Tea Tree Oil

While I was in California, I finally made the effort to go to a black barber (in Oakland, of course) and ask for some advice.  For those of you who don't know, black people have very different hair and skin products from white people (owing to the fact that our hair and skin is quite different).  In fact, if my memory serves me correctly, the very first black millionaire in the United States became one by selling a line of black beauty products.  

My parents never discussed this stuff with me -- possibly because they just never needed it themselves.  There's also the massive generation gap to consider: some of these products might not have existed in their current forms until relatively recently. 

What I never realized before was how many of these products are marketed towards men.  If you go into a beauty supply store in a heavily-black neighborhood, you will find products that you won't find in any mainstream skin/cosmetic/etc section.  And a ridiculous amount of them are for men,so obviously there's a bustling market for the stuff.  Black hair is kinky, which dramatically increases the risks of ingrown hairs while shaving.  And blacks age better because our skin is naturally oilier than other races...which raises the risk of acne well into adulthood. 

All this means we have to find ways to minimize these risks.  So after I got my hair cut, the barber told me about tea tree oil.  Apparently, this stuff was allegedly first used by aborigines in Australia; it's a very powerful, naturally-occurring disinfectant that doesn't harm your skin.  There are dozens of tea-tree-oil-infused products on the market, including sprays, lotions, creams, and face washes. 
In fact, I soon found that The Body Shop sells a ridiculously-overpriced tea tree oil face wash. 

I bought some anti-bump spray and anti-bump lotion and started to use the stuff once or twice a day, particularly before and after shaving my face and head.  In my amateur opinion, it has helped dramatically.  I don't have to worry about it staining or discoloring my clothes the way some products do, or worry about it excessively drying out and damaging my skin and scalp.  It's a bit more expensive than the average crap you find in the drugstore, but it's totally worth it. 

links: digg this    del.icio.us    technorati    reddit