I know you are probably thinking, why the hell would she say that out loud? As a woman, your priority should be be making sure that you are always put together and look desirable. My fashion sense is not always what is currently trending and Lord knows the last time I wore make up. To some extent, I admit I need to work out a little more and getting dressed up more often, but who made up those rules anyway?
As an African-American woman , the stakes are really high to look good. The pressure is on not to look like the slaves that our ancestors were. In my world, I have it bad. How dare a back woman to show up to their workplace, when their hair texture is not meant for messy buns? After natural hair has been ruled out by society to be unprofessional anywhere under than a hair scarf in the private of your own home. Solving this problem is easy, perm your hair until your scalp is so much on fire that you can't run to the sink fast enough. At least it would stop you from getting dirty looks for a while.
When it comes to buying cosmetics such as make up, it is border line crazy. Although is has gotten better, I have to admit. To get the perfect shade, we usually have to mix and match with different colors to blend it perfectly, resulting on African- American women spending more money on make up than an average white woman.
There is more pressure for women to look good, but the standards are even higher for african-Americans. That cause young afican women that are not really educated about money to sign up for extra credit cards to be able to keep up. This is dangerous and intersects with social classes as having bad credit can effect buying a home in the future , another way to not be able to have upward mobility in class.
Wanting to look good is not a bad thing, I am guyikty on spending hundreds of dollars on hair weaves that reinforces the european standards of bauty, but it can turn into a negative when the idea of looking good is looking like anything that out ancestores were, instuniationzalized razism as it's finest.
When it comes to being a woman, black or white, being attractive should not be more than being smart.
