Black Skin Care

Realizing Diversity

Hair, beauty, cosmetics and skin care have come a long way in the past decade as opposed to years gone by where women of color were stuck with just one shade of foundation. The cosmetic and skin care industry back then had no idea of the money that they were missing out on by limiting their line to porcelain white skin, when there was a whole bounty of nationalities from Asian to Latina to African American out there just waiting for cosmetics that would work for them. Thanks to ethnic supermodels such as Tyra Banks and Naomi Campbell, attitude within the industry has greatly improved, and the market has expanded seemingly out of control in order to meet demand.

The Challenges of Black Skin Care

Many African-American women face challenges with their skincare that women of other shades do not. According to Pioneerthinking.com, the five most common skin care problems when it comes to African-American skin are:

• Acne. While anyone can suffer from bouts of acne, which is caused by excess production of oil from sebaceous glands, African-Americans are more likely to develop long lasting skin discoloration.

• Ingrown Hairs. African-Americans have naturally curly hair shafts, and after shaving, whether it's facial hair for men or regular body hair for women, oftentimes the hair will curl back into the skin and pierce the wall of the hair follicle, which causes "razor bumps".

• Variations in Skin Color. In darker skinned individuals, the wound healing process after a minor injury can be less than favorable. This is a main cause of post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. After a scar heals, the area may remain darker and can take months or even years to fade, even with the help of skin lightening agents.

• Vitiligo. This is a common skin care condition where the pigment cells attack each other and are destroyed and replaced with irregular white patches, a very unsightly skincare problem for African-American skin. There are several skin care methods for this condition, but none have been perfected so far.

• Keloids. This type of scar is a common skin care issue that results from a scar or wound that heals beyond the size of the original wound. Keloids are typically found on the earlobes, neck, chest and back. These scars are very painful physically and emotionally and neither surgical or non-surgical methods have been proven to keep keloids away for long.

The Sky's The Limit

Women of color have so many more options than previous generations, being able to choose from a whole rainbow of cosmetic shades, and obtain scrubs and moisturizers (to name only a couple) that are designed specifically to suit their needs.

This embrace of diversity has made the skin care industry a much more friendly place to be, with profits increasing each year as more and more ethnic women discover the benefits of high end makeup manufactured just for them. Many drug store cosmetics such as Cover Girl and Maybelline also feature a line of ethnic beauty that is perfect for someone looking to add new products to their black skin care routine. New advances have definitely been made, and women the world over are thrilled.