Shondaland superstar Viola Davis is teaming up with Vaseline skincare brand to promote more self-care among Black women.
The project is called The Vaseline Healing Project. Through this, the “How To Get Away With Murder” actress is encouraging people in underserved communities – especially Black women — to stand up for their health.
Meanwhile, for dermatological care, Vaseline Jelly and medical supplies are being given to impoverished communities around the world, according to the project’s website.
“I think people forget how much we hold in as Black women, how much our health is affected by outside factors,” Davis told The Huffington Post. “We have a tendency to care for everyone else, other than ourselves. We have a tendency to always feel like we’ve got to suck it in.”
Hair is one of the issues being tackled in The Vaseline Healing Project. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, African-American women are prone to hair loss. The no. 1 cause of this is central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia, a condition where the hair follicles become inflamed, causing scarring and permanent hair loss.
One expert, dermatologist Yolanda M. Lenzy of the University of Connecticut, says Black women may be increasing their chances of hair loss due to damaging hair styles such as braids, weaves and chemical relaxing.
“When hair loss is caused by styling practices, the problem is usually chronic use,” Lenzy told BlackDoctor.org. “Women who use these styling practices tend to use them repeatedly, and long-term repeated use can result in hair loss.”
In Lenzy’s work with the Black Women’s Health Study at Boston University’s Slone Epidemiology Center, about 48 percent of African-American women reported hair loss on the crown or top of their scalp – that’s out of the 5,594 women surveyed.
“I hope my research demonstrates the prevalence of hair loss among African-American women and creates more awareness of this problem,” Lenzy says.
Davis, according to The Huffington Post, is also concerned with hypertension, breast cancer and diabetes – all issues plaguing the Black community.
“Caring for one’s self and getting care is not a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of what we should be doing. Our basic kind of responsibility as a human being,” Davis said.
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