Exploring opportunities and challenges on the consumption of colour cosmetics and make-up products by black women in South Africa

Abstract

Diversity, inclusivity, and empowerment are driving today’s fast-changing beauty attitudes, transforming expectations of looks and dismantling age-old patriarchal beauty standards in the process. Even though make-up is perceived as a means of self-expression, this study considers why many black women do not use make-up and colour cosmetics regularly. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore opportunities and challenges on the consumption of colour cosmetics and make-up products by black women in South Africa. The study sought to examine the influence of cultural beliefs, personality traits and social class on the consumption of colour cosmetics and make-up products by black South African women. The theory of buyer behaviour and the purchasing decision model were employed as the lens for the study. A mixed-method study was used for this research where a survey of 316 non-users or occasional users of colour cosmetics and make-up products was quantitatively carried out and qualitative interviews, designed to understand the consumption of colour cosmetics and make-up products, were conducted with 14 purposefully selected women in Gauteng Province, South Africa. The research findings supported one hypothesis, personality traits, as a significant positive influence and two hypotheses, cultural beliefs and social class, as negative influences on the consumption of colour cosmetics and make-up products by black South African women. The study contributes to the existing literature on the consumption of make-up products by black women in South Africa and to an understanding of the importance of inclusivity when cosmetics companies develop products. Based on the research results, recommendations for possible strategies that may be adopted by marketing managers in the colour cosmetics and make-up sector are provided. It is also recommended that future studies consider expanding the research to women of colour in general as they tend to use the same shades of colour cosmetics and make-up products and might have the same challenges or opportunities. Finally, future research to investigate other factors, such as disposable income of black women in South Africa, which could influence the consumption of colour cosmetics and make-up products, is recommended