My friend, Emmanuel, went digging through my small bag searching for my power bank and brought out a small container of shea butter instead of the power bank he was looking for. He did that in front of everyone at my barbershop, like evidence he wanted to present in the courtroom while facing me and talking loudly about why I have "babe things" in my bag.
I couldn't control my laughing that very moment. The type of laughing to shake off things that actually get under one's skin a little. While I was on my way home, I was thinking about what he said and how a lot of people have seen it as a normal thing to see a man's skincare routine get talked about as evidence of something questionable about his masculinity, as if doing body maintenance belongs to a particular gender alone.
Being someone who was born naturally with light skin. This simply means my skin reacts loudly and fast to some of the things that will be absorbed naturally by someone with darker skin. Things like harmattan cracks on hands and feet just within a couple of days, and I ignore them. Any small bite easily shows on my skin; if I skip protection, the sun easily leaves some visible patches on me, and I also ignore my face for days; dryness shows on it like a compliment I didn't ask for which can't be hidden.
Some say doing skincare is vanity, but in my case, that is not a thing I stand with. In fact, it has become simple maintenance for me; just servicing engines regularly is also maintenance, and ignoring such maintenance will even lead to gradual damages in the long run.
So for me, my maintenance is not an extra expensive thing because they are all something natural with natural, healthy and healing benefits. I use coconut oil and shea butter for my body after my morning bath, mixing the two together on my palms before applying. Instead of foreign bar soaps, I use black soap made from natural products with no chemicals.
And every evening before a night bath, I apply raw, unfiltered honey on my face for life for fifteen to twenty minutes. And sometimes, I apply aloe vera too. This aloe vera, I usually see my mother use, and she got it from her mother, too. Now use it too because it has some works as natural skin hydration, reduces redness and sunburn, and also fights acne. And most of the time, olive oil and argan oil work perfectly for my hair.
Looking at all these routines. It has never made me less of a man according to what Emmanuel said, who doesn't take much care of his own skin even during harmattan and calls it discipline. I have simply and totally ignored those who always say taking care of skin and self-respect has a gender attached to it.
Though when he searches through my bag sometimes or comes to my place and sees that stuff, he teases me. But I still keep doing what will benefit my body in a natural, healthy way.
Thank you for reading.
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