The definition of black beauty is one of those ambiguous definitions where you are not sure where it began or who created it, but you know that it is there. Personally, I would say that growing up I had it hard when it came to my image. I started out as the cute little girl with the long hair, but when I became older it seemed as if all of my cuteness ran away and hid from me forever. I was never the "cute girl" in class no matter how expensive my clothes were. I was too afraid of what others would say to try to do something different with my appearance.
To make matters worse, I had the strictest parent in world! She did not believe in "enhancing" ones appearance with beauty products or tight-fitting clothes. I wore pigtails for half of my childhood because my mother did not know how to style hair, and we were not as financially stable as I wanted to be to go to a salon every week.
Even if I would have enhanced my beauty with material things, I was still the darkest and skinniest girl in class. If I told you about all of the hurtful things that I was called while growing up, a new website would need to be made! It just seemed as if I could never get a break. I would turn on the television every day and see Tyra Banks and Beyoncé and say to myself "If only I had their skin complexion." and "If only I had her breast and butt."
I struggled with image issues until I finally sat down in front of the mirror and made myself say I was beautiful every day. It was far from easy. Some days telling myself that I was beautiful would bring me to tears. So I began thinking, what is beautiful? Does someone who my age and level of intelligence telling me that I was beautiful mean that I am? Or was I just beautiful that day?
I continued to ask myself these questions every day until recently when I stopped worrying about myself and noticed that I am not the only one who is confused about what to call beautiful. For white girls, it's simple; long hair, tanned skin, big breast, small waist, and pearly white teeth. For black girls, it's far from simple. You have to consider the region, the country, the background of the judge, and everything above. We look on the internet, or watch television, or read a magazine and see every beautiful black woman, but those women do not look like the average black woman. So are those images of black beauty false or missing key points? I'm not really sure, but I do know that the definition of black beauty is problematic and needs a change.
To make matters worse, I had the strictest parent in world! She did not believe in "enhancing" ones appearance with beauty products or tight-fitting clothes. I wore pigtails for half of my childhood because my mother did not know how to style hair, and we were not as financially stable as I wanted to be to go to a salon every week.
Even if I would have enhanced my beauty with material things, I was still the darkest and skinniest girl in class. If I told you about all of the hurtful things that I was called while growing up, a new website would need to be made! It just seemed as if I could never get a break. I would turn on the television every day and see Tyra Banks and Beyoncé and say to myself "If only I had their skin complexion." and "If only I had her breast and butt."
I struggled with image issues until I finally sat down in front of the mirror and made myself say I was beautiful every day. It was far from easy. Some days telling myself that I was beautiful would bring me to tears. So I began thinking, what is beautiful? Does someone who my age and level of intelligence telling me that I was beautiful mean that I am? Or was I just beautiful that day?
I continued to ask myself these questions every day until recently when I stopped worrying about myself and noticed that I am not the only one who is confused about what to call beautiful. For white girls, it's simple; long hair, tanned skin, big breast, small waist, and pearly white teeth. For black girls, it's far from simple. You have to consider the region, the country, the background of the judge, and everything above. We look on the internet, or watch television, or read a magazine and see every beautiful black woman, but those women do not look like the average black woman. So are those images of black beauty false or missing key points? I'm not really sure, but I do know that the definition of black beauty is problematic and needs a change.
RSS Feed