What do you think of this guy’s argument? Is he right?
Why don’t black people sell their own hair products? April 18, 2008
Is it just me, or is it everytime you go into a black cosmetics store, there are other races (usually Asians) behind the counter? I am a north londoner and the biggest black cosemetic store chain in the area is situated in Finsbury Park-Pak Stores. Pak Stores are worth millions, if you take a look at Stroud Green Road, it is clear to see that they have monoplised the whole area; green Pak stores signs everywhere you look. They are run by, (you guessed it from the name Paks) Pakistanis. Do black people have a problem with this though? In no way is this a racist post, suggesting that different races cannot sell the products of another race. But is it not an issue that black people are not the ones to profit from products that are made for black people. Yesterday I stopped some shoppers at the Finsbury Park stores to get their views.
Denisha Johnson, 19 is a student at Middlesex University, and lives in Tottenham, North London. She is a regular customer of Pak stores, she said: “I come here to buy the hair for my extentions, cocoa butter, Dax and other products you can’t find in in Boots or Superdrug.” Commenting on the store being run by Pakistanis she said: “I’m not that keen on it. It’s not just here though, it’s wherever you go in London. It would be better if black people were the ones making money off black people. But then again black people don’t get off their lazy arses and do something about it. It’s all very well to complain, but if there is no action what can you do?”
Sheila Owusu, 41, an accountant from Holloway said: “If black people were the ones selling they could offer a lot more assistance to you as a customer, because they would know what they are talking about. I come here and they try to sell me hair of two different colours and get me to mix the two. A black woman would know that would come out looking terrible!”
The store manager refused to comment on the staff’s knowledge of black hair products and requested me to leave the store.
Through asking around, it is clear that many black women do not like buying their products from other races, but since there is a lack of black alternatives they make do. Pak Cosmetics simply saw a market and exploited it, and that’s buisness for you. It seems that the complaints of black people against black people will remain merely complaints, unless they can offer something better for the black market.
Invasion of the Black-Blonds April 4, 2008
They’re increasing in great numbers. They are the ones that choose to rock a hair colour that’s lighter than their own skintone. Hosts of celebrities are doing it; Beyonce, Mary J Blige, Kelis, Eve, and Keisha Cole. They are the black-blonds and they’re taking over!
Is it really a good look though? It has to be admitted it suits some. Light skinned black people look better with it then dark-skinned. But still, it looks totally unnatural, and in many cases quite cheap.
One could even view it as again celebrating Western beauty, as opposed to young black women embracing with their Afro-Carribbean (I hate that word, but I’ll use it anyway.) features. Once that is mentioned, the argument can go on and on. Is it just their hair that black women are dissatisfied with? Or does go further to include the flat shape of the nose, the big lips, and the dark skin? In many black and even asian cultures it is considered more attractive to be fairer, thus skin-lightening products are not uncommon within the black and asian communities. It is ironic that Caucasions spends hours sunning themselves on beaches to look darker, when black people are using all sorts of toxic creams to look lighter. It seems no one is happy with what their genes dealt them.
However, It could be suggested that black women dying their natural hair blond, or getting blond weaves put in is symbolic of the age we are at. An age of multi-culturalism, an age that has begun to see little wrong with mixing colours; black, white, yellow, green, whatever. As we are in an age of mixing what is wrong with a black girl borrowing her look from a white girl and vice-versa? White girls rock cornrows these days too, thus it seems we’re all borrowing each other’s looks.
