It is so difficult to write a beauty column when our people has seen the biggest massacre of Jews in a single day since the Shoah. What Hamas inflicted on Israelis last weekend was horrifying in its depravity.
And then there’s the rising antisemitism in Britain since the terror attack.
The last few days have been a blur of frantic calls and texts from family and friends, telling us not to go outside wearing a Magen David around our necks.
And you don’t need me to tell you that shops in Jewish areas have had their windows smashed or that four of the community’s schools closed last Friday in fear of children’s safety.
Even the coffee morning at a shul to which I sometimes take my baby son has been cancelled — the sweet elderly ladies who run it are frightened for their lives. As the horrific news poured in from Israel last week, I really felt for my colleagues at this newspaper.
My Jewish friends in the beauty industry have been equally vocal about the atrocities, but many non-Jewish colleagues and beauty brands have been deafeningly silent.
The same people and brands who rushed to show solidarity with communities in the face of other tragedies were tight-lipped when Hamas butchered Israeli babies, infants and children.
And over in Dublin, the city’s branch of Lush wasted no time in displaying the words “Boycott Israel” in its window.
When I contacted the PR for the company for an explanation, I got a toothless response along the lines of: “We cannot comment on staff in the shops as we have a duty of care for them. So I cannot provide more information on this.” This was followed by a statement from Lush saying that it, “deplores all violence and all injustices”.
Elsewhere, a beauty editor on a glossy magazine took the opportunity to talk about her conversion story in an Instagram post, deploring recent events but also talking about what being Jewish means to her. It ended with her noting how she “doesn’t regret her decision” despite all the antisemitism it has brought her.
At any other time this would have been an interesting think piece, but it was arguably tone-deaf in the wake of a massacre .
Meanwhile, non-Jewish editors and industry figures have continued to happily post pictures of product launches and press trips, without even a passing mention of what has taken place this week, or showing even a smidgen of solidarity for their traumatised Jewish colleagues.
From creating iconic brands and investing in businesses, to fighting for salon workers’ rights, the Jewish community has done so much to help build and shape the beauty world.
Against this background, the lacklustre response is infuriating. And for those of us who call the beauty world our home, the silence is utterly heartbreaking.
