96 ·^ COSMOPOLITANBlack
matters
skin
The beauty industry may have
woken up to calls for diversity
across hair and colour cosmetics,
but is skincare lagging behind?
Keeks Reid investigates
I
don’t even know where to start,”
moans my sister. We’re in Boots
and she’s looking for a new
moisturiser. With what seems like
hundreds to choose from, I ask
her what it is she needs, but she
falters. She starts talking about
pigmentation and dark circles
and these tiny little black pimple
things that have started to crop up on
her cheeks, but she hasn’t got a clue
how to tackle her issues. And actually,
staring at the rows of boxes and bottles,
even as a black beauty writer I’m not
sure that I do either.
Things have changed over the past
decade. I can now go into a high-streetbeauty shop and find products that’ll
work for my type-four curls. The tester
stations for most make-up brands are
no longer 50 shades of beige, and
online the choice for ethnic hair and
beauty is booming. However, when it
comes to skincare, tonal complexities
and race-specific issues are pretty
much left out of the narrative.
Because, despite the fact that black
and ethnic skin can react differently
to both products and treatments, the
skincare industry still adopts a “one
size fits all” approach to marketing.
Ill-addressed, women of colour become
extra vulnerable to ending up with the
wrong products – often paying overthe odds for them – or, worse,
damaging their skin due to lack of
or incorrect information. So why in
2019, even with the leaps and bounds
the beauty industry has made in
terms of inclusivity, are black women
being left behind when it comes to
the latest advancements in skincare?
And what can be done to fill the void?THE NO-INFO TRAP
“Women of colour don’t know what
ingredients and products to look
for because brands don’t mention
their issues,” says Dija Ayodele,
founder of skincare advice platform
Black Skin Directory. ›“
Photographs SARAH BRICK