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Increasingly, we are being warned that our old definition of feminine beauty is not merely amoral, but also unhealthy.
The most recent evidence comes from a National Institutes of Health study: Women who frequently use chemical hair straighteners, which was defined as more than four times a year, were twice as likely to develop uterine cancer than those who did not use the products. absolutely. The study did not find that cancer occurrence differed by race, but did note that black women were more susceptible to devastating health consequences because they are more likely to straighten their hair and tend to start doing so at a relatively young age . . That is a jarring warning.
Cancer of the uterus is relatively rare, but even so, this revelation comes from the same group of researchers that linked straightening irons, as well as permanent hair dyes, to an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer.
In recent years, we’ve also been told about the terrible toll that nail salon fumes from lacquers and acetones take on the human body and how damaging they can be to the men and women who constantly breathe in those toxins while working there. Exposure to those chemicals has been linked to asthma, skin disorders, miscarriages and cancer. Other beauty treatments (skin lighteners, skin firmers, wrinkle reducers) also have known side effects and complications.
And yet, people can’t stop trying to look younger, slimmer…better.
What does it mean to look your best? There is a narrow definition of beauty that is deeply ingrained in the culture, and people are willing to take risks, endure discomfort, and even pain, to conform to it. The handsome one, not the model, the star, or the one-in-a-million stunner, but the person whose appearance is pleasant, familiar, likeable. They are valued.
People strive for it. Perhaps they don’t see themselves as conformists, but simply aspire to be their best selves, to feel good, to silence their inner critic. It has become nearly impossible to determine whether a person subscribes to a particular sensibility due to social pressure, personal preference, or some frustratingly complex combination of the two.
But this much is true: the greater the distance between one’s natural attributes and the beauty ideal, the greater the risk of reshaping, retraining, and redesigning oneself into a more valuable asset. The more marginalized you are; it is more difficult to see it as relevant. No one has felt this more than black women. They are always fighting to claim their full value.
For generations, the female archetype in the West was long-haired, fair-skinned, with a slender physique. The culture has gradually moved away from that. We cast admiring glances in a thousand different ways. But our collective gaze lingers even longer on those that are variations on that embedded ideal.
Black women have embraced their natural hair; shared beauty secrets; Delighted in the skin that takes time to wrinkle. But they have also had to negotiate with employers and public spaces that did not accept or encourage them. They may have made strategic decisions about their appearance, or they may have made intuitive decisions. But there is always the understanding that they are not setting the standard. And so, they will never find it. The choice is simply deciding how hard they will try.
One could look at former first lady Michelle Obama as some sort of measure of effort. At the White House, an on-call hairstylist styled her hair elegantly. Immediately after, she used a more natural texture. More recently, she has adopted braids.
Despite a greater emphasis on body positivity, plus-size women (large Black women, in the public eye, still have to deal with the politicization of their bodies. Your clothing choices mean more than just a personal aesthetic gesture. As a culture, we haven’t gotten to the point where considering their beauty feels natural. At the moment, they are an intellectual proposal.
For some, chutzpah becomes their armor, weapon, and grooming. They use it to defend themselves against insults from people who don’t have to comment on their body, but do it anyway as if it were a whiteboard to expose a discussion about health, fitness and lack of discipline.
We have struggled to expand our vision of beauty. We make an effort to ensure that fashion shoots and advertisements reflect a more inclusive vision. Our goal is to accommodate.
In March, the House of Representatives passed the Crown Bill banning discrimination based on certain hairstyles, including cornrows, braids and dreadlocks. The law, which is an acronym for Creating an Open and Respectful World for Natural Hair, reads in part: “Throughout the history of the United States, society has used (along with skin color) the texture of hair and hairstyle to classify people according to their race. . Like skin color, hair has served as the basis for discrimination based on race and national origin. Racial and national origin discrimination can and does occur because of longstanding racial and national origin prejudices and stereotypes associated with hair texture and style.”
It took several tries to get this bill through the House, and that didn’t happen before Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), voting against it, derisively referred to it as the “hairy hair” bill. bad”. While President Biden has indicated that he will sign it, the bill still needs to pass the Senate.
But it is hard to imagine that even if a law prohibits the firing of a person because he has thick, tight curls, no legislation will make that hair beautiful in the eyes of those who see the world as Boebert does. Curly and textured hair is bad in estimation of it. But what makes flat, straight hair better?
The NIH study is a warning. Not just about the risks of relaxers and dyes, but also about the dangers and costs of preaching a doctrine that says a particular type of person is more beautiful, more capable, more valued simply because they look a particular way. That standard has its roots in whiteness, but the truth is that the standard has become so doctored and filtered that no one can reach it even though many people can’t stop chasing it.
It’s no surprise that the things people do to themselves in the name of beauty are questionable. The cultural pressure to look a certain way is extreme, but so are the rewards. It’s a pressure black women know all too well. They have borne the brunt of that stress, but no one is exempt. However, if society were to open wide to welcome the natural beauty of black women, it would also mean that many others, in large bodies, with abundant crow’s feet and perhaps no hair, could stop contorting themselves. to pass through what is now the narrowest opening.
Source: news.google.com