This Week in Beauty: Who Is Really Disillusioned?

Something fun as I’m working on a longer piece. Peace!

• Charlie xcx speak immediately¹

• We’re approach Aquaphor szn. Stock up.

• Long braids in the bathroom #hack

• The tip is that there is no tip

• My FAVORITE core

• I thought we were talking about hair…

• Never a girl from Utah 🙏🏾

You can also find more beauty memes a la Studio Symoné’s highlights on Instagram, #SStv 📺

Not so fun, but sharing some thoughts I posted in regards to this New York Times headline. Although it’s always important to go beyond the headlines, and although we know the NYT is always baiting us, I do not like when people speak for me. It’s always important to make your stance known when you feel compelled to do so. I don’t want to flatten conversations around black women, our political dispositions — which vary — and rest. As my friend Dr. Rikki Byrd reminded me, not all of us have the same privileges or easy access to rest. I’m still learning nuance. Open to other thoughts or feelings from black women on this matter. They don’t have to be mine.

This headline is crazyyyy harmful. Since it generalizes, I need to say it does not represent me. I am not disillusioned. I was already resting and doing a lot more like… enjoying my life with people who don't see me as a specimen to be picked a part. I haaaaate this narrative so much it's almost too easy. It's almost too lazy. when I'm thinking about black women, I am not only thinking about black women who live in the United State in regards to the pursuit of rest, justices, happiness, all of it. I just think our world is so much bigger than to keep responding and switching up my moves in relation to how white ppl move. I am WAY PAST white people dictating who I am, my choices, my feelings, or what I represent. Are we in elementary school on the PLAYGROUND?! We are not

Check out Studio Supply, the only show going straight to the source, asking folks what’s in their beauty supply bag. Hosted by me.

studio.symone

A post shared by @studio.symone

Here’s a preview of this week’s beauty news. Subscribe for the entire thing!

• At 97, George E. Johnson, founder of Johnson Products Company, is set to release his memoir, "Afro Sheen: How I Revolutionized an Industry with the Golden Rule, from Soul Train to Wall Street," on February 4, 2025. Johnson established the first Black-owned company listed on the American Stock Exchange and sponsored the iconic 70s show "Soul Train.” I found out about this news via The Black Beauty Archive! 

• A few week ago I talked about girls robbing banks (and beauty retailers) as a makeup trend but also a reflection of real life.  In related news, California voters passed Prop 36, a measure reclassifying repeat shoplifting as a felony and increasing penalties for certain drug offenses, including fentanyl. The initiative also gives judges the power to mandate treatment for individuals with multiple drug offenses.

• L'Oréal's new three-year partnership with the Louvre explores beauty's evolution through 108 artworks. Obviously, given the track record of both entities, announcement messaging puts big emphasis on diversity and inclusion.