Our perception and definition of beauty has morphed over time, so instead of trying to define everything we focused on three areas of the beauty industry: haircare, skincare, and makeup — to show you just how far the industry has come. #BeautyGurus
– Hi. – Hey.
00:03
– You’re not– – I’m not.
00:04
Azie has moved on to other projects,
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and we’re sad to see her go,
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but also excited to see what she does next.
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– To get your Azie fix,
00:10
make sure to follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
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I’ll miss her ledgers!
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In the meantime, Hallease will be stepping in
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to help me to continue to bring you all the funnies.
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– So let’s get into it!
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(upbeat jazz music)
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– Hello everyone, and welcome to my channel.
00:28
Today I’m gonna show you my every day, simple routine.
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So, if you wanna know how I went from this, to this,
00:35
please keep on watching.
00:38
First, let’s make sure our complexion
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is presentable and fair.
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This blemish cream fades all darkness’ and imperfections.
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If you want to be light and bright,
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try Tan Away!
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Coupon code in the video description box.
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Now that our skin is prepped,
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let’s play in some makeup.
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Now, you’ll want to use
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the proper shade for your complexion.
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There’s one other shade in this range.
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I’ll swatch it for you.
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It’s nice, isn’t it?
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Check my channel out next week,
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when I go through my high curl tutorial next.
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– How do I look?
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– Human beings have valued beauty for a long time.
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Winged eyeliner’s been on point
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since the Ancient Egyptians!
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It’s the way we communicate how much money we have,
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our social status, and values like modesty.
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– But the perception and definition
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of beauty morphs over time,
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and our society is no different.
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I mean, makeup trends went from this
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to this in just a couple of years.
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– And when it comes to Black beauty?
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Consider our cocoa butter curiosity piqued.
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We wanna learn more!
01:45
– Finding the beauty in all our shades and textures
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has a complex history that’s changed with the times,
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just like the depiction of women
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in advertising, for eaxmple.
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– Some of it warms our hearts,
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and some of it makes us cringe.
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– So, instead of attempting
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to define and explain everything.
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– Which is high key impossible.
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– We picked three products or items:
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one in hair care, one in skincare, and one in makeup
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to show you just how far the far the world
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of black beauty has come.
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– And, ah, research.
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– Let’s do this, yes.
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– We can learn about, oh!
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– Yes, I’m going straight for it.
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Consistent, beautiful.
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Oh, that’s a lot, that’s a lot, okay.
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– I have a pallet, I have a couple pallets.
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And, you’re like, “Evelyn, you don’t wear eyeshadow.”
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So, I’ll buy them.
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– You remember your momma having to do.
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(Evelyn laughs)
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And then parting the read sea (laughs).
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– You want some?
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– Sure, mist me.
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I’ve got my glasses on, but whatever.
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– Oh, look at the baby. – Look at these perfectly
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manicured ‘fros.
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– Okay, that’s not real.
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– [Hallease] That’s not.
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First product, head wraps!
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– Oh, that’s all me, that is all me.
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– I mean, I’m wearing one too, but okay.
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I’m wearing one too.
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– Wait, where did we find out about head wraps?
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– Yeah, okay.
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When you think of head wraps now,
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you probably imagine stunning models
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with sky-high pieces of colorful patterned fabric.
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And Evelyn, I guess you think of Evelyn too.
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But historically, in the U.S.,
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Black women covered their hair for more practical reasons.
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You can imagine imagine slave owners
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didn’t particularly care
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about hygienic working conditions, or,
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because it was the law.
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– [Evelyn] Ah, yes, tee-known, tig-non?
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I know it had to do with the French.
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Creole, tignon!
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– The same gross logic
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that empowered slave owners
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to forcibly shave the heads of enslaved women,
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made an appearance in 1786,
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when Spanish colonial Governor Don Esteban Miro
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enacted the Edict of Good Government,
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also called the Tignon Laws.
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It prohibited Creole women of color in New Orleans
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from displaying excessive attention to dress.
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– Basically, some of ya’ll
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are little too light skinned,
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or your bundles are a little too luxurious
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and we can’t have you have you out here
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whipping your curls around looking this fly.
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So they were forced to wear a scarf or handkerchief
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called a tignon as a public signifier
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that they belonged to the slave class.
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Even if they were free.
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– Louisiana has always been unique
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because French and Spanish colonial rule
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worked a lot differently than the English.
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The Spanish law of coartacion put a market value,
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and actual price on and enslaved person,
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and stated that if you could raise that money,
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you could buy back your freedom.
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– Now before you go praising
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this particular flavor of colonizer,
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it was just a different strategy.
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The idea was, if they allowed somewhat
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of a Black middle class to exist,
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the institution of slavery would last longer.
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But plot twist, now you’ve got a growing population
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of free Black people, you got hella mixed people,
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and Louisiana is now a little too much of a melting pot.
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– Before the tignon laws,
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free women of color in New Orleans
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would use beads, feathers,
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and other forms of jewelry in their hair,
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adding to their exotic allure.
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– That’s kinda gross. – Yeah.
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– So, Governor Don Esteban thought a piece of fabric
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would dim a sista’s light.
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He thought we’d look homely.
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Homeboy was sadly mistaken.
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Come through head wrap with vibrant colors
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and elaborate tying techniques!
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You betta give us Marie Laveau,
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both the historical figure
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and Angela Bassett’s flawless television adaptation!
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– Because we are who we are, and we do what we do,
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we turned it into something beautiful,
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continuing to cover our hair throughout the decades,
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cooperating with businesses
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in African nations to source fabric.
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Even our Creole Queen used it to call back to her culture!
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– Good hair, bad hair, I am not my hair.
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Instead of researching relaxers,
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or making fun of Jheri curls.
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Actually, let’s do that.
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– Yeah, let’s do that, yeah.
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♪ Just let your soul glow ♪
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♪ Just let it shine through ♪
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♪ And just let your soul glow, baby ♪
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♪ Feeling, oh, so silky smooth ♪
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♪ Just let it shine through ♪
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♪ Just let your soul glow ♪
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– Like hair, skin tone
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has such a deep-rooted hold on our perception of beauty.
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It was used as descriptor in slave records,
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and had very real violent implications
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when it came to social structures.
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It could determine one’s fate as an enslaved person.
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In a world of 10-step skincare routines,
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and black don’t crack,
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we wanted to see how far our complexion products have come.
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– So, we found that skin lightening products
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emerged for the Black elite in D.C.
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Around the 1840s and 50s,
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and continued after emancipation
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into the early 20th Century.
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These days, ingredients like hyrdoquinone
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are used to block the enzyme present
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in the melanin-producing process.
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But, not much is known about the ingredients
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used back then, or their effectiveness.
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But we do have throwback advertisements.
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I mean, the names of these products are wild.
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Doctor Read’s Magic Face Bleach?
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Tan Off, Black Skin Remover?
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– So, there’s and ad by The Colored American
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which dates February 15th, 1902.
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And on this ad, we have, you know,
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the title is “Black Skin Remover”,
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“A wonderful face bleach and hair straightener”,
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and has a before image of a darker skinned woman
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with kinkier hair, and then the after image
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is a very, very fair woman with straight hair in a bun.
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The words to even describe that,
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or the fact that, that ad was even playing on insecurities
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of Black seeming to be negative, seeming to be poor,
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seeming to be everything that you would not want to be,
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has definitely been detriment to Black culture.
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– Now, even though white-passing was a thing,
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it’s an oversimplification to assume
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people with dark complexions who used these products
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wanted to be white.
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Folks were more concerned with the color complex
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within Black communities.
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Remember, skin tone could impact how you’d go on
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to fair in the world.
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What jobs you’d get hired for
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and how you’d be treated.
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Nobody was under the delusion
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that they would actually become white.
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These products simply played
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to the realities of being black.
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– You know, this is not called
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the place of the American Dream for no reason.
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Everyone wants to participate in that dream
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and wants the very best for themselves.
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And, if this is a way to get there,
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then maybe, you know, in this desperate attempt
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to be seen as human, to be recognized, to be appreciated.
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Then, I need to straighten my hair, discolor my skin,
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and then maybe society will become a more bearable place.
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– Whew, that’s heavy.
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– A little bit.
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– We need some comedy.
08:31
– Yes, yeah.
08:32
♪ Just let yourself ♪
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♪ Glow, oh! ♪
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– And we’re back! – Yeah!
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And to be clear, we’re not saying
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that in the olden days
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everybody struggled to accept their beauty.
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The Lonesome Hearts column
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from the African American newspaper,
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the New York Interstate Tattler,
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that ran from 1929 to the early 1930s
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showed that yes, skin tone was always top of mind,
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and used to describe someone before, say, height.
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And yes some valued features that supported colorism,
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but also yes, some people liked being brown
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and felt worthy of asking for a love connection.
09:07
Whether it’s an ad, a tabloid column,
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or music in movies,
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mass media can give you a peek into society.
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Much like hair, representation of different skin tones
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in the media increased over time,
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albeit super slowly.
09:20
– [Male] Yes, your natural expression of pride
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is beautifully expressed with Afro Sheen.
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Afro Sheen, beautiful products, for a beautiful people.
09:30
– And while we’d all love
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to believe we’re free thinkers
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above the influence of pop culture,
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seeing different types of people
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lauded as desirable and beautiful
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shape the way we feel about ourselves!
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So when superstar James Brown
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screamed “say it loud, I’m Black and I’m proud”
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with his hit 1968 song, people felt that.
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– He didn’t say, I’m medium brown, or like,
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I’m Black, but not like Black-Black, and that matters.
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Though skin-bleaching creams are now generally taboo,
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or at least reason for pause
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in internet ridicule and pity, they still exist.
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On one hand, thanks to social media and beauty gurus,
10:03
there’s more hashtag melanin on camera than ever before!
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But the same issues follow us on the web.
10:09
– You’re probably wondering, Jackie,
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what the hell was the point of you wasting all this makeup.
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Like what, what was the end goal?
10:14
What was there to learn here?
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What is the topic of discussion?
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When you say stuff like, I don’t take color,
10:18
you just, you end up looking like this, silly as hell.
10:21
– With our mass return to natural ingredients
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like coconut oil, shea butter,
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and the influx of Black-owned brands
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catering to melanin’s unique needs,
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now skincare products focus on a glow,
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ensuring that you shine bright like a diamond,
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no matter your skin tone.
10:35
– Rihanna, let’s talk about makeup.
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– [Hallease] Yes, yeah.
10:38
– Shout out to Anthony Overton
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for our first look, hastag notspon.
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He was a black lawyer with a chemistry degree
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who saw that women of color
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didn’t have much to choose from
10:47
when it came to makeup.
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In about 1900, he formulated a face powder
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in the color High Brown and it was a hit.
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He made sure the ingredients weren’t harmful,
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he expanded the shade range to nut-brown,
11:00
olive tone, brunette, and flesh pink.
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Huh, that last shade name is questionable,
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but Overton gave us more
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than any other brand did at the time, a legend.
11:10
(upbeat jazz music)
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– A big obstacle for Black makeup manufacturers
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like Overton was that department stores refused
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to carry their products,
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so they had to sell door-to-door.
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Even media mogul John H. Johnson ran into difficulties.
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Imagine, the creator of Ebony and Jet magazine,
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bastions of Black beauty,
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struggling to convince department stores
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and existing makeup brands to expand their offerings.
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So, in 1958 he made his own.
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It’s because of him, and his wife Eunice,
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that our grandmas and aunties were able
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to purchase Fashion Fair for all their looks.
11:48
(upbeat jazz music)
11:54
– Nearly 100 years after Overton blessed us with High Brown,
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supermodel Iman created Iman Cosmetics in 1994.
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Using her name and fame to call attention
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to the continued lack of diversity in makeup,
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not just for Black women but for all women of color.
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But, to this day, models and actresses
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and even regular folks at the makeup counter at the mall,
12:15
deal with uneducated makeup artists or brands
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unwilling to offer darker shades.
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So, once again, someone had to shake up the game.
12:23
(upbeat jazz music)
12:28
– Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty blew the beauty world’s mind
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because at its launch in 2017,
12:34
the makeup isle still looked like this.
12:36
– Overton would be so disappointed.
12:37
– I mean, don’t get me wrong,
12:39
Covergirl Queen Collection came in clutch circa 2007,
12:43
but I remember friends having to drive around
12:45
and figure out which store stocked certain brands.
12:48
And while Fenty Beauty wasn’t the first makeup brand
12:51
to have a large shade range, I see you Lancome,
12:54
they were smart about advertising that they did.
12:57
– I mean, Rihanna’s face certainly helps, but it’s true!
13:01
When I look up reviews on YouTube,
13:03
I add for dark skin at the end of every search.
13:06
I need to know you’re giving me something deeper
13:08
than a toasted almond!
13:10
– Fenty’s forty shades
13:11
coupled with products that promoted the idea
13:13
of a glow adds to the excitement
13:15
and cemented the shift in standards of beauty
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from dull and powdery to moisturized and beaming.
13:21
(upbeat jazz music)
13:28
– And if you want to really know
13:29
who’s doing the Lord’s work?
13:30
Balanda Atis is a cosmetic chemist
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and manager of L’oreal’s Women of Color Lab
13:35
and has invented 30 new shades.
13:39
Science!
13:40
No more Dark 003.
13:42
– Much like names, the way you present yourself
13:44
has implications in the outside world.
13:46
Discrimination in the workplace and schools
13:49
are prime examples of how perceptions of Black beauty
13:51
and even cleanliness are politicized and punished.
13:55
The products and practices we’ve used over the years
13:58
to enhance our beauty tie back to one thing.
14:00
As humans we just want to be accepted.
14:02
And if our appearance is the reason for alienation,
14:05
we invent ways to tailor our looks
14:06
to the requirements of the day.
14:08
It’s not shameful, it’s a form of survival.
14:10
– Every dark skinned beauty guru
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striving for visibility on social media,
14:14
every person whipping up concoctions
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for curls, coils, and kinks,
14:18
and every parent walking up to the school
14:20
to defend their child’s hairstyle deemed distracting.
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It’s our perseverance and ingenuity
14:26
not society’s kindness that has allowed us
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to make the strides we have.
14:29
So, how has your idea of beauty changed over the years?
14:33
Who’s your beauty icon, let us know!
14:35
– [Hallease] If you enjoy watching Say it Loud
14:36
then you’ll probably like our friends
14:38
over at America From Scratch!
14:39
It’s another PBS Digital Studios show
14:41
that explores questions like,
14:43
what might the U.S. be like
14:44
if it was founded today?
14:46
And what if there were no states?
14:48
Should we lower our voting age?
14:49
Should we colonize Mars?
14:51
It’s basically your civics class, but fun!
14:54
Check out America from Scratch
14:55
at the link in the description below.
14:57
– [Evelyn] Click here to watch more episodes of Say it Loud,
15:00
click here to watch Danielle from Origin of Everything,
15:02
and click here to watch Vox explain more
15:05
about the makeup industry.
15:06
And we’ll see you next time.
15:07
Bye! – Bye!
15:08
(upbeat jazz music)
15:16
(soft bells)
—
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