Is it true that brown skin and hair - care regimens should just reverse all the prescriptions for white skin? Is gel better than foaming cleanser for shaving? Will a higher SPF keep your skin from tanning? Should you exfoliate or peel? Is it possible to get really clean without soap? How far does diet impact skin quality? Can moisturisers make your acne worse? Is brown skin more prone to sensitivity and pigmentation? Is there anything you can do about the circles or bags under your eyes? Shaving or waxing: what's better? What can you do about your oily scalp? Is it true that brown skin ages slowly? Can you slow down the ageing further?

Sharad P. Paul, internationally renowned, award-winning cutaneous oncologist and skin surgeon, found in the course of his research that brown skin is not the same as white skin. But the multibillion-dollar cosmetics industry is also calibrated towards the care of white skin. It is no wonder then that the Caucasian image is sold as the beauty ideal. Paul's research, fuelled by his passion for Dermocracy

- as he calls it - proved that not all of these regimens worked for brown skin, and some of them were actually harmful. He also found that Indians were by and large (incorrectly) recycling the beauty advice that flows in from the West. Dermocracy distils his key findings on caring for brown skin, and is a serious attempt to realign ideas surrounding skincare practice. It is, equally, a handy and easy guide to great skin. Essential reading for brown-skinned people everywhere.