Two sisters from Peckham organised a hair and beauty convention to celebrate the diversity of black women’s beauty, writes Jessie Kolvin.
Christina and Grace Adesina brought together people from the hair and beauty industries, influencers and businesswomen for the two-day event.
Entitled Shades of Beauty Live, it is being called the UK’s first ‘Black Beautycon’.
Two thousand people attended the event, which included talks, hair and beauty workshops and exhibits from various beauty brands.
As well as being a celebration, the convention was intended as a challenge to what the Adesina sisters perceive to be the media and beauty industry’s homogenised notion of beauty.
Taking their challenge to social media, the sisters launched their #MyShadeMatters campaign in front of an audience including Vogue contributing editor Funmi Fetto and Sharmadean Reid MBE.
Christina explained the rationale behind the hashtag: “So often we are fed images of the quintessential woman of colour who is usually very slim, has a caramel complexion and loose curly hair.
“This sends a detrimental message to young girls and women who do not fit that ideal.
“I want my young dark-skinned daughter with 4C hair to love the skin she is in and know that she is beautiful.”