Beauty in greyscale: Equality for all tone & texture  

The British Beauty Council in association with The Glow Getter Collective hosted an in-depth discussion with industry experts on the ever-important topic of inclusivity alongside diversity across the beauty industry.

During the one-hour webinar, panellists discussed their thoughts and experiences within their different key fields offering ideas and solutions to bring about a more inclusive, all-encompassing industry across education, retail, media and recruitment. 

Meet the Panel

Host: Ailish Lucas – founder of The Glow Getter Collective, marketing & social media strategist for natural beauty brands.

• Charlotte Mensah – British-Ghanaian hairstylist, owner & artistic director of the Hair Lounge salon and advisory board member at The British Beauty Council.
• Deborah Johnson – freelance PR & brand manager at Deborah T Johnson.
• Dija Ayodele – aesthetician, founder of Black Skin Directory and advisory board member at The British Beauty Council.
• Fiona Ibáñez-Leach – head of diversity & inclusion for international markets, Walgreen Boots Alliance and British Beauty Council diversity & inclusion advisor.
• Gary Thompson – AKA “The Plastic Boy” – make-up artist, blogger & content creator.
• Kamanza Amihyia – professional hair and make-up artist & director & educator at Afro Hair and Media Makeup Essentials courses.

The webinar opened with an introduction from the British Beauty Council on its drive to open up honest conversations across all beauty sectors (retail, professional, consumer) about inclusivity and the representation of people of colour in the beauty industry. Its mission for racial equality across the industry was detailed by its desire to create a road map towards solutions, progress and change. This was highlighted by its work to create a set of three areas of focus for championing inclusivity, which it hopes to publish in September after working with a think tank alongside the British School of Fashion as well as other initiatives.  

Dija Ayodele opened discussions by highlighting that college beauty education still offers no acknowledgement of darker skin tones in its curriculum. “Physiology is not present in the teaching,” she reveals “This means students are getting half an education and leave college with no idea of how to deal with black or darker skin tones. Skin behaves differently just with the presence of melanin and skin therapists need the knowledge of how to treat different types of skin. They leave with a lack of practical skills and theoretical knowledge.” Dija closed her point by saying, “Students that want to excel in the industry must seek out the specialist information they need for themselves; the industry education needs a complete overhaul.”

To support Dija’s comments Gary Thompson notes, “When training in make-up there were no black models to match foundation shades to and colour correcting techniques need to be taught across the deeper skin tones.” He moved on to highlight that when approaching retail make-up counters there’s often only white make-up artists (MUAs) to offer advice, therefore women of colour tend to disengage.  

Recognising that UK society is diverse, Kamanza Amihyia put the spotlight on education for hairstylists and MUAs. “Afro hair and darker skin tone make-up need to be taught in all hair and make-up education. A student needs to know it all,” alerts Kamanza. “Right now you have to come out of core education to learn about deeper skin tones and hair textures. It’s time the curriculum was changed and all students learn about the culture and history of make-up and hair. This should go through all the periods in history to showcase the styles and textures of each era, so MUAs when creating a character for photo, film or TV, have a deep and correct understanding.”

Come Together

Collectively agreeing that it’s hard to source educators in the sphere of black skincare, there was a shared view that a black skin directory/database of experts was necessary, long overdue and urgent. 

Moving more into the retail make-up realm, Gary was keen to direct attention to the fact that often department stores promote brands that are not inclusive and offer limited shades in their foundation palette. “The buyers need to get on point by choosing brands that attract all types of client,” asserts Gary. “Point of sale imagery needs to be diverse, if they don’t offer a wide complexion-based range they should not be supported. There should also be more black-owned brands on the shelves, how can they justify putting up a black square for #BLM yet they don’t have a diverse make-up palette on sale? Kamanza in agreement says, “People buy people. The consumer needs to feel included, if I see people like me, I feel included. And inclusive does not mean 10% of your products are directed to women of colour. If your European range is 40%, the same should be offered for the black community too. When they tell us it’s 10% because of the demand, I disagree and cite it’s the lack of supply that dictates these figures.” Fiona punctuated Kamanza’s point by asserting, “We can’t be tokenistic, we must be all encompassing. We need to be very intentional about racial inclusivity and educate all teams on the mindset of anti-racism.”

Industry Voices

Moving into beauty media portrayal, it was concurred that both freelance and employed beauty journalists and editors could do more to support and represent women of colour and black-owned brands. As well as publications commissioning articles from BAME writers in order to serve a wider and more inclusive readership. “To be truly diverse with integrity, organisations need to make sure they support all brands,” notes Deborah. “We need to keep up this energy and offer more guidance to black-owned beauty brands so they can get onto the retail shelves,” she concludes. “And not let this fall away in a few months’ time.”

Keen to put focus on this subject, Charlotte shares, “Black beauty brands are often on the bottom shelf and are not given good energy. There’s little information and the brand’s get side lined. It’s very hurtful. It goes deep. We need inclusivity.” This paved the way for Dija to share her personal experience. “I created a skincare brand. I did my research, took time to get the packaging just right and found I was dealing with all white teams when trying to get it into retail. It didn’t matter how well I spoke or presented myself, my face simply did not fit and I could tell. This was just three years ago, when I was forced to jack it in.

“The big retailers need an initiative that supports black-owned brands. They need to mentor these brands so we understand what they want and how they want it presented. There is no love out there, no good energy for black-owned brands. We deserve so much more, we need promoting, media coverage, support and mentoring.”

Moving to a close as the webinar ended, Kamanza remarks, “There’s a lot of barriers out there for the BAME community. There needs to be better representation at all levels of the beauty business, right up to the higher levels.” Terminating a very positive and open discussion, Deborah Johnson encouraged progression with, “It’s good to talk; now we need action.”

For more information about the British Beauty Council, visit www.britishbeautycouncil.com