Beauty's DEI Backlash is Already Here
In all honesty, it has never left - it's just gotten more confident in its own success.
Yesterday was a true encapsulation of my position in the beauty industry - one of shuffling into the edges of many spaces at once and that of a witness in beauty’s self-segregation. I had mornings of virtual meetings with brands, editors, and other freelancers, did some cosmetology schoolwork, then went to two beauty events: the first being an EWG conversation between Dr. Mark Hyman, Founder of the Cleveland Clinic Center For Functional Medicine and Ken Cook, EWG Co-Founder and President, and a talk at the LINE Hotel between the artist Dana Davenport and Stephanie Bell, which talked about beauty supply stores, beauty culture, and racial dynamics between Black and Asian communities through hair.
As you’d expect, the first event’s populace was mostly white people with beautifully kept designer handbags and existing interest in wellness culture and understanding of what a carcinogen is, mostly being longtime EWG donors or wellness influencers in the LA sphere. There were Erewhon jokes and concerned mothers asking about what the safest food is to eat at a wedding if the menu doesn’t list it as organic and wild caught. It was almost exactly what I expected - with the exception of even Cook, the President of EWG, saying true change that happens in time against climate crisis won’t be because of lobbying in DC but from revolutionary actions on the ground that force companies to change their tune before they’re legally required to. I’m paraphrasing here, but I was surprised to be in earnest agreement with him about something. I’m just a bit pessimistic that that change will actually happen in time for it to count.
The second event was a contrast in audience and conversation. It was mostly young, stylish Black folks listening and participating in candid conversation on the racial barrier’s black businesses in the beauty space experience when they try to supply their stores from Korean suppliers. Listening to the conversation felt like a little gift delivered to me from the universe a few days too late to really count; I’ve written about this exact conversation in my book that I filed on Monday, and it would have been lovely to quote the conversation. But I’m glad to have the confirmation from the universe that these are discussions worth having. I wish I had seen more Asian and non-Black people in the room; these are conversations we have to participate in, too, to own up to our own complicity in the dynamics and our own participation in how they might be resolved.
I only hear direct personal examples of racial barriers experienced in the beauty supply business in unrecorded conversations in informal scenarios - and mostly from Black people who’ve been disregarded or blockaded from beauty spaces. I’m not Asian enough to be in the room to hear the Asians on the other side of the scenarios talk about why they do it. Or rather I’m not the right kind of Asian; I’m Taiwanese American, not Korean, and nail shops are often owned by Vietnamese Americans - which, again, I am not. I’m Asian enough to be racialized and fetishized by white folks but not the right kind of Asian to be in the same rooms as the Asians most directly involved in the racial dynamics that shape the beauty world. So, I’m a witness, mostly, and I watch the conversations on systemic change in beauty slide past each other by all the time. Both conversations would likely be enriched if the rooms had been more intentionally diverse; but it’s really not Dana or anyone on the panel’s fault at the self-selecting community. That one was a public event and the audience is self-selecting. It’s just that - as a beauty community, we have a lot of work to do if we want to change the world. What futures are we intentionally building towards, in every room we walk into? How are we showing up for each other? Who are we considering kin - who are we supporting?
I was thinking about this when reflecting on the DEI backlash happening in the beauty space right now.
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