Why The Makeup Industry "Forgot" About POC?

In light of Fenty Beauty launching, many makeup brands have started to realize that POC, of all shades, is a big market. It is said that over $1.3 trillion is spent on makeup by POC and they hold an incredible amount of buying power. It’s ridiculous to think that Rihanna had to release 40 shades (these colors simply didn’t come out of nowhere) to wake these brands up. So why did it take so long?

In order to understand why the makeup industry “forgot” about POC, we need to understand the history of cosmetics. 

Makeup was used since the dawn of the Egyptians to the indigenous tribes of Africa, the makeup industry in the United States was created solely for the use of the white consumer. The 1920s is where the makeup industry was gained popularity and traction in the U.S due to the movie industry. It was marketed towards women who were pale-faced and had no amount of melanin in their skin. In this case, many women with dark skin tones bleached their skin to fit the beauty standards of that time and by doing this they frequently contracted dermatitis and at high doses could mean death. 

The first cosmetics that were geared towards POC were created in the 1970s.This doesn't mean that cosmetics for POC were created before that, but cosmetic companies started to actively market to POC in this time There were 5 cosmetic companies that started to create makeup towards POC. The shades were limited and when put on the skin, it made their skin tones appear grey than their actual skin tone.

So, if you do the math:

1970-1920= 50 years

50 years before POC were able to have makeup that “matched” their darker skin tones. That’s half a century and almost half a century later something must have changed...

Well, I compared the shades that CoverGirl released in 1976 to the shades that they have now and it's not the biggest change at all..

In the beginning of the 1970's CoverGirl had 5 colors of foundation which appears to only be for lighter skinned people. That was the 1970s and a lot of companies didn't automatically start making cosmetics for POC. I just wanted to compare the shades that CoverGirl used and how many CoverGirl has now...

The picture on your left is a CoverGirl advert from 1976 for their new foundation for oily skin. You can that there are 5 shades of foundations. On your right is the same CoverGirl foundation obviously modified and modernized, but there are 9 shades. 9 SHADES. CoverGirl created 4 new foundation (only one appears to be for dark-skinned women) colors since 1976 and that is 41 years ago. If this doesn't explain how and why the makeup industry "forgot" POC then I don't know what does.

While there is nothing I could find in terms of revenue, Fenty Beauty sold out on all of the darker shades of her foundation in the first couple of days. I found this picture on Instagram and this really shows what the makeup industry is really missing.

Due to the amount of hype that Fenty Beauty has created around their inclusivity of all skin colors, many makeup brands such as Kylie Cosmetics, Marc Jacobs, and more have either released a new product for POC or have shown their customers, that they too have makeup and colors that cater to darker skin tones.

These companies are trying to capitalize on the amount of hype that Fenty Beauty is receiving and they want a piece of that hype too. Well, companies I believe that it is too little too late to be showing your POC customers that you have "every shade" of a foundation. Where were you a year ago? 5 years ago? 10 years ago? oh wait, you didn't care about your POC customers because you believed that you needed to satisfy the white consumer. Now, you suddenly realize that POC actually buy makeup and spend their hard earned money on products that actually suit their skin color? how pathetic.

POC had to wait to 2017 to be able to have a foundation that matched their skin color. I'm so grateful to Rihanna that she was able to create a foundation line that included everyone and not just "one dark foundation color"

Rihanna created a movement for POC to be empowered through the art of makeup and it doesn't seem like it's slowing down anytime soon.

Credits:
Images:
Header Picture - @FentyBeauty
Image #1- Target and Covergirl
Image #2 - @darkskinwomen.makeup
Image #3- Took from a quoted tweet by @localblactvist
Websites:
How The Beauty Industry Failed Has Failed Black Women
Moments in Black Beauty History
Women's 1970s Makeup: An Overview
Cosmetics and Skin: Covergirl
CoverGirl Clean Oil Foundation = Target
Rihanna’s makeup is a wild success because it was actually made for dark-skinned women