Welcome to Skin Coloured, a collaborative, visual exploration of what it is to be non-white in a white culture. Please submit photos to skincoloured [at] googlemail [dot] com.
This entry was posted on August 3, 2008 at 11:49 pm and is filed under plaster.
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This was a problem in a play for which I worked backstage – the actress were perpetually needing bandaids for blisters, minor wounds, and sometimes for sticking on microphones, but these “neutral toned” ones could be seen a mile away on a dark-skinned actress. We did eventually find some bandages (can’t remember the brand name) that came in a dark brown, but not every store carries them.
Huh. I didn’t think they were supposed to be flesh-coloured, either. Those ones have always seemed pretty obtrusive to me no matter who was wearing them (although not as obtrusive as the catering-grade ones that are violently vivid shades of blue).
I think that’s acknowledged on the About of this blog, though. Flesh tones very rarely suit actual flesh, even pale flesh. But that bandage is definitely the shade of “flesh-colored” crayons, at least the ones I used in the 80s, and it is the shade of the “flesh-colored” slip under a black lace top that I own. It is not brown, gray, white, taupe, ecru, or any other neutral tone. And I think it’s worth asking why – why not white, like other first-aid bandages? Why not bright blue, if it’s going to be obstrusive anyway? Why pick putty-color if you must pick a color?
I’ve never really understood the bandage industry on this, as it really doesn’t match anyone’s skin tone, white or otherwise. I mean, when -I- wear one, I might as well wear a gigantic red sign around my neck that says “HI, I’M WEARING A BIG OL’ BAND-AID ON MY RIGHT ARM! HI!” and I’m mostly white. This is why I gave up on wearing the damn things all together and have invested in pirate bandages. Arr. I move that we change the standard band-aid (or plaster) color to match the Jolly Roger. It’s equally obnoxious, but about 50 times cooler.
An odd thing: I have here a box of Johnson and Johnson Band Aids that are a shade of tan/brown that’s darker than their usual sickly pale, and they do somewhat blend on some skin tones (more Native American, Indian or Hispanic shades than darker African tones). But oddly, the box doesn’t indicate what shade the bandages are. The picture on the front is of the pale peach color you usually find. Weird.
Maybe the darker-than-they-usually-manufacture shade was a fluke, because I would think it would be in their best interest to abandon the “flesh-colored” fallacy and just sell a range of tones, accurately indicated on the box.
skin coloured 
Spring said
Wow. I had no idea plasters were supposed to actually be flesh-colored. I’d always thought it was just a weird, neutral, tan default tone….
tanglethis said
This was a problem in a play for which I worked backstage – the actress were perpetually needing bandaids for blisters, minor wounds, and sometimes for sticking on microphones, but these “neutral toned” ones could be seen a mile away on a dark-skinned actress. We did eventually find some bandages (can’t remember the brand name) that came in a dark brown, but not every store carries them.
Sami said
Huh. I didn’t think they were supposed to be flesh-coloured, either. Those ones have always seemed pretty obtrusive to me no matter who was wearing them (although not as obtrusive as the catering-grade ones that are violently vivid shades of blue).
tanglethis said
I think that’s acknowledged on the About of this blog, though. Flesh tones very rarely suit actual flesh, even pale flesh. But that bandage is definitely the shade of “flesh-colored” crayons, at least the ones I used in the 80s, and it is the shade of the “flesh-colored” slip under a black lace top that I own. It is not brown, gray, white, taupe, ecru, or any other neutral tone. And I think it’s worth asking why – why not white, like other first-aid bandages? Why not bright blue, if it’s going to be obstrusive anyway? Why pick putty-color if you must pick a color?
Kristie said
I’ve never really understood the bandage industry on this, as it really doesn’t match anyone’s skin tone, white or otherwise. I mean, when -I- wear one, I might as well wear a gigantic red sign around my neck that says “HI, I’M WEARING A BIG OL’ BAND-AID ON MY RIGHT ARM! HI!” and I’m mostly white. This is why I gave up on wearing the damn things all together and have invested in pirate bandages. Arr. I move that we change the standard band-aid (or plaster) color to match the Jolly Roger. It’s equally obnoxious, but about 50 times cooler.
Kathryn NicDhàna said
Maybe we should all use duct tape.
An odd thing: I have here a box of Johnson and Johnson Band Aids that are a shade of tan/brown that’s darker than their usual sickly pale, and they do somewhat blend on some skin tones (more Native American, Indian or Hispanic shades than darker African tones). But oddly, the box doesn’t indicate what shade the bandages are. The picture on the front is of the pale peach color you usually find. Weird.
Maybe the darker-than-they-usually-manufacture shade was a fluke, because I would think it would be in their best interest to abandon the “flesh-colored” fallacy and just sell a range of tones, accurately indicated on the box.