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I remember the day I mentioned to my "thinks-she-should-have been-a-model" 30-something niece how pretty she looked one day. She usually had full makeup, high heels, mini-skirt, super dark "smokey eye" makeup and eyeliner, fake lashes, the whole nine yards, even to a family get together. I said "Something's different, what have you done?" She dead panned "I'm not wearing any make-up". "That's it", I said without a hint of irony, "you look so much younger!" She was not amused. It was so refreshing to see her actual pretty face when it wasn't made up like a hooker.
But you're totally ignoring the fact that white women also go for hair extensions, wigs, false eyelashes, Botox, nail "art' and fake nail extensions, and the like. I think your pool of observations needs to be widened a lot, because the women I've seen with these accoutrements are just as likely to be white as black.
If I had the knack for putting on fake eye lashes, I'd be wearing them from time to time. I think that they can make eyes look more glamorous, and since my lashes are kind of on the skimpy side, I think they'd be fun. But oh well. Mascara does a decent job of enhancing them.
And for a couple of years, I'd get my finger nails done, because I thought they looked nice. But I got tired of the maintenance...so I stopped. It's not my style to get all the nail art done, but I have a friend who likes that. To each their own. Extensions and wigs...well, I like what I have, so except for Halloween, or something like that, I'm not really interested. BUT that could change down the road.
I really get tired of the judgement that gets passed over what we do or don't do. Live your extra life people! Do what makes you happy.
I do know that this sort of spending comes in all communities. I do have white friends, as well as friends of color, that spend exorbitant amounts on crazy long nails with nail art, and over the top hair colors, elaborate salon styles, and even tattoos, when they can barely pay their bills. I don't really get it, but I agree that I think it helps their self-esteem if they are lacking in other "attributes". My one friend is over 100 lbs overweight, and is really showing her age. They really won't go anywhere like a vacation unless someone else is paying. She and hubby share a car because they can't afford another, and generally my husband insists that we treat them whenever we go out because he says "they don't have much money", but she spends $100+ on her nails every 2 weeks, and has her hair colored at the salon with 3 different shades (strawberry blonde, platinum blonde, and bright pink) every 4-6 weeks. She loves the compliments she gets on her hair and nails. I think that it must help her ego to know that people admire something about her, but maybe if she saved that money they wouldn't be so poor. My hubby, who is so much kinder than I, shrugs and says "hey if it makes her happy".
I was at a gathering yesterday, where I was checking in people at a health fair. I had a lot of time to just observe people and I noticed how many Black women wear fake stuff, including eyelashes, hair and nails. Why is this?
The fake hair looks heavy, hot and uncomfortable. The long fake nails rendered some woman hardly able to hold a pen (and think of the germs!), and the eyelashes did not even attempt to look natural.
If someone was forced to wear these things, it could be considered cruel and unusual punishment, I think.
When the schools were open, I tutored reading to a second grader. She was a cute little girl, but her mother put fake braids on her that must have been heavy, and kept clanking in her face.
What is the thinking process?
Why is black women being targeted here when white women do the same. I know someone who is married to a billionaire and she also wear contacts to change her eye colour.
This is art and nothing to do with self esteem or confidence.
Now the statement she's making with her appearance about what she can financially afford may or may not be true - she could be putting herself into terrible debt with her expenditures (like those poor men with the expensive fancy cars and manly toys are doing in order to gain status among their own peers) - but that isn't what her appearance says about her to her peers (until they get to know her a lot better).
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Three guesses as to what two of the top three items disappear most often from the store where I work.
A lot of women into that type of look don't bother paying for it. It's not just black women or poor women either, where I work is probably 90-95% white and the shoplifters are poor women, working class or professional women, and oddly, a fair number of men.
Well, my neighbor is black and she has thick wavy hair, and only seems to wear the same amount of makeup as the average woman. She does wear lipstick when in her work clothes. I know that. But that’s quite typical for most women working an office job.
Women of all cultural backgrounds fashion some zany fashion. How on earth could we forget the big hair crazy, fake eyelashes or extreme art project of the face in general plastered across copius magazines for years.
European-American women have worn extensions, wigs, gaudy attire, massive breast, dyed hair, unwarranted surgery.. all of which considered bodacious. Yet- we're quick to stigmatize POC or blacks.
Candidly speaking, I enjoy the braids and uncommon styles from blacks. Warpaint (makeup) Eyelashes and ultra-nails generally appear unsightly on everyone!
I live in a poorer neighborhood, not black, and I see that here, too. I think it is a way to lift themselves up. I can afford to go to the salon for nails. I can afford to buy long lashes to wear daily. (If I recall correctly, lashes are worn a few times then tossed).
And the men do stupid things like lease or buy high end cars. When I see a Mercedes or Lexus, my first assumption is they’re poor. So they spend all this kind of money for appearances, and live in a tiny house with a bunch of other people because they can’t afford the rent.
I’d be wrong, but I have lived in this neighborhood for 30 years, and I have seen this for 30 years.
I've noticed the same thing also.
I think this over-the-top and very costly behavior does seem to be more prevalent among certain cultures and classes.
It may even contribute to the disparities in wealth that seem to persist (or worsen) over time.
Might make for an interesting thesis for a PHD.
Although I think it can look rather grotesque at times, I do see that these ladies are artists grooming themselves, experimenting with it and beholding it as their epitome of beauty. it's a fashion statement to them. If they suffer under the weight of those accoutrements, it is a small price to pay for their ideal of what beauty looks like.
I do see more women of color wearing wigs and braids or dreads, but that might be because their hair is frizzie and coarse and they have to cover it. It's like wearing your personally designed uniform to meet the day in.
Although I think it can look rather grotesque at times, I do see that these ladies are artists grooming themselves, experimenting with it and beholding it as their epitome of beauty. it's a fashion statement to them. If they suffer under the weight of those accoutrements, it is a small price to pay for their ideal of what beauty looks like.
I do see more women of color wearing wigs and braids or dreads, but that might be because their hair is frizzie and coarse and they have to cover it. It's like wearing your personally designed uniform to meet the day in.
They do not have to cover it. What is wrong with frizzy and course hair? It is not like they made it that way. They were born with that type of hair.
It is just they have to cover it to keep jobs(but that is changing)
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