The shower is running, the lights are low. You’re not in any rush to get anywhere, so you take your time. Pamper yourself. Use that hair mask that smells like jasmine, shave if that’s your thing, and play that music you like. Let the water run down, over your skin. Wash away yesterday’s frustrations and replace it with today’s bliss.
Everything can be soft here, in the warmth of a new day’s shower.
I’ll say it: it’s not very often I get shower-envy. Who looks at someone else’s shower and thinks: “I need every single one of the products in here”? I don’t really think so.
However; as I got to thinking about it, we hear so much about skincare all over social media and in stores! Skincare for this problem, that condition, dark spots and light spots—but it’s mostly ever advertised for your face.
Excuse me, isn’t skin our largest organ? What about the rest of our body and shouldn’t we be treating it with some of the same care as our face? I’ve got some problem spots on my thighs from angry shaving in my teens and, no offense, I won’t be using my treasured 1 oz. face serums for the entirety of my legs!
Plus, I’ve only recently been seeing any marketing towards overall body care. Why is that? Surely, from all of the Instagram posts I’ve seen this summer, people are out and about in shorts and bikinis? We’ve all got troublesome dry spots and hyperpigmentation from waxing, shaving, or even tweezing.
Over exfoliation causes more inflammation and more damage, and overuse of chemical exfoliants can be detrimental to drier, sensitive skin types—so what’s the alternative? There’s got to be something for us sensitive shavers prone to skin issues.
There is, and…
Bonus brown-girl points, it’s a black-owned business, too.
OUI: The Rose Gold Single-Blade Razor
Funny enough, while purchasing this, a friend was standing over my shoulder. “$75 for a razor? It better be life-saving.” I agreed with her, and almost reconsidered my payment. Ah, what the hell. Yet another buy brought to you by aesthetically pleasing, Instagram advertising.
What I didn’t know: the best shave of my life was yet to come.
I want to preface by saying: I have never in my life used a safety razor. The concept was utterly foreign to me, as I had been using a multi-blade razor since middle-school (which I certainly regret now, but I wouldn’t have found OUI Shave without you—boy that called me ‘mustache lady’).
The OUI Shave Rose Gold Single-Blade razor, which I purchased by itself, comes with the hefty razor and a pack of 10 German-made blades. The packaging is gorgeous, professional, and helpful for discreet travel.
The razor itself is a beautiful rose-gold that cleans well and has the perfect amount of weight to its head that it allows even the most innocent novice (me at the time) to avoid applying too much pressure. The OUI website is also filled to the brim with customer reviews, how-to videos, and the Instagram is fun to scroll through when considering what elseto buy.
The blades are lovely and an individual pack of 10 retails at $11. It is not, however, necessary to repurchase blades from OUI—as the head can carry other marketed single-blade razors.
This is, additionally, an environmentally conscious purchase. I had been using multi-blade, plastic razors for many years—the amount of plastic waste that I was accumulating from shaving alone must have been significant. With the OUI razor, you have the option of ditching plastic entirely. Everything down to the hilt of this razor is metal, and the blades can be safely recycled as well.
USE: I have been suffering with dark spots and scars from continuous rough shaves and ingrown hairs caused by dull blades. I used this razor onceand noticed an immediate difference in my legs. A sharper blade leads to a cleaner cut to the hair, less buildup of product over said hair follicle, and less ingrown hairs. No itching, redness, or cuts to be seen (barely apply pressure and use at an angle for best results).
Smooth pits and legs, oh yes. Smooth face? Even better.
I suffer from the ever-common peach fuzz and coming from a racially ambiguous and hairybackground keeps me from walking out of the house without a quick once over to make sure all of my pesky black hairs are gone. This blade is powerful enough to shave your legs, but gentle enough on your face.
What can I say? I love the feeling of my smooth legs, but I love it even better when I’m taking care of my skin along the way.
Cost: $75.00
Rating: 5/5
Showers aren’t complete without a run through the hair.
Us curly girls are at the mercy of our environment, water hardness, local hairstylists, and more. Can’t find the right products for you? Testing them out my cost you and arm and a leg. Want to go to a specialist? The cost is like a kick to the gut.
All the while, I am a serial stalker of the #curlyhair page on Instagram. I search and search until I find someone who is even closeto my hair texture and attempt finding whatever products they’re using. Usually, I am grossly unsuccessful—but in onecase I got lucky.
Prose Hair Conditioner
Another Instagram-related buy? Groundbreaking.
I was introduced to Prose Hair. A custom haircare service that gives you the option of running through a survey and submitting photos of your hair for evaluation. You know those outfit subscription services that are so expensive you might as well buy designer? Well, similar to those but the price doesn’t make you gag.
On-top of that? You canmake it a subscription service.
I have somewhat loose curly hair, somewhere in the 3 b/c curl range where traditional hairstylists that work with straight hair have a panic attack and specialists in kinkier hair textures send me back out the door. I’m lucky enough to find someone that can cut curls, let alone style or color them (I do a lot of my hair at home).
My hair is also unbelievably dry, which curly hair naturally is, and I may or may not always have the urge to do blonde highlights during the summer heat—problems aside, that means no consistent, everyday washing. This hair is washed all the way through, shampoo and all, on Sundays only. But I do co-wash (conditioner wash, basically a means of saturating a moisturizing product to the tips of the hair while avoiding product buildup or stripping the scalp of natural oils through the week), which means conditioner is my best friend and my enemy.
Conditioner is expensiveand using it once or twice a week on thick and curly hair—to detangle and moisturize—is a nightmare in and of itself.
I was looking for a product that would prolong my wash-n-go’s, maintain my curl texture, moisturize, and not weigh heavy on my head. Sounds like a lot to ask for, right?
USE: This is where the Prose survey comes in asking about texture, length, history, and hair density. This all comes alongside the opportunity to send in an image of your hair to a specialist for review. All to create the perfect product, just for you. Meanwhile, I can customize the scent and whatI want to buy.
I don’t use a lot of shampoo, so no shampoo—but I use conditioner, and the one I received from Prose is my all-time favorite.
It provided me with slip for detangling, moisture, and left my hair feeling bouncy after one wash. It was also lightweight enough for me to use a small dollop as leave-in after a wash-n-go. It is enough product to last me a while, washing every Sunday, before I have to reorder.
Subscription, custom services are the future of hair care in remote destinations. It breaks confidence to have to continuously search for stylists that can’t, won’t, or try and fail to work with your hair texture—let alone blame you for their inability to work with your hair.
Companies like Prose, that provide a service custom to their clients’ needs, provide a safety-net when in that salon downtime.
Say goodbye to bad hair days, only soft curls from here on out.
Turn off the shower, towel yourself dry, indulge in your favorite scents for the day. Showers really do make or break the future, so let the steam provide you with some meditative clarity before you step into the new world softer and fresher than before.