.
Murals are an art form that helps bring communities together. With the help of this initiative, Vaseline partnered with Baltimore-based muralist Ernest Shaw Jr. to help bring these pieces to life in a new way with their Mended Murals Campaign. In 2022, the brand debuted the See My Skin initiative to help melanin patients connect and learn about their skin concerns. They further backed this cause by donating $250,000 to fund and support local health clinics where murals are restored. These clinics provide accessible health care while also helping to restore murals in local communities. Currently, the murals can be seen in Baltimore, Maryland, Hartford, Connecticut and Brooklyn, New York.
One thing about us is that we love the skin we’re in and will always make sure to take care of it. Recently, Vaseline also dropped the Radiant X Collection, which helps restore elements of richness and luster to our skin. The collection includes hand lotion, body lotion, body butter, and body oil, with strong ingredients like coconut oil, peptides, vitamins E and C along with niacinamide to leave a natural finish.
The initiative was introduced during a panel discussing skin health in the Black community moderated by Elaine Welteroth, former editor-in-chief and multihyphenate author, journalist and host. Panelists included diverse voices: Shaw, Dr. Adewole “Ade” Adamson, M.D., MPP, a dermatologist and assistant professor at the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Texas at Austin; Tiffany Yizar, Senior Director of Research & Development and Beauty & Wellness North America and Head of Multicultural Technical Center at Unilever and Kevin Tolson, Head of North America Strategy and Chief of Staff, Personal Care at Unilever.
During the panel, each expert shared their expertise on the mission behind the initiative and spoke on the lack of Black dermatologists in the dermatology industry. According to the National Library of Medicine, only a staggering 13% of dermatologists in the United States are Black. Historically, the dermatology field did not prioritize an education centered on melanin-rich skin. As a result, there’s a lack of educational content that reflects our skin tones, which means our demographic lack access within their geography to dermatologists who’ve been educated on skin color. In an effort to shift this experience, Shaw revealed that patients and others can now walk away with tangible resources on how to care for their skin through the See My Skin site.
When visiting See My Skin, it’s clear that it is truly a “for us, by us” platform with opportunities to connect with dermatologists of color and dermatologists who carry expertise in skin of color with access to melanin-rich skin education. The platform has a visual for dermatologists and clinicians to use in their practice to assess and see different skin care concerns. Fortunately, this is accessible to the greater public, too. With the help of a smartphone, my fellow attendees and I were shown that we could scan a QR code or visit seemyskin.com, to learn on our own. There’s also the opportunity for patients to upload images so that a dermatologist can identify a skin concern on your face or body.
It is hard to advocate for better opportunities when you don’t see yourself represented in the doctor’s office or even in the murals around their patient waiting room walls. Thankfully, Vaseline’s innovative approach is changing the game for us all. Patients can prepare for their first dermatologist appointment with a guide that outlines how to approach the meeting, what questions to ask and what to expect. This moment was a reminder that representation really does matter, whether it be artwork or skincare.
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