London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Jul 24, 2025

What Everyone Can Learn from Black Women About Beauty

What Everyone Can Learn from Black Women About Beauty

Ask any Black woman who inspires her when it comes to beauty and she will likely rattle off a list dotted with plenty of older dames. Like the legendary Diana Ross: This woman is 76 years old and looks like she just stepped offstage with The Supremes. Singer Grace Jones might as well be a vampire, slaying at 72 with her signature androgynous look.

And then there’s actress Cicely Tyson, who, at 95 (!), was stepping out and dazzling on red carpets as recently as January. Insert the ubiquitous and beloved (if not *entirely* factually accurate) “Black don’t crack!”

That’s not to say these women haven’t aged at all. It just means we don’t care that they have. Because while most of the world is obsessed with youth-and figuring out how to look like they just came out of the womb-reverence for “over-the-hill” gals is a crucial part of Black girl magic.



Think about it with me: I’ve never heard any of my white friends reference stars like Helen Mirren, Meryl Streep, or Goldie Hawn (who all look great, for the record) as their beauty muses. And no shade to my white friends-my point is just that Black women approach beauty in a pretty special (and pretty inspiring, in my not-so-humble opinion) way.

Part of that is about celebrating each other regardless of age-or skin tone or hair texture or body type. Part of it is that we don’t stress over what everyone else thinks. And the other part is that our overall beauty POV transcends the physical to go much deeper. Let me attempt to overexplain.



Our Dianas, Graces, Cicelys: they represent a form of transgenerational pride that works to remind us that Black is, has always been, and will forever be beautiful. “So much of beauty culture in the Black community is passed down from generation to generation,” says Brooke DeVard Ozaydinli, 31, host of the award-nominated podcast Naked Beauty. “Those are the women our grandmothers and mothers looked up to.” So we do too.

I can’t pinpoint when this shared esteem started, but my gut tells me it’s always been this way. It certainly revved up during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, as the Black community publicly embraced its pride for our brilliance and, yes, our beauty. And learning to love the skin we’re in has always been an imperative, since society at large definitely wasn’t doing it for us.

                                        

Ozaydinli says that the Black women she chats with often say, “I feel more beautiful as I gain more experiences, as I become more confident, and as I’ve learned who I am.” And she agrees, adding, “I’d like to think that that’s universal, but I think for Black women, it may be even deeper because our journey of tapping into who we are takes a bit longer. We don’t have as many signals from the mainstream about how to do it.”

In fact, I’d argue that that’s why self-care has consistently been at the center of Black women’s beauty rituals. I know I wasn’t the only little girl whose mother and grandmother reminded her to never set foot outside of the house looking ashy, because moisturizing my body wasn’t just about keeping it looking good; it was a personal and public act of love for my own brown skin.

Before you ask, it’s not just us Black 30+somethings (I’m a loud and proud 38, thankyouverymuch) who take inspo from all this inherited history. Naima Brown, a 21-year-old student at New York University, cosigns. “I’m not sure if I would say, ‘I love this hairstyle that Angela Bassett is wearing, let me go get that exact look,’” she says. “But I do know how legendary these icons are and how timeless their talent and beauty are. And I’m directly and indirectly inspired by that to take care of myself too.”



Of course, this prolonged trek to self-assured dopeness isn’t a breeze. Society’s (still) narrow beauty standards mean the vast beauty of Blackness isn’t often celebrated. And when it is, it’s usually with a stereotypical iteration of our beauty-with, say, an ad campaign that showcases only fair-skinned Black women with soft curls or a photo-shoot series that does the polar opposite, featuring only Black women with deep skin tones and kinky hair. There’s no diversity in this diversity.

Oh, and beyond imagery, there are actual laws aimed at dimming our light. Did you know it’s perfectly legal in more than 40 states to discriminate against the way our hair naturally grows out of our heads *and* the ways in which it’s styled? Facts, and not the fun kind. When our Blackness is consistently and systematically disregarded (or appropriated), we have no choice but to validate each other. Which is exactly why mantras like “Black is beautiful” and “Black girl magic” are so necessary-to remind us who the fuck we are.

                                        

“Black women have always had to create their own beauty standards because when you’re not supported by and reflected in mainstream culture, you develop your own subculture,” explains Ozaydinli.

In doing so, we’ve also managed to approach consumerism in a savvy way. Until recently, and despite our buying power, the beauty industry wasn’t focused on creating products for our specific needs. Enter: Black women becoming masters of DIY and just plain figuring it out. We had to mix several foundations together to get the right hue and concoct potions that have been passed down to clear up hyperpigmentation.



The lack of readily available goods coupled with our subculture of self-proclaimed awesomeness is why we’re much more interested in enhancing-not transforming-our looks. Translation: We know we’re stunning. You don’t have to tell us, because we tell each other. (But if you’ve got products that will build on all this awesomeness, then I’ll take one of each. Thanks!)

Perhaps the liveliest way in which we intersect with beauty is something I like to call our love language. There’s nothing like a Black woman complimenting another Black woman.

“There’s just this understanding amongst me and my Black girlfriends that we’re all in this together,” Brown says. “And I think it’s one of the many ways that we support each other—by gassing each other up.”

Black women will literally go out of their way to love on another sistah. We will cross the street if we see a complete stranger with poppin’ curls and need to know what products she’s using. The interaction usually commences with the celebratory cry of “Yesssss, sis! Your hair is everything!” and blossoms from there.

“I don’t know if there’s that sense of camaraderie amongst other groups of women,” Ozaydinli says. “We are like this village: We share secrets with each other and aren’t shy about doing so.”

In a time of such overwhelming racial unrest, we need our village more than ever. And honestly, everyone could use this level of TLC. Because while our unique beauty ethos is distinctly rooted in the Black woman’s experience, that doesn’t mean it can’t inspire others.

So I’ll leave off by asking all women to stop stressing, especially about aging. And to think about how the power of celebrating your overall dopeness might just be the biggest beauty secret there is.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
×