Hey everyone, you're listening to it's been a minute from NPR.

I'm Brittany Loose.

This week we're deconstructing beauty and diet trends.

And where do most trends start these days?

Tiktok.

I'm no stranger to the clock app, but there's one hashtag in particular that has caught my

eye.

In today's edition of, we're talking about the clean girl.

You know those girls that always look clean, their skin is always glowing, their lips

are always glossed, and they never, ever look like they're wearing too much makeup.

You may not be them.

Now, if you don't know the trend, it's usually women wearing minimal makeup, a neutral wardrobe,

and low almond-shaped nails.

The hashtag carries a whopping 5.3 billion views on Tiktok, and if you take even a cursory

scroll through the trend, you'll also notice that it can take a long time to see

someone who's not white.

And from the clean girl, you can tumble into other trends that seem to center whiteness.

Like ballet core, the old money aesthetic, cottage core, and the vanilla girl.

My guest today isn't shy about what she sees as an intentionally exclusionary trend.

To me, it does feel like a very strong messaging by white women who have politically fallen

out of favor over the past few years and want to be seen as the apex of femininity once

more.

...