Do you think that beauty trends or aesthetics offset progress in the industry?
It’s a very nuanced and layered conversation because it’s hard to think about what I enjoyed and ingested culture-wise growing up. Whether it’s MTV, the J.Crew catalog in the age of Jenna Lyons, or the Delia’s catalog, you saw these jovial, carefree girls with their wispies (fake eyelashes), straight hair, and all these things. Not to mention how huge the French-girl beauty aesthetic became, where the focus was on having clean skin and not trying too hard, and we never really had permission to do that. It’s an aesthetic that I wanted, but wasn’t what I saw around me. I saw my aunties, and mom wearing the classic red lip and the classic red nail polish and pressing their hair every Sunday. And seeing how important aesthetics was a part of her routine, I did not see that replicated outside of my home. I feel like we, especially Black culture, when it comes to clean girl aesthetics, we’re the microcurrent and the underbelly of what moves that and what’s inspired that. Unfortunately, those small microtrends bubble up to the top, and suddenly, everyone just sees the surface level. No one has any idea what’s going on at the root of it or where it comes when it gets to that stage it’s very hard to trace it back because some people don’t want to hear it.
I remember working at a huge conglomerate, and we were selling haircare products. At the time, we were creating tutorials on how to get box braids, and the marketing collateral was “how to get Kim Kardashian–inspired braids.” I remember the uproar that happened in the comments, and it’s ironic that I was working for this brand, on that team, obviously, being a part of the problem. But on the flip side, having experiences as a woman of color, who grew up as a salon baby in a hair braiding shop understanding the problem. I was watching my team fight tooth and nail, like, “No, Kim Kardashian made this popular,” even though it was rooted in Black haircare routines. So part of me feels like the conversation sometimes is so counterproductive because some people just don’t want to see it, especially when said influencer doesn’t attribute it to the source. Then the other part of me is like, “Hey, maybe it’s our job to scream from the rooftops and showcase the true DNA and fabric of it.” I think everyone shares this frustration, it’s a constant state of tug-of-war, every few days when there is a “new” trend.
Copelyn Bengel
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