A professional-strength peel? A vitamin C serum that’s more stable than Tom Hanks? A new beauty supplement that promises to cure acne and anxiety?

Oh, really?

That all sounds pretty nifty, but I'm here with an even better idea: if your next beauty purchase is not from a Black-owned business don't buy it, and donate to an organization fighting racial injustice instead.

You might already find that in the past few months, the proverbial jeans on your beauty budget have been feeling a little tight. And for many, a beauty budget is an important personal fund—it’s money that you put aside each month for you, a little investment you make in your own happiness. Beauty has this mystifying way of distracting from everything else that’s going on, sometimes in the same breath. (I’ve been thinking about this post in our Facebook group, where an ITG community member just as easily offered up the stressful reality of a family emergency as she did her enthusiasm for Olaplex, since I saw it.) A bottle of clear goo can be a magical, feel-good talisman. There’s something so powerful about that.

Here’s the catch: the other side of the distraction coin is keeping your head in the sand. It’s great that beauty can make you feel so much better, so easily, but it would be a disservice to pretend like it’s the only way. Here are a few more: practicing service, learning something new, standing up for what you believe in. They all feel good, yes, but more importantly, they are the right things to do. Always, but especially now.

So maybe you could take another look at that beauty budget? I think it could use a little reallocating. The $80 you might have spent on Babyfacial is really put to better use with the folks at Fair Fight, don’t you think? The $325 you were using to save up for a Nuface might now go to The Bail Project, and while a Diptyque candle will burn for a few weeks, who knows how far the same $68 will go to help a generation of Black children attending Know Your Rights Camp. Even the $20 you might have spent on a newly re-released Juicy Tube is enough to meaningfully help an organization like Campaign Zero. Trust me!

Today, ITG challenges you to tell us the skincare you’re not buying. How are you making a meaningful impact with that money instead? Where are you donating? I’ll be waiting expectantly in the comments.

—Ali Oshinsky

Photo via ITG