Segregation at the Beauty Counter: A Case Against Black Beauty Companies

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“It’s frustrating… They find a color that looks like the shade, but then [the undertone is] too red” for them, Mpinja explains about the shopping experience of women of color.

Products that appropriately address hair texture are also hard to find, she notes, because the spectrum of textures that blacks possess is not static. Black hair can be kinky yet fine, or bone straight yet thick. Can one non-race-specific company address them all?

“I think that if things can start to become more oriented toward hair texture or skin tone or skin type, as opposed to race,” Mpinja muses, “it would help people who have trouble finding [products.]” She affirms the theory that beauty solutions today rely less on race and more on acknowledging and addressing variety. Taking the lead, firms like Miss Jessie’s focus more on products that can successfully enhance different curl patterns, rather than on “black” or “non-black” hair. And they have done so with great success.

If black women can share a hair care brand with other women, perhaps we all can get along at the beauty counter. Hopefully the larger companies addressing our market will respond to our influx of dollars with more integration within their ranks.

L’Oreal Paris might have bought Soft Sheen, but was recently found guilty of racial discrimination in its hiring practices. It’s wonderful that general market beauty companies are offering women of color more products. In exchange for our money, we must hold these companies accountable for how they treat us. Increasing black hiring at mainstream entities is certainly one way to keep beauty-related capital flowing into our coffers.

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