The Controlling Side of Cosmetics in Women’s Prisons
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In women’s prisons, cosmetics are a way for inmates to stay true to their identity and feel comfortable in their own skin. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a decrease in the beauty supply chain, which led to cosmetic shortages in prisons. Makeup allows inmates to present themselves without the limitations of their extremely strict dress code. Forbidding people from expressing themselves is dehumanizing.
Women’s prisons have a history of controlling females with far more restrictive rules enforced than men’s prisons. Until 1920, cosmetics were prohibited in New York prisons. Powder and lipstick were later approved due to psychologists’ predictions that denying females the use of makeup will cause them to have psychological effects and issues.
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Inmates are challenged to be innovative with their methods of creating makeup. In England during the 1920s, women used saturated red paper as blush and scraped paint off their cell walls to use as a powder. In New Jersey, pages from books were used to curl hair, and charcoal was used to pencil eyebrows. In the 50s, wax paper was melted down to straighten and shine hair. While eating in the cafeteria, women took sticks of butter to create homemade eyeshadow and mascara by mixing them with pencil shavings. Women in the 60s used lightbulb shards to cut their hair into bobs. In the present-day, charcoal is being replaced by permanent markers. Hair is dyed using Kool-Aid, lipstick is made out of M&Ms, and vinegar is used as a toner. Pink T-Mobile ads in newspapers are used to create blush when rubbing it on their cheeks. Glitter eyeshadow is created from birthday cards by removing the glitter and using petroleum jelly to stick them to their eyelids.
Image Courtesy: The Courier Mail
Prison beauty schools have changed the way beauty is structured. They provide inmates with skills to succeed both in and out of prison. The 1950s saw a boom in the beautification business, for prisons began offering cosmetology classes to increase inmates’ employment status upon release. The first beauty program was established in the Women’s House of Detention, located in Greenwich Village, in 1956. As The New York City Department of Correction provided funds for women’s education courses in cosmetology, inmates learned to style their hair and even receive treatments before court hearings.
Since makeup is viewed as contraband in most prisons, inmates aren’t allowed to receive letters with smears of lipstick, for they sometimes contain traces of LSD. Inmates made failed attempts to gain access to cosmetics legally. Research suggests that cosmetics diminish acts of violence among inmates due to having a greater sense of self-esteem and self-worth. As a result, inmates have an easier time adjusting to society after serving their sentences and have a lower recidivism rate. Considering the amount of times inmates’ basic hygiene needs are ignored, it is no surprise that their cosmetics needs are not met. In some U.S. prisons, women have to pay for their own menstrual products, forcing them to choose between making phone calls to their families and having sanitary essentials. The system fails to meet females’ physical and mental needs as the prison industry controls women’s bodies by placing policies that limit their identities.
Strike Out,
Writer: Veronica Polanco
Editors: Karina McCarthy & Lexi Fernandez
Graphics: Olivia Glatzer
Tallahassee
