A Somali Girl’s Self-Care Routine
You may call it a spa day or that specific day of the week when you relax. However, remember that you are a Somali girl, and there is no relaxing before completing all your chores and tasks. You see, a Somali girl's spa day is quite regular; a weekly or maybe even a biweekly occurrence. It embodies the essence of multitasking and, at this rate, has become an unwritten tradition and a ritual passed on to every Somali girl. The secret is now out, and it's time to share it with the world. There are three stages to a Somali Girl's Self-Care Routine:
The cleaning and the Qasil face mask:
So, a self-care routine involves cleaning. Before starting the self-care routine, you must begin with your surroundings. Do you put on your face mask and read a magazine? No, you are a Somali girl. You mix your qasil (a traditional beauty powder) concoction. Is it a qasil and yogurt day, or is it a qasil, yogurt, and turmeric day? It's your choice! Once you've covered every inch of your face, you move on to the cleaning. It might be a quick tidy-up, or it could involve washing the dishes here, loading the laundry there, vacuuming, mopping—a kind of day. Alternatively, it could be a full spring cleaning. Regardless, by the end of it all, you will have the whole place spotless. The first part is done!
The bath and the fresh Baati:
It's time for your preferred shower or bath. Much like the cleaning, as this process is more regular than a spa day, depending on how much time you have or whether you really want to scrub, you may even want to extend the qasil to be a scrub. You will take a splendid shower or bath. Of course, you have prepared a fresh, clean baati to slip into after your (ideally) hot shower or bath. You can go all the way by choosing the most extravagant baati or even a dirac (a traditional Somali dress) and adorning yourself with your gold jewellery. Remember, you are a Somali girl, and you don't need an excuse to go all out. You moisturize, style your hair, rub cattar (perfume oil) on your pulses, and layer your favourite perfume on top, spritzing it here and there. You wrap your garbosaar (shawl) around you as you make your way to the most relaxing part of this routine.
The Somali tea and the Uunsi:
You start the charcoal on the stove for your uunsi (Somali incense) while simultaneously putting the kettle on. You add cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, sugar, tea leaves, and finally milk to it. Once it has brewed to perfection, you pour the tea into a tea pot and prepare your tray with snacks to accompany your tea. Just then, your charcoal is hot enough. You remove it from the stove, place it on the dabgaad (incense holder), and carefully place the uunsi of your choice on top. Upon contact, smoke rises from the dabgaad and slowly fills the room, the scent taking its time to spread. You wave your hand over the smoke toward you a few times and draw in the smell with a deep breath. You make your way around the house, as if introducing the uunsi to each and every room, and finally, you place it in the room you are going to relax in, most likely the living room. You make sure not to forget your hot tea and snacks, which you gracefully place nearby. It's time, time for you to put your feet up!
What does your self-care routine look like? Do you have a traditional beauty product that you use? Let us know in the comments below!