A perspective of beauty....
Growing up and transitioning from a girl, to a young lady, to a grown woman, society instills a magnitude of pressure on our girls and women to live up to society's standards of beauty. Though there is, however, a paradigm shift in the beauty industry as a lot more girls and women are embracing all that is beautiful by their OWN standards.
SMOOCH has taken the time to interview one of our lovely young ladies, Nicole Marokane, who resides in Southern Africa and has provided us with insight into her experience and perception of beauty in South Africa.
Tell us about your experience with beauty growing up.
Growing up I looked to my mom for a lot inspiration and she’s always been the kind of woman that was natural from growing her hair out to her own nails and that stood out to me. I lived in a neighbourhood that had a lot of young girls around the same age so all of them had relaxed hair and braids so I joined in and began to feel as though long relaxed hair feels and looks good as well as looking like my peers felt great.
I was never experimental with my look. I’ve always liked a bare face and my bushy eyebrows. As an adult, I still like the bare face and now I’ve grown out my Afro. I use my hair as an accessory and hair-wraps. I’ve had full glam makeup plenty of times but it just felt odd and I didn’t feel like myself nor as confident as I did with just my bushy eyebrows and Afro.
2. Is there anyone that you look up to for beauty inspiration?
There isn’t a specific person, but a range of ladies, one being Issa Rae. She’s a marvel to a black girl like me.
3. As a young, Black, South African woman, how do you feel about beauty being confined into this box of subscribing to European beauty standards?
I think it’s slowly moving away from that . From the media that’s available to the ladies I see when I go out , I think ladies are becoming okay with the texture of their hair. A little bit of enhancement never hurts but I’m seeing more natural hair from relaxed to Afro’s and makeup that looks more natural and nude lips. Campaigns are casting models with skin tones I grew up around and I’m enjoying seeing that.
4. Is there anything that you want to change or evolve within the beauty and cosmetics industry?
I would really like to see a larger section with hair products from black people as well as skin care. I would like to see more models with real skin from stretch marks to pimples and less airbrush/ photoshopped skin texture.
5. Is make-up for you?
I’d say no with openness to learning more about it. I love it on ladies and what it does to them, however, I prefer the bushy eyebrows with a clear face look. Seeing ladies walk taller and feel like completely different people is amazing.
Many young girls and ladies in the new-age era are slowly shifting from perceived perfection to self-love and acceptance. That's power!
xxx
THE SMOOCH SQUAD
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