Are Black Women Held to a Higher Beauty Standard?
Bonnets forbidden…
Social media is the place to see the standards and hypocrisy within the community. It is also the place that perpetuates these standards. Lately, I’ve seen this a lot between black women and white women. There is already so much hate towards black women in real life and on apps, and physical appearance isn’t excluded.
I saw a Tiktok of a black creator posting her outfits for the week. The fits were fire, but for some reason, everyone in the comments were paying attention to her hair. Her hair was in a loose bun, no baby hairs slicked. Many of the comments told her to “do her hair” and “slick her edges”. This was a red flag immediately to me. Having type four hair myself, I didn’t see the issue, but apparently, the girl wasn’t presentable enough. Later, I come across another TikTok of a white girl with a messy hairstyle. She had a bun to the side and strands of hair sticking out. Her caption said, “Don’t mind the hair.” However, none of the comments were about her hair, just people complimenting her and her eyes. This was when I saw the issue. To me, it seemed that black women could do the same thing as white women and it’s deemed unacceptable.
How come when white girls wear their hair in a messy bun, its like cute and flirty and undone. But when a black girl’s hair isn’t done, they’re dirty and ugly?” — xoxoaubzzz on TikTok
Think of the bonnet situation. Many black women are called “ghetto” or “ratchet” for going out in a bonnet but no words are uttered when a white girl goes out with a beanie to cover her bad hair day. Sure, the white girl isn’t wearing a bonnet but a hat and a bonnet are equivalents, just different culturally. A black woman throws on a bonnet because she doesn’t want to handle her hair while a white woman throws on a beanie because she doesn’t want to handle her hair. A black woman having a messy bun can look different from a white woman’s messy bun due to the hair texture but overall the style is the same. So, why is one viewed as cute and the other unmanageable? Because of the stereotyping and skewed views of beauty in society.
We all know that finer and straighter hair is deemed beautiful in society but curls aren’t. Curls in the type three category are okay though because those hair textures are looser and are mostly seen on women with lighter complexions, or women that look closer to whiteness. But type four hair is hardly ever praised in society. It is looked at as “unkempt” and “nappy”. How is the hair that grows out of our scalp not acceptable? Through society’s views and what I’ve seen a lot on social media, black women have higher expectations than other women. Their hair has to be slicked and done to look acceptable or professional or else they are ridiculed.
Another TikTok by frutierutiebabie caught my attention. She dueted a video doing the same thing as a white girl, lip-syncing to a song and smiling. Her caption reads, “That girls vid got over 2mil lets see how many the girl thats opposite of this beauty standard can get?” I found this to be a good social experiment. frutierutiebabie opposed Eurocentric beauty features, like having braids, big lips, and a larger nose. Although the video got 1.8 million likes, many of the comments were blatantly rude. “bc shes alot prettier” one comments. “You must think highly of yourself” another comments. It seems that many didn’t understand the point that she was trying to make or willingly ignored it and chose to attack her.
People need to understand that even in this day and age, black women are stilled viewed as lower than other races of women. They can do similar things compared to white women and still be attacked for it. Not only do we see this through the bonnet situation but from hairstyles in general. Black women are constantly ridiculed for wearing wigs. People tell them they’re insecure, ugly, or bald. But ignore the fact that many white women wear fake hair as well, such as extensions and micro links. Even for white women who wear wigs, they don’t get the retaliation that black women experience. Black women have the right to wear their hair however they want and not receive negativity from it.
Please let black women just be themselves. Let them be in their natural state and not get backlash. Getting hate for looking and being your true self creates many insecurities for black girls and women that’ll take years to dismantle.
Sources:
