#No Filter: Black Representation in the Beauty Industry

In recent years, diversity has become a much-talked-about topic in the beauty industry, with the global racial-justice movements of 2020 only amplifying the conversation. It is safe to say that for a very long time, the skin- and hair-care needs of Black women were simply an afterthought when it came to new product launches, ingredient innovation, shade inclusion, and PR choices. While we are having many difficult conversations within the industry, we also wanted to celebrate strides of inclusion, representation, and the growing visibility of black women, and black beauty, in the industry. 

Skin Deep 

If you’re a fan of fashion and beauty, it’s no surprise that Eurocentric beauty standards have been the dominant ideal in the US and beyond for centuries. In fact, the color white has long been associated with purity, and thus, discrimination on skin tone, and by that extension, race, has run rampant but unquestioned for several years. 

A key example that Alisha Wilkerson notes on the Skimm is that during slavery in the U.S., only lighter-skinned slaves were allowed to work in the home. 

 

“Fast forward, and this preference for light skin and white features has a long trail: In one 2016 study, Black women reported that an overwhelming preference for light skin still persists and affects the way they think of themselves and how they’re treated at work, school, and in relationships.” -Alisha Wilkerson, the Skimm.

In the beauty industry for much of the 20th century, Black women were mostly marketed to purchase skin-lightening creams. And as for their actual skin tone, most makeup brands didn’t have many shades for anyone darker than medium brown, which excludes a lot of potential consumers. Brands had various reasons (read: excuses) for this lack of representation: dark shades don’t sell, formulas for darker pigmentation cost more, their target demographic doesn’t buy darker shades, the list goes on. 

However, when the level of shade exclusion is so bad that Black models, including Naomi Campbell when she started, have to bring their own makeup to photo shoots, which usually is more than two shades to blend, while their white counterparts don’t, it’s clear that in the early 2010s, the beauty industry didn’t consider black beauty buyers. That’s why in 2017, when music icon and entrepreneur Rihanna launched Fenty Beauty with 40 shades of foundation, it showed how beauty can very much be inclusive. 

We had a GLOSSYBOX x Fenty Beauty Limited Edition collaboration in the UK last fall! Don’t forget to leave reviews on all GLOSSYBOXES you receive, so we can send you more of what you love in more territories! 

Loving Their Roots

Representation didn’t stop at makeup in the industry. Along with the rise and permanence of the natural hair movement, in which women and men of African descent are encouraged to embrace their natural afro-textured hair, the hair care industry faced a boom in self-made entrepreneurs, cleaner beauty, and inclusion.