From CJ Walker to Rihanna Black Women Who Transformed the Beauty Industry
PHOTO CREDITS: DAZZLE JAM, TURNBO FAMILY, JOHNSON PUBLISHING COMPANY, THE PAT MCGRATH LABS, TAYLOR HILL, BALANDA ATIS WRITTEN BY: NEHA SURADKAR T he beauty industry promises to enhance people’s appearances and lives with magical products and formulations. However, prejudice has always affected Black women, from not having options for skin tone or using chemicals that damage their skin to the non-availability of hair products. Only recently have cosmetics started to provide more extensive choices. Much more has to be done in terms of
diversity in beauty, yet progress is being made. From the beginning, beauty has always been about fair skin and brighter complexions. White women have long been the focus of the beauty business, giving women of color fewer options and more reasons to feel excluded, except when advertising skin- lightening creams, the mainstream beauty business primarily targeted Black women. As a result, Black consumers experience the beauty industry in a way that is noticeably more frustrating than other consumers and is rife with several friction points. The Black is Beautiful movement of the 1960s and 1970s introduced many concepts of beauty to the general audience. Henceforth, cosmetics companies like MAC and Bobbi Brown began to offer products for a broad spectrum of skin tones. Black women have always been the changemakers and innovators primarily due to the necessity. This is important for the representation of people of color in the beauty industry as well as for the usage of harmless ingredients in product formulations. Powerful Black women have been working to alter the narrative for future generations in skin care, hair care, and makeup. History has witnessed Black women contributing to the beauty industry by formulating products for people of color.
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