82% of Black women in the U.S. share the belief that “it’s important for them to be well-groomed” (Nielson 2017). As the importance of grooming, beauty trends, and other valuable information can be captured in statistics, the notion of “wellness” in grooming is often undiscussed. Being well groomed often brings up uncomfortable feelings for Black people- many are reminded of racist structures that set beauty standards that are unattainable to many minorities; they think of occupational and educational discrimination; they think about what it means to exist as a Black person constantly fighting to subvert the stereotype that we are not well, not even in our grooming. What I submit here however, is that we as Black people, have the power to redefine the notion of being “well groomed” for us.
One of the first areas where we can take this action is by exploring the beauty product market created for or by Black people and the human responses created in the use of such products. I submit the idea here that Black women’s creativity in product creation (a part of our well-groomed predilection) releases unquantifiable joy because we can look good as we use products that respect our textures, and we feel good emotionally because we are patronizing businesses that have considered us in their creative process. This gives the notion of being “well groomed” a new definition.
In Back to the Shop’s new series entitled Well-Groomed we will explore the notion and phenomenon of being well groomed for Black people throughout history and highlight the positive implications that redefining that term can have today.