Abstract
Black beauty culture arose in the pervasive disparagement of black men and women in representations generated by whites and black women’s exclusion from mainstream cultural organizations. There has been a significant misinterpretation of the necessity and influence of the makeup business, especially for the African American Women population.
This article discusses Makeup for African American Women, presenting an educated cultural viewpoint from ancient African cultures. This explores the selected cultural item from ten viewpoints. These themes include art and crafts in aesthetics, examining the input boundaries, output boundaries, consumption, taste, gatekeepers, aesthetics, sensations, emotions, and secondary market. It is proven that body painting is believed to have safeguarded individuals from evil spirits and even ascribed powers of divinity to those who wore it. The culture expanded and has developed into the contemporary makeup business that blends aesthetic attractiveness and cultural identity. As formed, the beauty culture offered a significant route for African American business at a period when racial prejudice excluded black women from other prospects, and most major cosmetics corporations ignored black women. In assuring innovation in the makeup of African American women, designers must aim to comprehend the significance and comprehension of the African art culture.
Introduction
Makeup for African American Women is frequently seen as contentious due to unintentional misreading of the urge to use makeup. From the aesthetic and philosophical standpoint, makeup in women is understood as a desire to present the imagination of one’s finest self in their immediate surroundings, the body. This article chooses makeup for African American women, evaluating the art of craft from various viewpoints. The objective is comprehending the makeup area as an aesthetic art and craft, studying the input limits, output bounds, consumption, taste, and gatekeepers. These principles give a good viewpoint in comprehending the collective consciousness of a group of people based on their expressed creativity in aesthetic activities, such as African American Women and their makeup trends. A relationship exists between aesthetics and the desirable feelings associated with empowerment in constructing one’s surroundings.
Justification for Choosing Make-up for African American Women
Makeup for African American women is an intriguing cultural study topic as it displays the original through the body makeup. Art includes discordant, geometric shapes and shattered or twisted human forms. Researchers have established that throughout the 18th, 19th, and even 20th centuries, body painting was the principal coating of warriors, a sign of masculinity and authority (Pace, 2018). In ancient African communities, makeup would be employed as the manifestation of a culture exhibiting the roles of spiritual leaders and initiates (Over et al., 2020). The Body painting is said to have safeguarded humans from evil spirits and even ascribed the powers of divinities to those who wore it. The lesion in the era can provide vital information in transforming the idea and principles in product design and use.
The culture expanded and has developed into the contemporary makeup business that blends aesthetic attractiveness and cultural identity. Studying the makeup trends for African Americans may give insight into the reasoning behind the makeup sector, giving a viewpoint for innovation. Through such study, after 100 years, it is envisaged that the industry would have evolved to recognize the science and philosophy of makeup in increasing influence on society.
Art
Creativity is crucial in art and science for developing inspiration to realize the envisaged best self. From the historical perspective, makeup is considered the earliest form of plastic expression performed by humanity, which is presently witnessing a renaissance in a modernized form matching the contemporary moment. In art and craft, throughout production, one depends on aesthetic talent and judgment to develop a real expression of one’s originality, inventiveness, and distinct vision. In Make-up for African American ladies, a particular variation develops from the people’s creativity. The artists in the sector exhibit an understanding of the influence of a feeling of freedom in self-expression via makeup.
In psychology, makeup has been related to a self-image that significantly adds to a person’s mental health. Studies have demonstrated that self-esteem influences how individuals take care of themselves emotionally, physically, and spiritually (Pather & Boulle, 2019). The patterns suggest that body image and self-esteem strongly impact one another. As noted, the need for innovation in the makeup industry among the African-American communities might be influenced by the understanding of the effect of authenticity and the demand for freedom in self-expression.
Crafts
Today, the makeup industry among African American women has developed to be a craft supporting artists and companies encouraging innovation. Studies reveal that the expenditure on beauty is expanding among Black Americans (Pace, 2018). Statistical data reveals that in 2021, the black women population spent $6.6 billion on beauty (Seekis & Barker, 2022). However, researchers noticed that black people’s experience in the beauty business is substantially more irritating than others. There is an evident need for the black community to invest in crafts within the makeup business to bring African awareness in inventing goods, especially for African American women.
Input Boundaries
One of the interventions essential in enhancing the chances of Black-run firms in the makeup industry, the Black community has to set input limits that would assure a limited group of creative potential from the large pool of aspirants. The communities must acknowledge that the beauty industry has not traditionally established a friendly ecology supportive of Black-run companies. Studies show that entrepreneurs do not have access to critical market data and research, and there is a shortage of black representatives at all levels of government among retailers, large cosmetics firms and investors (Over et al., 2020). Most importantly, black beauty entrepreneurs lack investment at all stages of growth, even when black businesses have proven to be more successful than their non-black beauty start-up competitors. Major players in the market must appreciate the value of the ideas and creativity that can be tapped via inclusion.
Output Boundaries
For leadership with the Black community, sector players must be offered the required platform to express the product’s value. In determining the output bounds, the study should assist entrepreneurs in assessing marketability and ease in product marketing. Analyzing the goods’ worth, the study must explore the significance of product marketing and promotion. Such involvement is crucial as marketability and simplicity in product promotion assessment offer the inventor the foundation for improvement in repeated initiatives. In entrepreneurship, product marketing helps the firm target customer personas more successfully.
Taste
One of the most generally examined product criteria is the capacity to fit the target market’s taste. Taste should be measured as one’s taste for various types of dress, music, movies, or other sorts of culture. For African American ladies, Makeup choices tend to be influenced by their African ancestry. The trends in taste among African Americans were depicted in the Black Panther Inspired Wakanda Warrior Makeup (Yékú, 2020). The African American ladies confess to gaining inspiration from the Wodaabe of Niger during the annual Gerewol celebrations (Yékú, 2020). The characters beautified themselves with face cosmetics and donned their stylish outfits, indicating their belief systems and prowess. Such understanding is useful in assessing the taste adjustments required to improve the items’ consumption.
Consumption
In studying the market, entrepreneurs need to consider consumption as the ultimate point of the manufacturing process. The quality and quantity of consumption influence individuals’ life levels in society. If society produces more than it consumes, it may save the excess amount for investment so that economy continues to flourish. Analysis of consumer spending is vital for understanding short-term economic cycle changes. The information helps assess long-run concerns such as the level of interest rates and the amount of capital stock. The management should acquire the data required to make informed strategic investments.
Marketing strategists realize the necessity of matching taste via excellent research and inspiration in the design and execution of concepts. Studying consumption patterns is crucial since Consumer behavior helps firms select what items and services to create or sell. When company executives know what clients purchase, they may more quickly recognize a demand that still needs to be met. Involvement in management is essential in addressing receipt, interpretation, and experience of culture. The manufacturing method and the concepts underlying the designs need to meet the interest of the stakeholders, notably the gatekeepers.
Gatekeepers
In marketplaces, gatekeepers are individuals responsible for choosing and distributing cultural items to the public. In the struggle of the makeup business for African American women, gatekeepers are typically the persons who are determined to maintain cultural identity. Prospective entrepreneurs should be aware that the Black is Beautiful movement redefined a business built on artificially altering women’s bodies to pursue a white European ideal. The popularisation of the slogan ‘Black is Beautiful’ represented the politicization of African American culture in the late 1960s (Pather & Boulle, 2019). The black leaders sought to translate the legislative successes of the Civil Rights Movement into a broader protest against the institutionalized white supremacy which underpinned the United States. The expression, therefore, symbolized the rejection of Eurocentric, white standards in favor of more Afrocentric and black norms.
An essential aspect of this transition was the revived appreciation of dark black complexion and tightly curled hair, which had previously been the diametric antithesis of white beauty norms. However, the reinterpretation of beauty standards inside African American communities ironically became a crucial method by which the cosmetics industry tried to communicate with black women. Scholars have particularly studied the interaction between the hair-care business and black women, indicating how the move in popularity from straightened hair to the afro in the late 1960s was symptomatic of larger shifts in ideas regarding race and gender.
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is an essential design concept that establishes a design’s attractive features. In visual words, aesthetics involves balance, color, movement, pattern, size, form, and visual weight. In art and craft, designers utilize aesthetics to complement their creations’ usefulness and boost functionality with appealing layouts. In improving the aesthetic experience, there is a need to invest in the dynamics of the change in attitude for the target market. Today, there is a missing link in the study on the influence of the shifting views that affect the interaction between black women and the cosmetics business. Researchers in the sector should study how the cosmetics business reacted to the shifting conceptions of race, color, and gender that were wrapped up in the formation of the ‘Black is Beautiful movement.
Current trends demonstrate that although the surge in the exposure of black women and joy in black skin spawned a rush of black cosmetics companies and products, the celebration of blackness was short-lived as beauty norms receded. Nonetheless, during this period, the high degree of success of black cosmetics progressively gained the interest of white firms, who finally monopolized the market, choking smaller, black-owned companies. With the expanding prominence of the self-care sectors, businesses should investigate the effect of wellness initiatives among the African American women demography.
The future of wellness is immense, and its growth is projected as more and more men and women choose a healthy existence via personal care. Self-care from the inside out is one of the trends that will continue to affect the near future. In today’s busy lifestyles, individuals seek a balance between a healthy and productive existence that includes self-care, organic goods, and non-invasive treatments. Skincare has grown increasingly popular lately since people want bright skin without the need to apply makeup, and this has to do with the transition to a more natural lifestyle.
Sensations
The rising quest for emotional fulfillment has further spurred the fast development of the makeup and the body-arts market. Social science knows that the image individuals perceive in the mirror may be genuine or distorted. Based on this concept, individuals build either a good or a negative self-image. The strengths and faults we have absorbed affect how we operate now. The emotional impact of self-image consistently affects how we take in information and appraise ourselves in numerous aspects of life. With a good self-image, individuals acknowledge and own their advantages and potentials while being realistic about their liabilities and limits. With a poor self-image, victims tend to concentrate on the defects and shortcomings, distorting failure and imperfections.
Entrepreneurs targeting the African American women marketplaces should guarantee to express the emotional worth of the goods. In social life, self-image is crucial because how prospective consumers believe about themselves alters how people see their reality. Trends in psychiatry have indicated that a good self-image may increase an individual physical, mental, social, emotional, and spiritual well-being (Over et al., 2020). (Over et al., 2020). Conversely, a negative self-image might impair our enjoyment and capacity to operate in various areas. Designers for the African-American people should seek to recreate the original meaning of makeup as envisaged in pre-colonized Africa.
Secondary Market
The entrepreneurs might explore various markets to generate unique goods that bring significance to the designs. Traditionally, body painting was established as a vibrant art utilized by diverse civilizations to celebrate, defend, and grieve (Pace, 2018). (Pace, 2018). In African civilizations, makeup was commonly used in the form of face paint, is used for various reasons, and may indicate many different things such as hunting, religious and traditional reasons, military goals, or to intimidate an opponent. The entrepreneurs may study the diverse belief systems and utilize them in makeup items. In most market environments, buyers are interested in acquiring new items only because they enjoy product innovation. People opt to acquire unique things since they are tired of the same product with identical characteristics. There is another trend rising among customers concerning internet purchasing.
Conclusion
Makeup for African American women has the potential to expand into a substantial area in the market. There is a need to increase the level of art and craft in making and expressing the worth of the items. Entrepreneurs in the area should aim to grasp the original meaning of makeup and body art from ancient African civilizations. The designers must seek inspiration in producing items for the particular target audiences. It is critical to address the customer’s aesthetics and sensational needs to improve the chances of consumption and growth. Understanding the African American women demographics requires researching the motivation that inspired the communicates to explore makeup and body art in their religious practices. Such insights can open new opportunities through innovation and change of perception on the sector’s impact on society.
References
Over, H., Eggleston, A., & Cook, R. (2020). Ritual and the origins of first impressions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 375(1805), 20190435. Web.
Pace, C. (2018). How women of color get to senior management. Harvard Business Review, 1-15. Web.
Pather, J., & Boulle, C. (2019). Acts of transgression: contemporary live art in South Africa. Wits University Press.
Seeks, V., & Barker, G. (2022). Does# beauty have a dark side? Testing mediating pathways between engagement with beauty content on social media and cosmetic surgery consideration. Body Image, pp. 42, 268–275. Web.
Yékú, J. (2020). Tricksters and female warriors: womanist interweavings from Oríta to Wakanda. Journal of the African Literature Association, 15(1), 107–124.