Keep beating the “beauty products can only replace the confidence that beauty standards steal” drum. You’ve also said that the industry will create an issue and then sell you something to “fix” it.
I appreciate the grace you give to those of us realizing we’ve been lied to and slowly working our way out.
I find angry reactions to your work So Fascinating. It's such a projection of guilt and shame and ego, which is why you're so astute to connect beauty standards to whiteness the way you do. That kind of "protection/attack/why are you being mean to me" reeks of white fragility. It's not like you're coming into anyone's house and throwing out their bathroom products! Really interesting overlap and there's a lot of psychological meat there. Thanks for a great read! Gonna go read the ingredients in my moisturizer next :]
The more of your stuff I read, the more it really resonates with me that fully divesting is simply the best option. The idea of checking every product I buy for a long list of petrochemicals, potentially not finding any "clean" products, searching online for "clean" products, wondering if the shipment would cancel out the positive effect... I think quitting the whole skin care thing altogether will frankly be easier! It is incredible, though, the loops people (including myself) will go to to continue performing beauty regimens that don't even actually help. It's that ingrained!
I'd be interested to hear you discuss unnecessary "beauty" being disguised as necessary hygiene in more detail. It makes me think of how female body hair is sometimes seen as unhygienic, or how in psych evaluations, women who don't have done-up hair and a made-up face are considered to not be taking care of themselves (in a personal hygiene sense).
I have a request! Because I just took your petrochemical list into my bathroom and that got me thinking about haircare. Can you talk about, or can you find someone to interview to talk about, haircare and petrochemicals? I try not to use more products on my hair than I do on my face, but THE FRIZZ must be tamed. And even the natural products I've bought have sneaky petrochemicals in them WTH?
♥️♥️♥️ Brava! I switched to natural stuff years ago because the petrochemicals felt gross coming off my skin in hot yoga classes. thanks to your work I’m in a place now (feeling Informed as well as more self-confident) where I can buy and use even fewer products... I needed an article to convince my partner to switch to natural products too. This is it. x
Here I was patting myself on the back for showering with a hippie bar of soap with minimal packaging! Did not realize soap was bad/unnecessary 😳 What do you recommend instead? Is just water enough?? I worry about smelling bad, which is its own beauty/skincare issue (please cover scents!)
Every time a celebrity comes out with some product launch, I always imagine a bunch of hyperactive male businessmen around her convincing her she needs to jump on this obnoxious bandwagon. These women are already wealthy, they don’t need the money, and they would probably rather spend more time with their kids! We are all on the same hamster wheel in a way, just on a different scale. stressing about making it, staying relevant, keeping and increasing our “likes” on social. It’s like Jessica said, the celebrities she met were not less insecure than us but significantly more insecure. Can just one stand up and start Jessica’s chant: Stop the celebrities! (Or was it The Celebrities Must Be Stopped?) I could imagine Jennifer Lawrence telling them all to knock it off. (I will die if she launches a beauty product brand. She doesn’t have a brand does she??) Stella McCartney. That news is...deflating 😞
Currently listening to the latest episode of the Vibe Check podcast and had to pause the episode so I could come here to vent because I am fuming! In the episode, they're discussing the crisis currently going on in Pakistan that was brought on by climate change (which, as we know, is exacerbated by overdevelopment and overconsumption in the West). My mouth was agape as I heard them describe how 1/3 of Pakistan is currently underwater, 80% of their livestock is dead, and most people are living in plastic tents on the streets with no access to food. We know that those who are responsible for the overdevelopment and overconsumption that has brought on climate change will never have to face the consequences, but rather, it will be those least responsible who will be the most impacted by the climate catastrophes that will inevitably continue to happen in our future. The hosts astutely pointed out how wealthy Americans will NEVER be displaced from their homes and will never become climate refugees. They specifically cited Kim Kardashian as an example and went on to describe how, in June, Kim used 232,000 MORE gallons than she is permitted to for her estate. 232,000!!! For her ESTATE!!! This immediately made me think of the beauty industry--not only how disgustingly wasteful it is--but how it is inextricably linked to girlboss culture + choice feminism and who ~gets~ to become rich and rise to positions of power at the expense of so many others, including people in the Global South. Let's not forget that celebrities and influencers are literally agents of the State!
All that to say that, Jessica, the work you're doing with The Unpublishable is SO important!! There is still so much more work to be done by all of us, but just know that I wouldn't be making these connections if it weren't for you. So, on the days when you feel helpless or like what you write doesn't matter, please remember that your work IS making an impact and IS changing lives! <3
This is a big one for me. I need lots of Vaseline-enriched moisturizer to treat my scar tissue and have not yet found an alternative that my skin will accept. I follow your reasoning entirely but don't know what an alternative could be, nor did the dermatologists and doctors I've asked about it. Please help...
Keep beating the “beauty products can only replace the confidence that beauty standards steal” drum. You’ve also said that the industry will create an issue and then sell you something to “fix” it.
I appreciate the grace you give to those of us realizing we’ve been lied to and slowly working our way out.
I find angry reactions to your work So Fascinating. It's such a projection of guilt and shame and ego, which is why you're so astute to connect beauty standards to whiteness the way you do. That kind of "protection/attack/why are you being mean to me" reeks of white fragility. It's not like you're coming into anyone's house and throwing out their bathroom products! Really interesting overlap and there's a lot of psychological meat there. Thanks for a great read! Gonna go read the ingredients in my moisturizer next :]
The more of your stuff I read, the more it really resonates with me that fully divesting is simply the best option. The idea of checking every product I buy for a long list of petrochemicals, potentially not finding any "clean" products, searching online for "clean" products, wondering if the shipment would cancel out the positive effect... I think quitting the whole skin care thing altogether will frankly be easier! It is incredible, though, the loops people (including myself) will go to to continue performing beauty regimens that don't even actually help. It's that ingrained!
I'd be interested to hear you discuss unnecessary "beauty" being disguised as necessary hygiene in more detail. It makes me think of how female body hair is sometimes seen as unhygienic, or how in psych evaluations, women who don't have done-up hair and a made-up face are considered to not be taking care of themselves (in a personal hygiene sense).
I have a request! Because I just took your petrochemical list into my bathroom and that got me thinking about haircare. Can you talk about, or can you find someone to interview to talk about, haircare and petrochemicals? I try not to use more products on my hair than I do on my face, but THE FRIZZ must be tamed. And even the natural products I've bought have sneaky petrochemicals in them WTH?
My favourite subject line ever written.
🔥🔥🔥 as always.
♥️♥️♥️ Brava! I switched to natural stuff years ago because the petrochemicals felt gross coming off my skin in hot yoga classes. thanks to your work I’m in a place now (feeling Informed as well as more self-confident) where I can buy and use even fewer products... I needed an article to convince my partner to switch to natural products too. This is it. x
Here I was patting myself on the back for showering with a hippie bar of soap with minimal packaging! Did not realize soap was bad/unnecessary 😳 What do you recommend instead? Is just water enough?? I worry about smelling bad, which is its own beauty/skincare issue (please cover scents!)
Every time a celebrity comes out with some product launch, I always imagine a bunch of hyperactive male businessmen around her convincing her she needs to jump on this obnoxious bandwagon. These women are already wealthy, they don’t need the money, and they would probably rather spend more time with their kids! We are all on the same hamster wheel in a way, just on a different scale. stressing about making it, staying relevant, keeping and increasing our “likes” on social. It’s like Jessica said, the celebrities she met were not less insecure than us but significantly more insecure. Can just one stand up and start Jessica’s chant: Stop the celebrities! (Or was it The Celebrities Must Be Stopped?) I could imagine Jennifer Lawrence telling them all to knock it off. (I will die if she launches a beauty product brand. She doesn’t have a brand does she??) Stella McCartney. That news is...deflating 😞
Currently listening to the latest episode of the Vibe Check podcast and had to pause the episode so I could come here to vent because I am fuming! In the episode, they're discussing the crisis currently going on in Pakistan that was brought on by climate change (which, as we know, is exacerbated by overdevelopment and overconsumption in the West). My mouth was agape as I heard them describe how 1/3 of Pakistan is currently underwater, 80% of their livestock is dead, and most people are living in plastic tents on the streets with no access to food. We know that those who are responsible for the overdevelopment and overconsumption that has brought on climate change will never have to face the consequences, but rather, it will be those least responsible who will be the most impacted by the climate catastrophes that will inevitably continue to happen in our future. The hosts astutely pointed out how wealthy Americans will NEVER be displaced from their homes and will never become climate refugees. They specifically cited Kim Kardashian as an example and went on to describe how, in June, Kim used 232,000 MORE gallons than she is permitted to for her estate. 232,000!!! For her ESTATE!!! This immediately made me think of the beauty industry--not only how disgustingly wasteful it is--but how it is inextricably linked to girlboss culture + choice feminism and who ~gets~ to become rich and rise to positions of power at the expense of so many others, including people in the Global South. Let's not forget that celebrities and influencers are literally agents of the State!
All that to say that, Jessica, the work you're doing with The Unpublishable is SO important!! There is still so much more work to be done by all of us, but just know that I wouldn't be making these connections if it weren't for you. So, on the days when you feel helpless or like what you write doesn't matter, please remember that your work IS making an impact and IS changing lives! <3
This is a big one for me. I need lots of Vaseline-enriched moisturizer to treat my scar tissue and have not yet found an alternative that my skin will accept. I follow your reasoning entirely but don't know what an alternative could be, nor did the dermatologists and doctors I've asked about it. Please help...