"It hurts to be beautiful" is a cliché. "It hurts not to be beautiful" is the truth I've learned.
We grow up hearing that beauty is pain — waxing, contouring, starving, perfecting. But for many of us, especially Black women with features that don’t fit Eurocentric ideals, the real pain isn’t in the process.
It’s in the exclusion.
The world doesn't just reward beauty, it punishes those who don’t fit its narrow version of it. If you have dark lips, textured skin, a broad nose, or a bigger body, you’re not just left out — you're often judged, overlooked, or made to feel invisible. That’s the real wound.
“Even physically harmless preoccupations divert time and money from social action to self-improvement.”
We spend hours in front of mirrors. We save up for lip balms, concealers, tints — anything to make ourselves more “presentable.” On the surface, it looks harmless. But dig deeper, and you’ll see a system profiting off our insecurities.