From Eyelid Glue To Chemical Straightening, We Want To Know How You’ve Conformed To Eurocentric Beauty Standards As A Person Of Color

But before I get into that, let’s take a second to talk about Eurocentric beauty standards, wherein Eurocentric features — such as big blue or green eyes, small and narrow noses, straight hair, and lighter complexions — are seen as the ideal standard of beauty. Naturally, such a standard excludes features of Black, Latine, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, and Arab folks.

We’ve all, at the very least, seen the stories of Black students being forced to cut their hair on the spot in school or extracurricular activities (here, here, and here are just three examples). We also know women are told that interviewing with straight hair improves their chances of being hired over curly hair. (Studies actually show that Black women with natural hairstyles are less likely to get interviewed.)