Now 18, Noble is still using a wheelchair. She needs help with most activities such as getting into bed, using the bathroom, and cooking. Among the tasks she gained enough strength to do on her own Makeup routinewhich she told BuzzFeed News gave her “a lot of strength and joy,” especially since she had been doing it herself since childhood in cheerleading competitions.
“Makeup, even just washing my face and brushing my teeth, really helped boost my self-confidence and made me feel really good,” Noble said. “Just being able to express myself and do my makeup the way I wanted was amazing.”
A friend gifted Noble some of Guide Beauty’s makeup brushes, and she said the products “changed the game.” Noble has more difficulty applying primer and foundation because it’s difficult to hold the sponge and tap her face repeatedly for even distribution. Poor hand control also means it’s easy to poke herself in the eye when applying eye makeup, so she has to rest her elbows on her nightstand, hold a brush or pencil with both hands, and then move her head to apply the product.
“I often think about how easy it is for healthy people to do things without thinking twice about them,” Noble said. “But now that so many things have been stripped from me, I realize that independence is a beautiful, amazing gift.”
“Makeup can be a refuge for people with disabilities.”
As an esthetician with a chronic, invisible illness, Brittany Wiswati, 21, has become adept at hiding her disability. For about five years, she had chronic abdominal pain, making it difficult for her to eat and have enough energy to work or do her hair or makeup in the morning. She has been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and cyclic vomiting syndrome, among other conditions.
Having worked in beauty salons since she was a teenager, Wiswati has witnessed firsthand how people with disabilities are treated in beauty settings.
“People are shuffling at the back door. People cannot go up to the second floor for massage because there is no elevator,” said Wiswati, a patient advocate. Epic establishment – A non-profit organization that provides support to people suffering from chronic diseases. “It’s really frustrating to be honest with you. It’s hard to tell someone in a wheelchair that they can’t get a haircut because we don’t have a ramp or our bathrooms can’t accommodate them, so they either have to wear diapers or figure it out.”
Wiswati often wants to be “the angry guardian of justice,” she told BuzzFeed News, but she has to stop herself “because people don’t understand.” We have to make people realize that there are others who don’t have access to beauty but want it and deserve it.
In the grand scheme of things, people with disabilities are not seen as profitable, Wiswati said, but a look at the interests of Gen Z and Millennials proves otherwise: “They have the highest purchasing power in this industry and they are interested in more conscious capitalism — they are more willing To buy products if they feel there is a greater good behind it.
She added that when makeup brands make their products more accessible, they gain loyal customers who give them free publicity because the disabled community “will shout it from the rooftops.” “They’ll tell everyone because they found something that works for them.”
That’s why Rare Beauty has gone viral on TikTok, Wiswati said. “They were very thoughtful in their design process, which sets them apart from other brands.”
“As a disabled person, this is where my love for beauty began,” Wiswati said. “It was a shield to protect myself from the way people looked at me, because I probably couldn’t control what they thought of me in terms of my disability, but it was something I was thinking about.” He could “Control.”
Her goal is to work with salons and help make their products, functions and spaces more accessible. Eventually, she would like to open her own salon that will provide people with various disabilities “the services they deserve at a reasonable price.”
“Being involved in the beauty industry can be very valuable when you live in a world that makes you feel completely different,” Wiswati said. “Makeup can be a refuge for people with disabilities.”