Every second of every day, the way the people in our society and beauty industries portray the standards of beauty impacts people who aren't white. The idea that many people begin to believe is that being beautiful means being white. This is due to white supremacy. Time and time again the people in society are taught that whiteness is considered superior. Because white people are perceived by many as superior, they are also seen as more attractive. This idea of superiority and beauty makes people who are inferior (not white) not meet the standards of beauty and are considered ugly and not beautiful. The message that is being sent is clear, the more you can look like a white person, the more attractive you are, and the darker you are the uglier you are. These ideas defeat the self-confidence and self-approval of people who are not white.

To beauty industries, your beauty isn't all about your skin color, it also relies on your features. As proven by beauty industries, what is seen as attractive eyes, nose, and hair, are less likely (if ever) to appear on Latina, Asian, or Black women. According to the spouse of 10 Ways the Beauty Industry Tells You Being Beautiful Means Being White, “the ideal proportions of so-called “universal beauty” never rank non-European features as most beautiful.” This proves to the people in our society, colored or white that, white people are almost always seen as most beautiful. It seems that in the beauty industry, any person who isn't white can't achieve the standard of (how society sees) beauty. In many situations whether we realize it or not this inequality happens every day. This occurs daily in situations like in magazines or advertisements and in makeup products.

The racism of beauty and its standards can be found in many situations but are rarely recognized. In makeup products, in particular, the racism is obvious. In many shops and pharmacies (such as Rite Aid) there are “Rows and rows of colors to match the various shades of fair skin, and no more than two or three for brown skin – none of which are your shade.” (10 Ways the Beauty Industry Tells You Being Beautiful Means Being White.)

In a long list of places, companies have a limited selection of makeup. Many stores don't sell makeup Shades for people who aren't white (and don't have “fair,” or light colored skin.) Places that sell makeup rarely sell their product in darker shades. This makes people of color think that they can't wear makeup because of the lack of product in their shade. This might make them feel like there is something wrong with their skin. It is difficult for people with darker skin to make themselves feel good and happy about the way they look because makeup brands favor people who are white. Many makeup shades don't go dark enough to fit the need of many people of color, this can convince people of color that they aren't pretty enough to have the option of wearing makeup. If you are white, you have the ability to go to your nearest pharmacy and pick up a foundation in your color easily. However, if you are not white and have darker skin, and need a darker shade of makeup, in many pharmacies you will struggle to find the right product for you making an easy task of simply going to a store, into a large task of hunting for your shade and normally not finding it. This should not have to happen. Beauty industries don't realize that they are hurting the feelings of so many people. The reason for this is, many advertisements make it so women feel bad about how they look, and who they are, so they will buy more products at the market (or place they get their products), making more money. The beauty industry gains a lot from convincing women that they're not beautiful enough or good enough so people will buy their products.

Women of all shades get very strong messages from the beauty industry and our society that their value depends deeply on their attractiveness. This pressures many people to feel the need to buy more makeup products because they believe that a product can help society (along with themselves) recognize their beauty. Due to the feeling that whiteness is beautiful, many people of color even go to the extreme to try and look more white. One way some women attempt to become white is by bleaching their skin! The article, 10 Ways the Beauty Industry Tells You Being Beautiful Means Being White, explains that “nearly two-thirds of dermatological products are for skin bleaching, and Nigeria, where 77% of women use them.” The article also explains that, after the attempt of using creams to looking more white, many of the creams used lead to horrible side effects and damage the skin of the user. The damage includes scarring and kidney damage. Many people are proven to go to the extreme of risking their health and damaging their skin so they can be seen as more beautiful by society, and themselves.

Multiple women, Asians in particular, get surgery to fit the standards of beauty. The idea of attractive eyes rarely (if ever) appear on Asian women. Many Asians struggle with “ face pressure” to make their eyes look “less Asian” to achieve beauty standards. In an attempt to fit more of a white beauty standard, many Asians get surgery to change their eye shape. Due to the pressure of beauty standards many women of color tend to get surgery to fit more into the category of beautiful. In our outrageous world where media sets a standard for beauty, it sometimes takes surgery for women of color to have a chance at success.

Along with the struggle of finding a makeup product that suits people with darker skin, the message that magazine covers and advertisements send is impactful and teaches the lesson to many people that being white will make you more likely to succeed and be more beautiful.

Women on the “Most Beautiful People” covers of magazines are rarely people of color. This reveals to the public that being a person of color automatically gives you a disadvantage in the beauty industry. This will also impact the thoughts of young people. When a young person of color sees someone on a magazine cover that is called beautiful and it doesn't look like you, again and again, it makes them understand and learn the racism of the world.

When you search up “Beautiful Women” on the internet, you get the result of multiple white women (particularly the white women with blue eyes and blond hair) and just a few people of color. On this page of the stereotype of “beautiful women,” some people see beautiful women. What other people see is racism. The superiority of white women sometimes blocks the view of many people noticing the discrimination of people of color. Sometimes people don't realize this topic of racism in the beauty industry. Racism is often talked about but in these forms, people have troubling realizing it. New York’s “Fashion Week”, one of the world’s biggest fashion events, revealed that participating models were 82.7% white, 9% Asian, 6% Black, and 2% Latinx.” (10 Ways the Beauty Industry Tells You Being Beautiful Means Being White.) Due to the racial bias present in our world, people considered white women as the largest percentage of beautiful and people of color are a small fraction of their beauty.

Colored women struggle to look through catalogs and magazines because they feel less beautiful and feel like they could never succeed in such beauty. These appearances of white models on multiple covers of “beautiful people magazines” lead to the belief that the idea of the beauty in these magazines isn't meant for people with darker skin. Beauty standards of the correct skin color, facial features, hair, and so much more are set all around the world. These standards are impossible for any women to live up to.

The heavily photoshopped images that are placed in the media make it so colored models look whiter and “more presentable” for the world to see. In many adds, “black women, in particular, are expected to look white in order to qualify as beautiful.” (Retrieved from, When Whiteness is the Standard of Beauty.)

People of color are often heavily photoshopped in order to appear to have lighter skin to accomplish looking more white. Many magazine covers, advertisments, and more, clearly show what society calls beautiful, (blue eyes and white skin), and compares it to what is seen as less attractive (brown eyes and brown skin).

Most of the time, on a magazine cover, advertisement, etc, the images of selling Beauty is most of the time a picture of a white person or a person of color photoshopped to look white. Even the models themselves don't agree to this racism. Companies photoshop images in order to (attempt to) fit the definition, and standard of beauty.

Through the multiple television shows, advertisements, commercials, media, celebrity culture, makeup products and so much more, the unreachable standard of beauty is set. Many women thrive to accomplish such beauty. However, this is a problem. Women go to the extreme in order to try and achieve the facial features, skin color, and all around look of a white person. Due to the racism in our society, women of color are often seen as unattractive because of how the superiority of white people makes them more attractive in the eyes of beauty industries. People with darker skin can often feel that a product isn't made for them because of the limited selection of foundations and makeup made for people of color or feel that there is something wrong with their skin. It's these thoughts that can defeat the self-confidence of many women of color.

Often many people in our society have trouble realizing the racism present in many beauty industries today. Multiple times, people are blind to the racism in the forms of some items they see every day such as magazine covers or makeup products. Together we can take a stand and take a step towards a more equal view of beauty. No matter peoples features, skin color, or race, everyone should be considered beautiful.