Shades of Black: Contemporary London Black women’s presentation dilemmas negotiating racist colonial legacy and Black affirmation

Abstract

This study traces a brief history of the inequalities faced by Black women concerning beauty and the body, before exploring the lived experiences of ten London Black women. The interviews explored women’s lived experience of three different beauty practices: 1) skin lightening; and/or 2) hair straightening to fit with a white aesthetically pleasing ideal; and 3) body modifications, specifically buttock enhancement, reflecting a growing trend that resists the normative thin white ideal by celebrating (and surgically enhancing) the curvaceous female Black body. Four intertwined themes emerged from the analysis: racism, identity, social capital, and self-esteem.