- Holy (beep).
- What?
- Oh my God.
(light music)
- So today I took pictures so they could Photoshop me
into Latin American beauty standards.
What do I think about Latin American beauty standards?
I'll say one thing, it is very white.
It's as mayonnaise as it can get, okay?
I'm Latino, I grew in a Latino family.
Something that was taught to me,
they would tell me things like, (speaks in Spanish).
So these are things of saying
of you need to get with somebody
with more European features.
- I'm scared to have my imperfections zoomed in on,
but also this is a bigger conversation of,
"Why do I see them as imperfections?"
- Also a little bit scared
'cause I've finally gotten to a point
where I really love myself for who I am
and what I look like, and I don't wanna be horrified
by what is considered beautiful in other countries.
- I grew up in the Midwest, in Michigan,
in a very homogenous environment,
surrounded by a lot of white people.
It seemed like everything about me was just kind of wrong,
and I internalized a lot of that stuff.
From my hair, I used to have it relaxed,
for a long time, for 20+ years.
- Look around, you see more indigenous looking Latinos,
even black Latinos are not awfully showcased
in Latin American TV.
We see Telemundo, Univision, we don't see those
because for them, the beauty standards is more white,
blond hair, blue eyes.
- I hated my hair.
I just now, as an adult,
started growing my hair out for the first time.
- I, for one, definitely went through
a hair straightening period for many many years.
I wouldn't wanna get in a pool or get caught in the rain
'cause I was living a lie essentially.
- So I feel content and happy where I am now with myself,
but I'm hoping this doesn't backfire.
- I know I'm a beautiful human being.
I know I love my curls and I love the melanin in my skin,
but it's not always was the case.
It took years to get to that point,
so to deconstruct that is gonna be eye-opening.
- So I'm interested how this video's gonna go,
what they gonna do and how they gonna change us.
I love my skin, I love the way I look.
(speaks in Spanish)
(light music)
So today I'm gonna see the picture
on the beauty standards in Dominican Republic.
I'm excited to see it.
I don't know what to expect, but I'm definitely gonna,
you know what?
I know what to expect.
I kinda know.
Gonna open it up.
I already, oh my God.
I hate it.
I look like a damn zombie.
I look like a vampire.
Look like a vampire, a Dominican vampire.
It's horrible.
They gave me green eyes, they made me lighter.
Oh my God, my nose.
Look at that nose!
Oh hell nah.
They should've made my lips smaller.
Oh my God, it's hideous!
I look dead.
That is horrible!
I look like the undead.
I look like I died and came back.
They should've made my lips smaller.
Yup, they should've gave me blond hair
just like they gave me green eyes.
That's the beauty standard over there, yes.
That's not the beauty standard for me.
(speaks in Spanish)
- I'm looking at my before now.
This is me, this is what I look like.
Holy (beep).
Okay, so much to unpack here.
Off the bat, my skin's lighter.
We kinda knew this though.
My nose, I think, is a little skinnier.
I have long hair.
I have long, straight hair.
And I guess, as far as beauty standards go,
this seems right on with what I thought.
And in terms of the skin lightening, the longer hair,
the longer, straight hair too,
it doesn't look like it's natural at all.
I will say though,
this isn't triggering for me in any kind of way.
I was so nervous going into this,
'cause I was afraid this was gonna bring up
a whole bunch of stuff, you know?
Stuff that I thought that I dealt with that maybe I hadn't,
or just bring me back to a place
where I wasn't feeling good about myself.
But honestly, I think I look better.
That was something that I was insecure about
for a long time growing up though, was the size of my nose.
I've learned to embrace it now and love it.
And now seeing what it would look like,
I'm perfectly chill with the nose that I have right now.
- I have to be honest and say that I'm a little nervous,
a little terrified,
but I'm also, I also feel like I already know
what the beauty standards in Puerto Rico are,
and I'm definitely gonna have straight hair,
I'm definitely gonna have lighter skin
and I'm definitely gonna have lighter eyes.
That's, those are the beauty standards
that I've been aware of since my childhood.
Here we go.
Oh my God.
She is terrifying.
See, if I saw this person walking down the street,
I'd be like, "Oh yeah, she's beautiful."
But seeing myself Photoshopped, it is scary.
Bigger eyes, lighter eyes, straight hair, lighter skin.
My features are a little finer.
It's so weird because it is me but it totally isn't me.
I think my initial reaction was to laugh
and to be terrified when I saw my photo.
But the more I think about it,
the more upset it makes me,
and sad that these are the beauty standards
in our respective countries,
and it really just makes me say
(beep) beauty standards, honestly.
- I think the biggest thing
is that I'm going off my Mexican side,
and historically speaking, and what I've seen in the media,
has been something that does not look like me at all.
Either way, I love myself.
Curl game popping, melanin popping, it's all good.
All right, so let's see.
What?
Wow!
That is crazy.
I don't know why I feel offended.
First off, let's talk about the skin color.
I'm way lighter than I am originally.
My eyes are lighter, they totally changed my hair.
I have this Enrique Iglesias 'do going on.
Did they make my ears bigger?
They made my ears bigger.
I know I have baby ears but god damn.
The thing is, this looks like a real person.
This looks like someone I would see on the street.
And the thing is, I, from what I know of Mexico
and Mexican content and films and TV,
this makes all the sense in the world.
But it hurts to say that I'm, the standards aren't you.
This experience was necessary, I think,
to just reaffirm my motivation, reaffirm my self love
and reaffirm that I don't need these things.
Also reaffirms that we need to have more people
that don't look like one goddamn shade
out front and center to show that we make up everything.
(light music)
- [Announcer] Pero Like.