You look like a cow. Is it contagious?
You really can t go out looking like that. Ah, like Michael Jackson.
Woohoo.
They knew I was going to get this one. You look like a cow.
So my nickname at school... Oh you got this?
Cow hands. Cow and panda, because it was around my eyes.
Yes panda eyes, I have panda eyes. Zebra.
I ve had Zebra. You look like a Zebra.
Someone was like, Oh the ape is washing off.
Ooh. Is it contagious?
I say yes mate. Do you?
I say yes, start dancing, asking for hugs, asking for kisses and all sorts mate. Come
on. I hold on the handlebar on the bus, on the
train, people look at your hands and be like urgh .
I find that when people stare and walk off I get annoyed, because then that was a lack
of an opportunity for me to tell them what it is.
I get like a bit worried around summer because, it s like on my legs and my feet and that's
when you wear like & Sandals and stuff.
Sandals and stuff like that and people stare as if you ve got some kind of like &
Rabies or something. Yeah.
If you want to come up and ask my questions, mine would be &
Excuse me, what s happened to your face? And I would be like, Move, move.
Move. You re more like to catch a cold from me then
to even catch a tiny tiny bit of vitiligo. You re more likely to catch feelings.
Exactly.
Oh my God, what happened to you! Basically, my girlfriend only really dates
white guys. So I just kind of started fading away, just a little bit.
No it s not because of an acid attack, no it s not because I got burned really badly,
It s just because I was born with vitiligo. I ve had, Have you washed in bleach?
Sometimes it s tiring, I don t want to be the teacher everyday like, I already have
a visual difference, I already live the life that everybody else lives, have to go to work,
you know, the stresses of life and then on top of that. Sometimes I m just like this
is what it is, you can google it. Vitiligo, V-I-T-I-L-I-G-O. Like please, Google it.
Does it wash off in the shower? No it doesn t wash off in the shower and the
reason is, is because it s skin. It belongs to me.
Mate, I used to wish it did. Oh did someone throw mud at you, because you
skin is a �bit dirty. The thing is, you become cool with it because
it s literally your body. It does not wash off and it s not even unfortunate,
I m glad it doesn t. Yeah exactly. �
Because if it did, I d be like, Come back, come back to me.
Why don t you just bleach it all? If I was to lose all of my pigment, I d feel
like I m losing my identity as a black woman. �
Well no. Otherwise I d be all white, I d look like a, some sort of,
Snowman. Polar bear Morgan Freeman. I think I d look
like. Oh wow. Ok.
I actually went through a phase of using skin lightening creams. Because I thought it would
fade my darker patches into my whiter skin. Imagine if you like get chemical burns, like
you ve done that and then, you ve then got irreplaceable damage. �
And it really burns your skin, you can feel it eating away at your skin, and then I was
like hello no, I m not doing this anymore, this is not right.
It s not natural man. I m fabulous, ok.
You are fabulous. So that all the colour of the rainbow that
I am, I am just it. You re trying to change yourself, to make
yourself more acceptable, I think you re going down the wrong alley you know. And I think
the sooner that, we start to embrace. ��
Exactly. Exactly.
So is it everywhere? God, I d make you blush if I told you it was
everywhere. Yeah as if we need another reason for creepy
men to hit on us. I grew up with it on my hands, my feet, my
knees and I always said to myself Not my face, not my face. And now it s started to develop
quite rapidly on my face as well. I ve got some on my hips and I think its dope.
Yes it s in my private areas, because I know you want to know.
You can t go out looking like that! Sorry this is how I look so I m going to have
to. Ooh, that was so quick.
You really shouldn t wear that you know. Don t you think you should put a bit of make-up
on? It shows too much of that thing.
What, am I meant to be putting like foundation on my feet now?
When I first got vitiligo, I tried to cover my hands with foundation. It was miff. Because
everything I touched, it left! Just leaving marks.
And when I have worn makeup I don t feel like myself, I actually feel like a clown I m not
going to lie, it take a lot of coverage to cover up vitiligo.
So I used to cover up my vitiligo and i still do on occasions you know, because sometimes
I don t want it on full view. Or like my knees, I just got to powder my
knees guys before I go!
That s such a shame, because you could be so good looking.
Roll your eyes moment. Hey hold the phone! Hold the phone. Don t
even speak. Just look. I know, can you see us?
Yeah I used to literally wake up and be like, Oh man, why me? Like I just want to be like
other people. There s always going to be someone in the
world who doesn t think i m beautiful, that s fine, I m not here for everyone, I m here
for that one that thinks I m fabulous, that's myself. �
People say to me like, I didn t even notice it.
Oh no, that s bullshit, I m sorry. Exactly.
That s like being like, Oh I don t see colour. Come on dude, like rah! Alright I could be
so good-looking, but I m fantastically good looking, it s peak.
As in, it s another thing that s added, that you ve had to go through, and you ve come
out the other side, and you feel & Great.
Great, it s like, yeah I m a bomb ass bitch, because I ve got vitiligo.