Ask any Black woman who inspires her when it comes to beauty and she will likely rattle off a list dotted with plenty of older dames. Like the legendary Diana Ross: This woman is 76 years old and looks like she just stepped offstage with The Supremes. Singer Grace Jones might as well be a vampire, slaying at 72 with her signature androgynous look. And then there's actress Cicely Tyson, who, at 95 (!), was stepping out and dazzling on red carpets as recently as January. Insert the ubiquitous and beloved (if not *entirely* factually accurate) "Black don't crack!"
That's not to say these women haven't aged at all. It just means we don't care that they have. Because while most of the world is obsessed with youth—and figuring out how to look like they just came out of the womb—reverence for "over-the-hill" gals is a crucial part of Black girl magic.
Think about it with me: I've never heard any of my white friends reference stars like Helen Mirren, Meryl Streep, or Goldie Hawn (who all look great, for the record) as their beauty muses. And no shade to my white friends—my point is just that Black women approach beauty in a pretty special (and pretty inspiring, in my not-so-humble opinion) way.
Part of that is about celebrating each other regardless of age—or skin tone or hair texture or body type. Part of it is that we don't stress over what everyone else thinks. And the other part is that our overall beauty POV transcends the physical to go much deeper. Let me attempt to overexplain.
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