Girl, 9, explains skin complexion, hair type in two-minute video
CEBU CITY, Philippines — She could have ran off to her room and cried when the nasty comments about her hair and skin color were thrown at her.
Instead, this nine-year-old girl from Bukidnon utilized social media to explain and defend her complexion and the advantages that comes with being “dirk”, er, dark brown.
Meet Xinel Ashley Paden, born to a Sudanese father and a Filipino mother, who is constantly teased by her classmates and friends because of her appearance.
In a video that ran for two minutes and 46 seconds, Xinel unknowingly shut down critics and educated them about the difference of black (itom) and dark brown.
She compared her skin with a pair of black pants.
“Look. My skin is dark brown. My skin is not black. This [pants] is black,” she tells her audience.
Xinel referred to her unknown audience as “guys,” an expression she learned from watching vlogs, according to her mother Ding.
In an interview with CDN Digital, Ding says Xinel recorded the video in the afternoon of September 4 when they were watching a TV show inside their bedroom.
Ding says her daughter borrowed her phone and recorded the video.
Ding says Xinel wanted to erase the video because she mispronounced the word “dark” and said “dirk.”
“But it was time for her to sleep so she forgot to delete it. [While she was asleep], I uploaded the video on my Facebook account because I was really amused about how she explained and defended herself,” says Ding.
The video garnered so much attention that as of September 7, 9:40 a.m., the video already reached 244,000 views, 9,500 shares, 7,800 reactions, and 327 comments.
In the video, Xinel defends herself with conviction.
She was not angry but she was definitely in the mood to educate people.
Xinel shares the advantages of having a dark brown complexion including the fact that dirt cannot be easily noticed with the skin color that she is in. Those with dark brown complexion like her can go on days without taking a bath or shower, she said.
Xinel says people often described her hair as curly.
But the Grade 4 pupil corrects them: “Kani kuno akong buhok guys, kulot daw ni. Dili man ni sya kulot kundi hastang kulota.”
(They said my hair is curly. But my hair is not curly, it’s very curly!)
She went on explaining the advantages of having her hair type.
“Kun mag-ulan, labi na kun naay bagyo diri sa CDO, dili sya basta basta moanhi sa akong anit. Mura ra syag dahon sa gabi, gatulo-tulo lang ba. Di sya moanhi sa pinaka-ilalom,” says Xinel, who goes to a school in Cagayan De Oro and goes home to Bukidnon in the weekends.
(When it rains, especially when there is typhoon here in CDO [Cagayan De Oro], my scalp doesn’t easily get wet. My hair is like taro leaves. Rain just drops on it but it doesn’t get wet. Rain cannot penetrate my scalp.)
Another hilarious advantage that Xinel shared pertains to pesky insects such as houseflies and lice .
“Dili na sila kagawas kay dili sila mabuhi sa akong buhok kay ma-heatstroke man sila!” she says.
(They have no way out when they’re stuck to my hair because they will be dead from heatstroke!)
Her funny and innocent explanation amused netizens.
One netizen, Leigh Buchorno, says, “You are beautiful no matter what your color is.”
Shareen Taytay affirmed Xinel’s beauty and wrote, “Kalingaw nimo Dai. Sige lang langga gwapa man sad kaayo ka. (You’re so funny Dear! It’s okay, you are very beautiful).”
She’s only nine years old but it looks like Xinel has fully embraced her skin color and her hair type.
How many of us can actually say the same thing?
Watch the full video here:
/ celr
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