I don’t have pretty privilege and that sucks

Love your post.

I don't think straight wigs are the enemy but these long to your back Cher wigs look very drag queen especially for the day. I have a friend who did that and people were always laughing behind her back and it did nothing for her. The wig above is the perfect length and looks like relaxed hair.

What other tips do you have? Besides enhancing cleavage, not slapping a wig on and better glasses?

Best,
Almond Eyes
I agree that the Cher wigs look ridiculous 90% of the time but the bigger problem is that the majority of women who follow trends and wear those wigs (or lashes or fashion nova nonsense or botched bbl) don't look in the mirror and realize they are the 90%.

A lot of what goes into being the best version of yourself is to be honest about that what you may think is ideal archetype may not fit with the female archetype that plays best for you. The good news is that there's a million ways to accentuate what is ideal for you. For example, Chloe Bailey is trying to project herself as some sex pot vampy siren when she could effortlessly ride out the girl next door archetype and it fits. Instead she out here tryna to be the archetype that she thinks is ideal instead of what works for her and it comes off as not authentic and cringy.
chloe-bailey-2021-bet-awards-outfit.jpg


This made me think about a thread I made for late bloomers. Crackers Crumbs: For Plain Girls Who Have Considered Absinthe When Tequila Is Enuf

Also, a dating coach told me that a good way to gage if men are attracted is to pay attention to if their eyes dilated, i.e., their pupils got bigger and stayed big during a conversation. Everybody's eyes dilate when they encounter people they like but extended dilation indicates attraction. This is much easier to see with lighter colored eyes. Life/work tip - when you deal with white people watch their eyes. If you run into one with a huge smile on their face but their pupils are pin points that person means you harm. I notice this a lot with sales people but I digress.

@Crackers Phinn your comment about cleavage is fascinating. When you say men you'd known for years started treating you differently, how so? Please share if you're comfortable with that. It always intrigues me to know how basic men can be :drunk:.

It's hard to hear and unPC to say but men tend to put women into two categories :censored: -able and :censored: -able if every other option has been gone bust. Both of those categories have women falling on a bell shaped curves of how much effort the man will put into his interactions with the women based on where she falls on his curve (pun intended). Even if an attractive woman is off limits to a man, he will still treat her differently than if he didn't find her attractive, hence pretty privilege is very real.

When women tell other women that men love confidence, they aren't quite telling the whole story. Men love sexual confidence in women. That plays out in how comfortable you appear to be with your body and the effort that you put into your appearance. My observation of moving from baggy clothes to form fitting clothes where my breasts said hello before I ever said a word got more men coming up to talk to me in public places and got me more business referrals. "Sheldon" from the Chernobyl thread choked on his own spit when I showed up wearing a shirt similar to this.
1625428254120.png
This isn't some Instagram thot wear but it emphasized what I was working with. I felt some kind of way about it but the consultants were like get over it. It is what it is and focus on getting what I wanted out of the attention.
 
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1. I don't live in the US, but over here I have to second look white women on a regular basis for crazy looking stuff. The blotchy fake tan, over lined lips, fake eyebrows, over filled lips and faces, fake nails, eyelash extensions, obvious hair extensions and the list goes on.

The insta baddie look is very in right now with a good subsection of all races of young women going for it. There are no races of men who havent peeped obvious "enhancements" in their own women. A lot of men say they don't like heavy make up (or any make up), yet plenty of women still wear it. What's more a lot of these white/spicy white women who enjoy the fake look don't get told they won't get anyone and regularly enough marry well. Oft have plenty of black men running after them too :look:.

2. Somehow when I hang with African friends - Light through dark, average cute to beautiful, braided to weaved heads and naturals are getting married off at speed. My friend was constantly going to a wedding. I've never felt any "lowered stock" around successful Nigerian guys for example if I'm wearing a weave. Quite the opposite. Same with white men to the point I feel overhyped. I've had so many white women admit envy and insecurity towards me ( to the point its irritating now, why are they so insecure? ) and they must suspect when I'm wearing a wig. It might ease their butt hurt a bit but not enough, clearly.

3. End point. It's not just the ladies lackluster wig. It's a combination of factors which include her excess weight, styling, confidence, location and hair (plus I don't like how the HB wig emphasises her big forehead).

Beyond that I believe that classically black women (brown and especially dark) are held to higher standards and picked apart more. For us we need to be more, basically as close to Kelly Rowland standard as possible. Even then it's not always enough. Passes are given out for bad make up, dry bleached hair n below par fake hair but not to us.

4. Guys from my own background ignored me, or only gave me attention until someone lighter turns up. I was mostly styled with my own hair back then (short natural) , but I've had everything from Lupita to Naomi over time. Please can we not pretend that along with grumbling towards fake hair there isn't also less interest towards dark skinned women with 4b/z hair that isn't manipulated (especially if not pretty faced) ? I have no idea why everyone is assuming she has had the same style glasses and has always worn her hair this way. Over 20 whole years I can bet she's been relaxed, natural and braided.

5. We have a thread in this here forum featuring a ds woman with long natural hair, feminine dress sense and a hourglass figure stating the same experience. What does she have to do now? IJS Im so glad I move out of my old community. As soon as I did I realised my looks currency was way higher. I've been able to leverage it with men in the workplace/ladder climbing. Came from the hood dated well and married cross-class. Never would have happened if I'd stayed in that bubble with people telling me what was wrong with me (too dark, too slim, hair not long enough etc..).

6. Admittedly the Carib Brit community is probably at an advanced stage compared to AA's. I remember a natural pro black poster on here being very critical of BW dating out. Then when she studied here she was close to tears at how many black guys looked straight through her. If we are talking bout stocks, they are now lowered over here just by being full black. I think the way things have changed over time is directly linked to this whole black men are the prize idea. With this whole Kevin Samuel's worship intensifying matters its only going to get worse for black women, especially those who are average looking. A lot of guys in her same looks, wage and intelligence bracket think they are special and they deserve more than her. I thought her videos frank, honest and balanced.
 
I have been in this woman's shoes and I feel her pain. I have lived in LA for nearly all of my adult life. I met my first fiancé in college which was by far the easiest place for a fat average black chick to find a man in these LA streets. Unfortunately, he passed before the wedding and it took me over a decade and thousands of dollars in image consulting and date coaching fees to where I wanted to be.

Little black girls who actually listened to folks tell them "to keep they head in a book and don't worry bout no boys" are done a terrible disservice because by the time your head is removed from the books a lot of us find out we have limited interpersonal skills that transfer to dating or the ability to self assess at the dating level. Attracting men is not an intuitive skill to every woman no matter how many times the coquettish unicorns preach from high above how easy it is.

I had to pay someone to tell me to go expose my breasts to a complete stranger at a lingerie shop to be fitted properly for bras and then buy dresses and blouses with necklines that showed my newly raised and spotlighted cleavage. There's a lot of other things that I learned that paid off but I will tell you that whilst still very fat, emphasizing my boobs got me more attention from men than I had the entirety of my adult life at that point. I'm not talking about just dudes standing outside the liquor store neither. Men I had known for years started acting differently around me. That's why I sometimes said here that men may not even notice you have a head if they like what they see below the neck because trust my face didn't suddenly become prettier. I didn't know the power of a sundress until I was 35.

Also, when I say show cleavage I'm not talking about walking around fully exposed. Part of not worrying about boys was wearing baggy clothes to cover enormous breasts to hide my blessings.
PlaintiveSmoothIchthyosaurs-size_restricted.gif


I mention this to say, look at the neckline of the shirts she wore in the thumbnails in her videos until about 2 weeks ago. People are starting to give her advice but it takes a minute to self correct years of conditioning. She probably wears the natural type wigs because people give black women hell about wearing straight styles but here's a secret, straight styles may look better on people for reasons that have :censored: all to do with European standards of beauty. If makeup can take you from this to this then ball out at Sephora and get it done regardless of people talking about wizardry and being fair to men and what not.
View attachment 473767

Pretty privilege is real and it's unfair so some of us got to cheat our way to it and that's perfectly fine as far as i'm concerned.

I didn't even finish reading your post yet but the bolded is the truth truth.

*goes to read the rest*
 
1. I don't live in the US, but over here I have to second look white women on a regular basis for crazy looking stuff. The blotchy fake tan, over lined lips, fake eyebrows, over filled lips and faces, fake nails, eyelash extensions, obvious hair extensions and the list goes on.

The insta baddie look is very in right now with a good subsection of all races of young women going for it. There are no races of men who havent peeped obvious "enhancements" in their own women. A lot of men say they don't like heavy make up (or any make up), yet plenty of women still wear it. What's more a lot of these white/spicy white women who enjoy the fake look don't get told they won't get anyone and regularly enough marry well. Oft have plenty of black men running after them too :look:.

2. Somehow when I hang with African friends - Light through dark, average cute to beautiful, braided to weaved heads and naturals are getting married off at speed. My friend was constantly going to a wedding. I've never felt any "lowered stock" around successful Nigerian guys for example if I'm wearing a weave. Quite the opposite. Same with white men to the point I feel overhyped. I've had so many white women admit envy and insecurity towards me ( to the point its irritating now, why are they so insecure? ) and they must suspect when I'm wearing a wig. It might ease their butt hurt a bit but not enough, clearly.

3. End point. It's not just the ladies lackluster wig. It's a combination of factors which include her excess weight, styling, confidence, location and hair (plus I don't like how the HB wig emphasises her big forehead).

Beyond that I believe that classically black women (brown and especially dark) are held to higher standards and picked apart more. For us we need to be more, basically as close to Kelly Rowland standard as possible. Even then it's not always enough. Passes are given out for bad make up, dry bleached hair n below par fake hair but not to us.

4. Guys from my own background ignored me, or only gave me attention until someone lighter turns up. I was mostly styled with my own hair back then (short natural) , but I've had everything from Lupita to Naomi over time. Please can we not pretend that along with grumbling towards fake hair there isn't also less interest towards dark skinned women with 4b/z hair that isn't manipulated (especially if not pretty faced) ? I have no idea why everyone is assuming she has had the same style glasses and has always worn her hair this way. Over 20 whole years I can bet she's been relaxed, natural and braided.

5. We have a thread in this here forum featuring a ds woman with long natural hair, feminine dress sense and a hourglass figure stating the same experience. What does she have to do now? IJS Im so glad I move out of my old community. As soon as I did I realised my looks currency was way higher. I've been able to leverage it with men in the workplace/ladder climbing. Came from the hood dated well and married cross-class. Never would have happened if I'd stayed in that bubble with people telling me what was wrong with me (too dark, too slim, hair not long enough etc..).

6. Admittedly the Carib Brit community is probably at an advanced stage compared to AA's. I remember a natural pro black poster on here being very critical of BW dating out. Then when she studied here she was close to tears at how many black guys looked straight through her. If we are talking bout stocks, they are now lowered over here just by being full black. I think the way things have changed over time is directly linked to this whole black men are the prize idea. With this whole Kevin Samuel's worship intensifying matters its only going to get worse for black women, especially those who are average looking. A lot of guys in her same looks, wage and intelligence bracket think they are special and they deserve more than her. I thought her videos frank, honest and balanced.
I agree with everything you’ve said and that colorism plays a huge role in this woman’s experience. That said, unlike the dsbw in the other thread I can see where this one may be able to stack the deck more in her favor. I still have no idea how to help that other lady who was stunning. This one seems to actually get dates.

And Bottom Samuels is absolute trash.
 
I agree with the posters that say she needs to find her lane and work it. I have always been in the cute category. I love a preppy/classic look and I found my lane in the sexy secretary look and nerdy cute look. It works to my advantage men always want to help me and I look confident in who I am. I prefer not to wear contacts and rotate my glasses to go with my look of the day. It works.

She needs to hone into her assets literally and figuratively.
 
I agree that the Cher wigs look ridiculous 90% of the time but the bigger problem is that the majority of women who follow trends and wear those wigs (or lashes or fashion nova nonsense or botched bbl) don't look in the mirror and realize they are the 90%.

A lot of what goes into being the best version of yourself is to be honest about that what you may think is ideal archetype may not fit with the female archetype that plays best for you. The good news is that there's a million ways to accentuate what is ideal for you. For example, Chloe Bailey is trying to project herself as some sex pot vampy siren when she could effortlessly ride out the girl next door archetype and it fits. Instead she out here tryna to be the archetype that she thinks is ideal instead of what works for her and it comes off as not authentic and cringy.
chloe-bailey-2021-bet-awards-outfit.jpg


This made me think about a thread I made for late bloomers. Crackers Crumbs: For Plain Girls Who Have Considered Absinthe When Tequila Is Enuf

Also, a dating coach told me that a good way to gage if men are attracted is to pay attention to if their eyes dilated, i.e., their pupils got bigger and stayed big during a conversation. Everybody's eyes dilate when they encounter people they like but extended dilation indicates attraction. This is much easier to see with lighter colored eyes. Life/work tip - when you deal with white people watch their eyes. If you run into one with a huge smile on their face but their pupils are pin points that person means you harm. I notice this a lot with sales people but I digress.



It's hard to hear and unPC to say but men tend to put women into two categories :censored: -able and :censored: -able if every other option has been gone bust. Both of those categories have women falling on a bell shaped curves of how much effort the man will put into his interactions with the women based on where she falls on his curve (pun intended). Even if an attractive woman is off limits to a man, he will still treat her differently than if he didn't find her attractive, hence pretty privilege is very real.

When women tell other women that men love confidence, they aren't quite telling the whole story. Men love sexual confidence in women. That plays out in how comfortable you appear to be with your body and the effort that you put into your appearance. My observation of moving from baggy clothes to form fitting clothes where my breasts said hello before I ever said a word got more men coming up to talk to me in public places and got me more business referrals. "Sheldon" from the Chernobyl thread choked on his own spit when I showed up wearing a shirt similar to this.
View attachment 473783
This isn't some Instagram thot wear but it emphasized what I was working with. I felt some kind of way about it but the consultants were like get over it. It is what it is and focus on getting what I wanted out of the attention.
Love your analysis and tips. I wish we would have more authentic conversations about this.

Best,
Almond Eyes
 
And I get it, the instagram baddie looks is what many are trying to copy because it is hot and seems to get lot of likes and validation on social media. We should be allowed to experiment with different looks and not get called out. However, I find that brown and dark skinned women in social media have to be extra (longer weaves/wigs, light contact lenses, extra long lashes, very sexual tight clothing) to get the likes and validation. Because yes, society does deem us as invisible in the US and European contexts.

However, I think it can lead to an imposter syndrome especially if you know when you take that stuff off and you don't feel good about yourself because there is a drastic difference. And many men don't like it they just won't say. Lots of false compliments on social media. My cousin put herself in blue contact lenses and changed her entire face with face tune and she got several likes and in real life she doesn't live up to the standard of her social media avatar. I've had men say that they don't like it but don't want to fight or hurt that woman's feelings plus they know that if those women haven't figured out a way to tone it down in a way that would have them not looking crazy. Because again if your skin is bad and your hair is wrecked, you may need to step back from the heavy make up and wigs until you can repair. Let's face it society is not kind to women who have bad skin and damaged snatched hair. I've done it years ago and I know it isn't easy at all to give those things a break and fix it. Some of the make up and wigs are the very things that do a lot of damage to our skin and hair over time due to the toxic and cheap materials that go into making them. A guy friend said he treats bad wigs and make up like pimples, just pretend you don't see them. I would like black women to be able to mix it up whenever they choose and not be clowned but at the same time not forgetting to take care of their skin and hair. Many times wearing heavy make up and the wigs on repeat with no breaks means one is covering up something like bad skin or snatched edges.

Best,
Almond Eyes
 
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If I was a friend to this sister I would tell her to travel. Meet men from different cities and cultures throughout the world. Perspective is everything, and unfortunately she thinks the men in LA reflect on her chances with men in general. There is literally a whole world out there with great men who will snatch her up in a second. This is why I encourage travel for Black women, even if its to help gain self-confidence to know we are wanted and worthy.
Let the Church say, “Amen!” This has been my experience. So many sexy, foreign men love black American women. Some men like blondes and a whole bunch love black American women.

Oddly, this is starting to work in reverse, now. I’ve lived outside of America for the last 10 years. I’m back stateside to visit family. I’m so sexy, men are breaking their necks looking at me. I’m a little fatter but look mostly the same. Sarcasm! It might just be because I got my breasts all pushed up and I’m wearing short dresses and heels! This is true. I think being in France these last years has helped me to revel in my femininity.

But yes, travel Black women! The world finds you Super Sexy and very attractive!
 
Let the Church say, “Amen!” This has been my experience. So many sexy, foreign men love black American women. Some men like blondes and a whole bunch love black American women.

Oddly, this is starting to work in reverse, now. I’ve lived outside of America for the last 10 years. I’m back stateside to visit family. I’m so sexy, men are breaking their necks looking at me. I’m a little fatter but look mostly the same. Sarcasm! It might just be because I got my breasts all pushed up and I’m wearing short dresses and heels! This is true. I think being in France these last years has helped me to revel in my femininity.

But yes, travel Black women! The world finds you Super Sexy and very attractive!
Nearly all of the makeup and style youtubers I follow are French. The black ones are baddies but unfortunately the wigs, girl, the wigs but they get everything else right.
 
Nearly all of the makeup and style youtubers I follow are French. The black ones are baddies but unfortunately the wigs, girl, the wigs but they get everything else right.

Which ones do you follow? Yes, some of the wigs are a mess. But the wig application game has exponentially improved from when I first got here. The girls in Paris are fabulous. But of course, it’s Paris, right?! The look of the ladies in Lyon, where I live, is up and coming. They’ll get there soon enough.
 
With a weave, if its straight or long period. Men will stare. Men will open doors. Smiling at me. Just more focal attention.

With my natural hair, I get hit on mainly by men of color. @almond eyes

Everyone has different experiences which I enjoy hearing. For me when I did wigs, not much attention. I think wigs didn't do much for me at all and I had some nice wigs. With my natural hair regardless of the style men of all races hit on me and I do not have curly hair. When I had braids and shaved hair got lots of male attention. With my locs now, it's off the chain all races.

Best,
Almond Eyes
 
Which ones do you follow? Yes, some of the wigs are a mess. But the wig application game has exponentially improved from when I first got here. The girls in Paris are fabulous. But of course, it’s Paris, right?! The look of the ladies in Lyon, where I live, is up and coming. They’ll get there soon enough.
Makeup - Ceniby


Aspirational Olivia Pommier and all of her friends cuz they all dress like they bout to hit somebody's runway. Olivia layers textures in a way that works that isn't intuitive to me. It's not just that she can afford to buy high end. She wears the hell out of her clothes, they don't wear her which can't be said about a lot of the secured the baggers.
Olivia Pommier (@olivia_lafabuleuse) • Instagram photos and videos

Everyday regular degular but tweaked -Frédérique Bros and Marie-Anne Lecoeur both are white french women on youtube
 
While she's doing the work of awareness (seeing that she's not as attractive as other women) and acknowledgment (men will not treat me the same as pretty women), she's failing to ADJUST. Adjustment is playing the game (I want to get married, so maybe I should move to XYZ state and change my hair, wear clothes that highlight my beautiful features).

Not adjusting is the same thing as giving up and hoping someone does something about it. If she knows anything about desirability politics, she knows it's a game, play the game sis.
 
While she's doing the work of awareness (seeing that she's not as attractive as other women) and acknowledgment (men will not treat me the same as pretty women), she's failing to ADJUST. Adjustment is playing the game (I want to get married, so maybe I should move to XYZ state and change my hair, wear clothes that highlight my beautiful features).

Not adjusting is the same thing as giving up and hoping someone does something about it. If she knows anything about desirability politics, she knows it's a game, play the game sis.
I thought the same thing when I saw that pop up on my feed. I was like she is working so hard against what she wants. I need to click on don’t recommend. I don’t do trolls and she is behaving like one.
 
A good friend of mine who wore very beautiful long wigs and snagged her a European husband. He thought the wigs were her hair all this time and was very mesmerized. The truth was that her hair was severely damaged and balding for more than twenty years due to chemicals, tight sew-ins, glue, not washing her hair on a regular basis and not giving her hair a break. She also always sweating in the wigs and weaves. She decided one day to show her truth and I tell you he was so disappointed. Without the wigs her hair was severely damaged and she looked ten years older. I felt bad for her because she would literally have a panic attack for anyone to see her without her wigs. I tell you her husband kind of looked at her differently she admitted.

Best,
Almond Eyes
 
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