Chapter 7: Shades of Difference

   The use of cosmetics in the late nineteenth century became a public debate as African Amercian rights while the Jim Crow laws in the South took a stronger hold. New cosmetic preparations claimed to bleach black skin into lighter shades and promised hair products that would straighten hair, but other beauty culturists, like Madame C. J . Walker and Annie Turnbo Malone, expressed racial pride and dignity and refused to sell these kind of products that would emulate "white beauty". Black writers started to emphasize the contradictory rejection and embracement of white emulation by denouncing bleach creams and hair straighteners but also encouraging proper, impressionable looks and behavior in public places like the New Negro Woman sketched by John H. Adams Jr. in 1904. Some critics even excoriated the use of cosmetics in general, saying it created a mulatto elite who had lighter skin and better looks and were accused of trying to create their own separate class. This color hierarchy disrputed black society as more African American men began to judge women based on their outwardly appearance and more black newpapers ran more articles of black accomplishments and racial dignity while the bulk of the advertisements were cosmetics products promising lighter skin and less curlier hair.

The New Negro Woman

    Black commercial culture further complicated issues by placing cosmetics in a race-conscious national economy, declaring African American beauty as racial pride, and asserting ALL had the natural right to beauty. Soon, the distinguishment between good African American cosmetic product companies came between white and black owned. White owned companies came under heavy criticism for its disfiguring skin bleaches, racial discrimination in the workplace, and racist advertisements, like Plough's skin bleaches. As a response, black women asserted their position as the upbringers for racial pride through beautiful celebrities, community service, beauty contests... etc. Cosmetics firms took this as an opportunity to turn towards media-based marketing strategies by first demonstrating African American beauty as respectable, refined, and light-skinned to icons of luxury and fame with portraits of attractive black performers and celebrities by the 1920s. Although these advertisments endorsed racial pride, many of the women in the pictures had European features and styles, contradictory to the message the companies intended to send. The idea of beauty universality created a consumer market in which different cultures could participate in the mass market of cosmetics while still being accepted into society one way or another. 

    Different perceptions of cosmetics useage, especially with hair growers and skin bleachers, were based off of the consumer's socio-economic conditions. Many expressed gratitude towards the hair products though most information about bleaches and other products remain unknown due to the lack of information recorded. However, most of the women who bought these preparations were new to commercialized cultures and intermingled old traditions with the manufactured remedies. They studied and analyzed the advertisements and opinions from their friends of African Amercan owned companies and those who bought them praised the manufacuturer through letter and by spreading word of the product (Madame C. J. Walker's Wonderful Hair Grower).  The Great Migration in 1915 also impacted black women's consciousness of their appearance through job applications for northern employers as self presentation became more prominent in urban life. This resulted in the urban black population to revolve more around white emulation while still supporting black individuality in order to have more opportunities on hand socially and economically. However, there were still alternative reviews of maintaining African American traditions with no contamination of white emulation as many articles and newspapers continued to praise the conservative black girl even though beautifying became an essential part to a lifestyle that took over many lives. 

    

Questions:

What was the extent of white influence on black cosmetics consumers and manufacturers?

How did racial equality fit in the argument of the use of cosmetics for African American women?