prior to the pandemic, i saw an esthetician once or twice every few months who made me deeply uncomfortable. she'd routinely talk about how people who spoke pidgin were "uneducated," how homeless people were leeches on society, and white people were just smarter than others.
she said the bulk of this during my second visit, and i knew that'd be the last time i ever saw her again. the catch? she's a poc, a light-skinned korean woman. it's very possible to be a racist poc, and to be complicit in the oppression of other poc.
in addition to comfortably sharing her racist and classist thoughts with me, as a darker-skinned woman, i felt she wasn't able to help with my skin concerns given that she was lighter-skinned and had expressed she thought light skin was more beautiful.
i was so traumatized by my hour with her that i went home and immediately did research on finding estheticians/skincare experts of color whose views align with mine. thank you @sgarretteskin @LaBeautyologist @LabMuffin @caveofbeauty for all your valuable information & time!!
AND @MakeupForWOC of course!! running out of characters and i'm sure there are a TON of others i could tag in this thread. but thank you for being a well of valuable information for poc.