Colorism-Skin Tone Discrimination In The Makeup Industry And Women Of Image

As stated above, African-American women have been subjected to measure themselves against white women. White women are viewed, in this society and since the beginning of the concept of race, as the epitome of beauty. Logically, African-American women attempt to emulate the white standard. This creates an inferiority complex, because the epitome of beauty is white woman, than any other race can be deemed as inferior; this deteriorates African-American women’s self-worth. To remedy worthlessness, many body modification techniques have been made to fully mimic white women in terms of beauty. This emulation still is being done and it is continuous, because of the psychological ‘white fantasization .

If a black woman had dark skin she would resemble a man, therefore making her ugly in society’s standards. This pressures black women to constantly be "compatible with the white female standard of beauty" (Ashe 580) in order to be socially accepted in society. Intuitively black women understood that in order to be considered desirable, the less black they had to look. This unfortunate perception of beauty stems from a long pattern of "sociohistorical racial injustices" (Bealer 312) towards darker skinned African Americans. Maria Racine states in her review that since slavery black people who approximated closer to whites were sexually sought after by black slave men and white plantation owners and were considered to live a somewhat "easy coexistence" because of their appearance (Racine 283). Since it’s start, colorism laid the pathway of racial prejudice towards dark skinned individuals. The result of treating dark African Americans as subhuman beings led to the altering of the black psyche by creating a "pervasive hierarchy" of beauty that black woman constantly combated or were forced to accept. (Bealer 312).

While beauty is not limited to social media and online authority but has started from the ground up in stores such as Claire 's and Sephora which birth new trends and encourage women to “Be Yourself”. Claires, a store generally shopped at by pre-teens, has began created light BB & CC creams for sheer to light coverage. In Claire 's there are less than 2 Deep complexion shades for these young pre-teens… With the simple act of secluding African and African American teens from shopping at Claire 's diminishes their confidence in their skin from such a young age. With in-store technology advancing the precise matching of skin complexion Sephora has continued to break skin shade boundaries… or so we think. In a recent interview with a Sephora employee she states, “When an African American walks in looking for a complexion product the girls run away because they “can do it” (Amy). Sephora does offer a mandatory SkinIQ matching class which does show how to properly match shades (which also matches undertones). Shea Moisture (A hair and skin brand known for being African and African American promoted) created a groundbreaking commercial showing race being a divider

Have you ever thought about who created makeup? Or how it was created? When, where and how? Why was it created? How has it changed over time? Has it affected anyone? Well I’m going to tell you some of it. Make up wasn’t just created by powder or anything small and simple like that, no. Makeup actually has a lot of its own differences. In 180 BCE was when makeup had first had started but it wasn’t commonly used as much as then. People would limit the use of makeup because it was so expensive and hard to get and or find. The women who actually had it or used it were the prostitutes and the wealthier women. The “Cheap Knockoff’s” were the ones who were sold to the poorer women. The people didn’t really care if the slaves used makeup but

Beauty is an important aspect of many women’s lives, often dictating their everyday behaviours. Women are held to narrow, unrealistic expectations of what they should look like; these expectations being portrayed through beauty ideals and trends. Although these trends, and the advertisements they are promoted through, seem relatively harmless, they can often reinforce racism and become their own system of oppression. Throughout cultures, dark-skin is seen as unwanted and unappealing, whereas light-skin is valued and privileged. This white supremacist ideal is propagated through these various beauty trends and their advertising, inseminating privilege towards lighter skin shades. The beauty trend of using skin-bleaching creams to lighten one’s

Its cosmetic department may face a similar situation to Gerdeman’s article where skin color bias is promoted through advertising. Skin whitening creams can be found in the cosmetic department along with propaganda to encourage customers to buy their merchandise. To ensure that there is no bias portrayed in the media, managers must reconsider how to portray an impartial view on fairer skin tones leading to happiness. If I were to lead the marketing campaign for skin lightening products at Macy’s, I would equally promote the product for restoring an individual’s natural complexion from damages of the sun. By taking this course of action, there is no particular skin color that is favored by the Macy’s establishment.

Professional makeup artist and founder of her own line of cosmetics Bobbi Brown once stated that she “believe[s] that all women are pretty without makeup- but with it, the right makeup can be pretty powerful.” This statement is relevant to all people and says that all women have natural beauty, but with the optional added touch of makeup, their beauty can be even further accentuated. Public figure, Kat Von D encourages women to embrace their most natural selves through her own cosmetic line. The print advertisement of Kat Von D’s “Lock-It Concealer Creme” shows women of all colors, wearing minimal makeup, probably just foundation and concealer, and embracing their natural skin color and their ethnic background with her wide array of shades for each skin shade. Makeup over the years hasn’t always catered to people embracing their natural skin. The origins of foundation makeup lead to some health risks and didn’t accept people for their natural skin tone, Kat Von D’s makeup line consists of solid, well formulated, and successful products, and the influence of social media has impacted the growth of the beauty world for all people.

As the research continues it becomes ever more important to discuss how exactly the differing pigmentation of one race of people actually occurs, because I feel that it has an effect on the way colorism is handled throughout the African American community. There are two ways in which a person of African descent can be of a lighter complexion; the first being amalgamation, which is the coming together of both the black and white races and reproducing to make a mulatto or mixed race child and the second is the use of cosmetic creams in attempt to bleach one’s skin until they too appear mulatto (Dorman 48). This is relevant because, it shows the extremes that people are willing to go to reach the highest plateau of social acceptance. Many of these creams were painful acidic chemicals slowly burning away the pigmentation as people slept, while others were considered mild abrasive materials used to “gently” scrape away dark pigments (Dorman

During these years black entrepreneurs, journalists, and activists strove to promote black beauty ideals, practices, and products. But by this period a white supremacist beauty ideal was already well established; the black strug¬gle for dignity was against a foe that is fairly familiar to us today” (Camp 677).

Many black girls go thru social identity issues on a daily basis. Skin color has created division even within black people because fairer skin tones are highly praised in the Negro community. Discrimination is used everywhere against black girls with a deeper skin pigment per example, makeup brands neglect the commercialization of darker shades of foundation, hair products for women of color

Throughout history, Black women in the U.S have been challenged with the Western standards of beauty that negated any natural beauty of blackness. During slavery, blacks with Caucasian features such as light skin and straight hair often received preferable treatment (Neal & Wilson, 1989). This behavior continued after slavery within the African American community. Light skinned black men continue to obtain higher status positions, receive better opportunities and higher educational advantages (Neal & Wilson, 1989). This experience reinforced the importance of the White standard that sadly still exists today. Individuals are being evaluated based on physical characteristics in a society that assigned whiteness with intelligence, beauty and

In certain circumstances it is not appropriate to tailor products to specific racial groups. The notion of separating clothing products often leads to cultural appropriation. Once one racial group copies the mannerisms and ideations of another racial group there becomes a great deal of controversy. However, certain products need to be tailored to African Americans. For instance, Shea Moisture and Carol’s Daughter which are hair products tailored specifically to the African American population. These products tailor to the kinkiness of Black hair which many White’s do not experience. Nevertheless, there becomes a hypocritical rhetoric when one is comfortable with certain companies use of racial segregation and not others. For example, when White

It was not only till the Nineteenth century where makeup became gender inclusive to society and became a women dominated industry. As the years progressed society was conditioned to think that makeup was made for women. Outside ancient Egypt women had done above and beyond to enhance their beauty to become better suited for a mate or to be considered beautiful. Before makeup was even introduced to world, women went to the extremes of using burnt matches to darken their eyes, using berries to stain there cheeks and lips, and even swallow oxblood to improve overall complexion. And if it wasn’t for the help of social media, men would still be struggling to this day to get the cosmetic recognition that they deserve. Gender roles has always created social boundaries for not only men but for women as well.Women have also dealt with the hardship of trying to be accepted in a society. Since the nineteenth th century restraints of not being able to vote, or work has carried on to the Twentieth century. Women are taken seriously when it comes to sports or having physical strength. Till this day women are making less on their paychecks compared to men. Both genders have their disadvantages and both deal with trying to break the labels that have been created. A new societal culture is happening and regardless of gender the traditional constraints that have been created it is becoming less significant in not only the

The cosmetics business is a billion dollar industry. Every year, women are responsible for consuming millions of cosmetic products. The cosmetics industry is so large because of several factors. The media is a huge contributor to the intense pressure to look a certain way. The idea that "sex sells" is evident in gossip magazines, movies, advertisements, music, and more subtly- in the business world. People first notice what race someone is, how beautiful or ugly they are and what clothes they are wearing. Beauty is skin deep; however, first impressions are usually what others use to base their

Often times, women are pressured by the mainstream media to upkeep a stellar appearance. They are expected to measure up to high standards without question. Even before most girls reach puberty, commercials are bombarding them with small Barbie esque makeup kits filled with lip glosses and chalky eyeshadows. The impact it has on impressionable children, both girls and boys is something that will likely last a lifetime if unlearned. Cosmetic companies who are marketing to young ladies say they can simply improve their looks to gain acceptance from their peers if they use the products they are selling. The makeup industry is a multi million enterprise that makes a profit from women’s insecurities and amplified pressures from society as a common tactic many cosmetic campaigns use is to push women to embrace the ‘natural look’ by providing products that will make it appear as if the individual is not even wearing makeup. Companies will spout out that with these products, the end result will be ‘you, but better.’ It is somewhat of an underlying and slightly manipulating slogan, as if to say how a woman appears could be improved because it is lacking in the moment. This distorts how we all believe how a woman is suppose to look.