Tina Sohrab, 30, became blind overnight as a teenager. But that doesn’t stop her from going her own way: today she produces elaborate make-up tutorials.
Tina Sohrab was born with the retinal disease “retinitis pigmentosa”. The illness struck her late and very suddenly: at the age of 15, she lost her eyesight overnight. Today, the 30-year-old helps visually impaired people cope with their lives. With her company “Blind and Beauty” she creates elaborate make-up tutorials and advocates for inclusion in the beauty industry.
BRIGITTE: You became blind at the age of 15 and still chose a visual profession. How did that happen?
Tina Sohrab: The sighted society cannot imagine why a blind or visually impaired person would bother to apply makeup even though they cannot see themselves. But for me, make-up is not just something visual, it also changes your appearance: you become more self-confident and develop a feeling of strength, so that you have a completely different standing.
Is that why makeup is so important to you?
Make-up also helps other people not only perceive me as blind, but also see me: This is a completely normal young woman who values her appearance, who likes to dress herself up and wants to feel beautiful – unlike the cliché of the blind woman as a gray mouse.
Did you have a passion for make-up and beauty even before you went blind?
I went blind when I was a teenager and of course I always had friends who could see. So the whole beauty topic didn’t pass me by. After I became blind, I looked for a way to implement this for myself.
And how did you find it?
At the beginning I had a trainer who was supposed to show me how to get around in everyday life. I asked her for tricks on how to do makeup and she showed me how to apply makeup just by touching it with my hands. That was the starting signal for me. I tried it out, and after getting a lot of positive feedback, I kept experimenting. I found it a shame that there were no places where I could get help.
And that’s how you came up with the idea for your make-up tutorials?
Exactly. At some point I had the idea of developing blind-friendly tutorials myself. To do this, I first had to acquire professional know-how. So I decided to train as a make-up artist at the “Akademie Deutsche POP”.. There I received 1:1 coaching that solidified my decision and gave me important tools for my career.
Today you produce make-up tutorials for social media with your company “Blind and Beauty”. Who exactly do you do this for?
Primarily for visually impaired people. I want to give them the opportunity to put on makeup just like everyone else. And I want to show the sighted society that visually impaired and blind women also want to feel beautiful and can look after themselves.
But visually impaired women cannot watch your videos.
For visually impaired people the spectrum is quite large. There are many who still have good vision and can follow the video material visually. But I also describe everything very precisely so that each individual step is easy to follow. Blind women benefit from my very detailed auditory descriptions.
How does applying make-up work if you are blind – are there any special aids or products?
No, but the hands play an incredibly big role. They gave me a basic understanding of my face. I feel exactly where my cheekbones are, or where the crease starts and ends, so I know what’s happening on my face when I apply product. But today I work with brushes or spatulas like everyone else.
How does this work?
This was a learning process that I went through during my training. For example, there I learned how to run your finger along the contours of your lips while applying lipstick with the other hand.
How do you recognize colors and how do you put them together?
I have the great advantage that I wasn’t always blind and have an idea of what colors look like. And when I buy new products, like an eyeshadow palette, I have them described to me. With the large number of products that I have to deal with because of my job, I write down which tones are in which compartment in which row. That’s what I’m basing myself on.
And how do you know when a look is perfect?
I’ve developed a feeling for it. I now know how often I have to go into the paint with the brush and how to dab it off. There is a lot of practice and routine behind it. When I put on make-up for everyday life, no one has to look at it anymore, and I no longer ask my husband if there is any leftover mascara or lipstick left. Professionally, things look a little different. If we do our make-up in front of the camera, I’ll let someone look at it again.
On TikTok you show how to use your stove at home and find matching pairs of socks. What do you want to achieve with it?
Most people think that blind people cannot lead and shape their lives alone. But I’m the mother of a seven-year-old sighted son, I’m married, I work, cook, go shopping and clean like any other person. Most people can’t even imagine that, they think, she can’t see anything, how does that even work? It’s important to me to show that I don’t live in a crazy high-tech household with louder devices or a caregiver who does everything for me.
Is there anything you still want to achieve professionally?
Accessibility and inclusion in the beauty industry are very important to me – for example, the question of how to make products in drugstores or perfumeries accessible to visually impaired people. So that everyone can make their own decisions without anyone saying: That’s fine for you, that looks great. Everyone should have free choice and be able to make decisions for themselves – just like sighted people.
Do you already have an idea how this could work?
If a lipstick had a QR code on the packaging, the screen reader on your smartphone could read out to you what product it was. You would simply have to link things that already exist with the relevant technology. Overall, I would like to enable those affected to become more independent and independent. That they dare to make their own decisions and set a positive example in order to dispel all the prejudices and clichés about blind people. That is the most important thing for me.