Jamal Cassim Metaphysical Skincare Routine

Ok, besties... you've been asking.

So here it is, the skincare routine drop.

Now when I say we, you know I mean me in a way that I think scales. Me, but beyond me.

So I'd say this season what I've found is — good grooming alone isn't getting me there. I find it hard to do any of this, but realised, hey —

We're good at symptoms.

Good at treats.

We're good at dealing with the surfaces of things and letting old deep soul wounds linger.

I've met living saints whose faces glowed with inner light. I've spent nights with beautiful people with buffed skin, moisturised, dead behind the eyes.

Bodies are important but sooooooo boring. For the us beyond the flesh, our skincare routines should be metaphysical.

My year-round skincare regime:

— spend your time not on bullshit.

Your ancestors fought and strived their way to bring you into the world. You wake up and stare passionlessly at spreadsheets. Of course you look like shit.

— cut out boring people + boring things

The ultimate glow-up is freeing yourself from draining commitments. Simply going through the motions is hell on the complexion. Exfoliate from your life the deadening obligations that you settle for instead of the quiet screams that demand you.

— practise good reply game

We can speak with words, waiting for our chance to talk, or we can truly play a positive sum game of responses with others. Practising good "reply game" is about bringing honest constructive humanity, rawness, play, energy, especially in situations that feel distant, anodyne, cautious and performed.

— engage with the sublime every day.

Sunshine, salt water, sweat, smile of a loved one, forests, getting out of breath, holding your child and feeling their tiny heart tap, good conversation, weird new ideas that break your brain, real great art, sex / fucking / yearning (depending on relationship status), etc.

People call these things wellness, they crow about mental health, it's not true; pursuit of the sublime is the reason we were put on earth, to deprive yourself ever is to be in a state of starvation.

— become friends with the void. the void never lies.

Close your eyes, imagine yourself sat in front of the dark static within yourself, a giant mirror full of stars and liquid black, and accept that the negative things you feel about yourself are valuable messages that you are not living a life that is true to who you are.

— drink water

— moisturise

.

.

.

images: Pharrell/Humanrace