Why Supporting Black-Owned Beauty Brands is So Important
Amidst the incredible surge of attention the Black Lives Matter movement has amassed, now more than ever it is essential to support Black-owned businesses. All over the internet you can find lists upon lists of Black-owned restaurants, shops, start-ups, personal brands, and more. If you support the movement, people say, put your money where your mouth is: show your support with cold, hard cash. So, you might be asking yourself, why? What does supporting Black-owned businesses do, and why is it so important? Below is a look into how supporting Black beauty brands can make a difference.
Like many things, it’s helpful to start with the history of the beauty industry to understand why Black people deserve support. For years, the makeup industry has ignored Black women with products neither designed for nor marketed toward people of color. Foundation and concealer shades often never come close to matching those with darker skin, and products like eye shadow or lipstick are often not pigmented enough to show up on darker skin. Additionally, makeup and hair artists are rarely trained on how to work on those with darker complexions or textured hair. This exclusion not only prevents Black women from access to products they may need or desire in order to foster confidence, but it also sends a clear message about America’s ideal form of beauty. What does a young, Black girl make of the fact that she looks nothing like any of the faces in beauty magazines, or those hailed as beautiful on television?
Thankfully, important steps have been taken to combat this whitewashing of the beauty industry in the past few years. Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty line lead the way on this path with over 40 different shades of foundation, which has now become somewhat of a norm for other foundation lines. But more work needs to be done. This inclusion need not be trendy but a conscious, ongoing process. That’s where you come in. Supporting Black-owned makeup and beauty brands can help make up for this long-term exclusion of women of color in the beauty industry. Giving Black women the recognition they deserve in one the fastest growing industries in the world is one of the many ways we can keep the momentum going on the Black Lives Matter movement. Whether that be by buying from Black-owned brands, showing support to brands that make a purposeful inclusive effort, or speaking out against those who don’t, the inclusion of Black people in the beauty industry has the power to create a domino effect on how society envisions ideal beauty.
Report: Grace Carlos
At the rise of Covid-19 many of us first questioned the timeline of fashion week and would we see the regular calendar continue - the question weighed over many of us for months! It was refreshing to see design houses and designers across the globe take advantage of the uncertainty and plow into production mode - thus my interest in Jerri Reid New York - The Black Designer based in Brooklyn New York wow’d instagram with his latest collection paying homage to the Black Is King film which debuted earlier this year in July. I was taken aback at quick of a turn round the young designer produced and released his well crafted designs reflecting some of the films most memorable moments.