I'm a white girl who needs to make my skin look black for a costume...bronzer?

Question

So i have this party with my choir saturday and every section got a different musical to dress up as. I got hairspray and i was thinking that since there are black and white people in the musical, but no black people in my section, i should be black somehow. My friend said she had some stage makeup bronzer stuff that might work.

So could a bronzer work? it would be on my face, arms, legs etc...but i also dont want it coming off on my clothes or anything i touch. If not bronzer do you know anything that would work?

Answer 1

maybe a spray tan? dont go to a tanning salon., you might get skin cancer. maybe a lotion? i think a bronzer could work if u give it a few weeks

Answer 2

I think your intentions are good, but the idea is problematic at best.

The fact that there are no African-Americans in your group is a directorial issue, not a performer's problem. It may seem like an oversight considering the themes in Hairspray. However, your director made the decisions for a reason and with the people available.

I feel pretty confident in saying that using makeup to appear as another ethnicity would actually DETRACT from your piece rather than enhance it.

I would encourage you to find an alternative costuming and makeup plan. Best of luck.

Answer 3

Honestly? That's about the worst "costume" idea you could have come up with. Are you at all familiar with the history of blackface? Do a little research on it (start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackface ). Watch Spike Lee's 2000 movie "Bamboozled." Even though you don't intend it to be, it *will* come across as derogatory and offensive, and not just to black people. About two years ago a student at the college I was going to at the time appeared on the campus TV station in blackface. He intended it as a joke about one specific person (who also hosted a show on the university TV station, and who did get the intended joke). However, it was taken by the vast majority of the students and by the faculty, staff, and school administrators as offensive, inappropriate, and really having just gone too far. This one small incident, caused by *one* young man not thinking about this first, almost got him expelled and almost got the TV station shut down permanently.

The long and short of it? DO NOT DO IT.

Answer 4

I definitely do not think that's a good idea. You'll probably end up offending some people to a point that it'll be awkward...Maybe looking for a different character would be best...

Answer 5

do u really want to be beat about the face and neck? but i know this question is a joke so i will go along with it.

buy dark cheapo liquid foundation from walmart. and wear gloves (brown gloves) for your hands.

good luck with that.

Answer 6

this is not a good idea. in today's politically correctness society, you will be considered to be offensive to the black students. it could be a huge disaster resulting in your suspension from school.