Finding the right jeans as a black woman is often its own chapter in the struggle handbook. The jeans might be our size, but they don’t fit well. They’re too tight around the wrong places, too loose in the wrong places, awkward to walk in, or are wrapped around the air between our backs and our waistlines. You know that gap in the back that I’m talking about. Every black girl I knew had a pair of jeans like that, trying to hide the ill-fit with belts that made a v-shape when we sat down.

The struggle is so very real. But our bodies are not the problem — it’s the clothing industry that doesn’t recognize nor care about creating jeans that are both comfortable and well-fitting for all kinds of body shapes. So when we find a good pair that seems like a winner, there’s a test that we have to perform in the dressing room to make sure we’re getting our money’s worth.

Below are the steps to finding a good pair of jeans:

Check the price tag. Be real with yourself
Stretch the jeans with your hands to see if there’s a bit of wiggle room, if the material is good, etc.
When you pull them up, pay attention to how much you have to kick your legs around or squat to pull them up. If you’re doing too much, you need to leave those jeans alone.
Do the jeans sit on your ENTIRE waistline? Pull out that camera on your phone to check. The keyword is ‘entire.’ No gaps in the back allowed!
Photo: Giphy
Pay attention to how you feel in them. Move how you would normally move. Check yourself out. Big yourself up. You want to feel good in these jeans.
Photo: Giphy

*Note: If you’re 5’9 or up (like me), this is all especially important!
Probably the most important step: Can you sit down with no problem?
Do a couple of normal and wide squats to make sure!
Photo: Giphy
Lift your legs slowly, one at a time, as high as you can, as if you’re marching on the spot. If there’s no slipping or threads unraveling, continue on. Kick the air in front of you. If you feel any part of the jeans slipping, make a mental note.
Photo: Giphy
Do a little whining, twerking, and a*s shaking. You want to make sure that these jeans are ‘any occasion’ jeans. You should be able to dance in these things!
Photo: Tumblr
Take them off… and put them back on. This step should be smooth and easy. If it ain’t, walk away.
Photo: Giphy
Check the price tag again. If you were lying to yourself before, now’s the time to fess up.

Photo: Tumblr

If you were rip-free and gap-free going through these steps, you’ve found yourself the right pair of jeans. If there were a couple of failed steps, you definitely want to reconsider buying them. Whether you buy them or not, the one thing we can agree on is that trying to find the perfect jeans is one experience that so many of us share. Good luck!

What techniques do you use to rid yourself of that “gap in the back?” We’ve all experienced it, let’s share some stories!

Jean Boampong is a freelance writer, storyteller and facilitator based in Toronto. She is committed to unearthing, capturing and documenting stories of communities that are not often seen or heard. Her motto is to always seek truth and justice from the ground up.

Twitter: @ranfromthedome Website: jeanboampong.tumblr.com

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Jean Boampong

Writing since March 2016 · 1 story contributed