WHAT IS BBS COMMUNITY?

When colonial capitalists made their way to the continent of Africa, the first ways that they sought themselves to be different and better was based on a comparison of our bodies. We were othered, our bodies were seen as grotesque and strange. Our dark skin is something unholy and removed from god.  Removing us from ourselves, enslaving our bodies, demeaning our bodies, and commodifying our bodies has always been the goal of the dominant culture and separating us from ourselves.

Today many Black folx across the diaspora might say that they are free. And while we may have some freedoms that our Ancestors did not, we are still suffering from a lack of knowing ourselves and how to care for ourselves outside of the western gaze and its beauty standards. While we spend the most on beauty care out of other cultures, it is not because we have a greater understanding and therefore lots of products to help us along the way. Instead, it is the exact opposite. The Black hair community is rampant with misinformation and thousands upon thousands of products that actually do nothing to help you understand the Black body, but instead are simply there to monopolize and take advantage of the Black money. Some of those products even do physical harm that has long-term repercussions like relaxers, and overly tight braiding(both practices are rooted in anti-Blackness).

Black Beauty School Community is set to solve that problem by starting at the beginning. If we are to succeed and take back our power as a people then BBS Community is where we begin. It is a re-education and redefining of Black Beauty Standards using science and the truth about our cultural history in order to invoke deep understanding and rebirth of proud feelings around who we are. This class at its core returns us to the African ideals of community, intention, and care. It truly takes a village but our village has long been scattered and turned against one another. This class will allow participants to slowly break down the walls we have created within and against one another, by learning to care for one another's hair. We will tackle colorism, texturism, ableism, patriarchy, misogyny, Black familial trauma, and more and how these intersections connect with Black hair and our lack of care for ourselves and one another. 

This course requires deep emotion and feeling, it is uncomfortable, it is joyful, it is scary and exhilarating. It is the beginning of new Blackness. By addressing our lack of care for ourselves all participants no matter their fields of perspective work will leave the course with a clear understanding of how to advocate for themselves but also their Black siblings in Germany and beyond. They will come to understand that the propaganda of Anti- Blackness is worldwide and our strongest fight against that blight is being able to come together without fear and selfish indifference that has been forced upon us by the dominant culture. Black Beauty is a human right, not something that is only extended to those who can pay.