ββ¦I couldn’t understand it. Why couldn’t I just be pretty? Why did I have to be prettyβfor a dark-skinned girl? I was on the honor roll. Captain of the cheerleading team. And none of it seemed to matter. He couldn’t see past my complexion. In fact, a lot of guys couldn’t. Time and time again, I was overlooked in favor of my lighter-skinned besties. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t affect me. I just chose not to let itΒ defineΒ meβ¦ββKahlana Barfield Brown, InStyle Magazine
How many times haveΒ Black womenΒ had to question their beauty because other’s misguided perception ofΒ colorism? Β Sadly, too many times. Β To this day, it’s quite unsettling that authentic skin tones resembling dark chocolate,Β are oftentimes faced with being isolated fromΒ what society considers asΒ beauty i.e light-skinned.
In the piece, βPretty for a Dark-Skinned Girl,βΒ InStyleβsΒ Fashion and Beauty Editor-at-LargeΒ Kahlana Barfield Brown opens up about how she cultivated self-love in the face of persistent colorismβand why we should all resist the term “classic beauty.”
This feature originally appeared in the April issue ofΒ InStyle, on newsstands now.Β For more on this story, clickΒ here.