Modern Melanin: Homeade Natural Skincare



Every day, many women of color are taking strides towards unlearning colorism by educating themselves about the fallacies of Western beauty standards. As a result, melanated people all over the world are opting to love and care for their skin rather than fight against it. In this way, the skincare needs for people of color are drastically changing. Enhancing the look of melanin in skin has become a matter of high concern.

Modern Melanin, a natural skincare company based in Saint Louis, Missouri, seeks to meet the skincare needs of melanated beauties by using organic, natural ingredients like cocoa butter, coconut oil, and Shea butter.  All products are homemade to ensure the integrity of the product as the company looks forward to grow.

According to the company's co-owners Brown, Buchannon, and Bennett, the all-natural Shea-based butters they produce include many ingredients and oils that are closest to the fatty oils skin produces on its own. By using a moisturizer containing these oils, one is giving their skin substantial amounts of moisture keeping skin soft and smooth all day. This butter softens the toughest skin with everyday usage.

"We have been using Modern Melanin butters for quite some time now," the co-owners said. "From the development and testing of the product we all have noticed what these butters do for our skin. They create a constant, soft, and supple feeling to the skin, and we feel that it was something the world needs to experience."

Although the company has recently launched this year, the responses to the product have been positive. One tester's positive response included that she thought Modern Melanin was like skin crack.

Since the company is still rather small, all orders can be placed via email to this address: ModernmelaninNSC@outlook.com. The company asks that customers provide first and last name, shipping address, and the butter of choice in the email.

Currently, four body butters are available for order: Original, Citronella Java, Chocolate Soufflé, and Sweet Citrus.

Follow Modern Melanin on Instagram @modern_melaninnsc.

Summer Body Reset: 5-Day Water Fast Starts Today

Annually, I go on a three day water fast to detox the body after the fattening holiday season. I can attest to its power. Water fasting is the most effective and efficient way to reset and train the body to continue onto a healthier lifestyle. In fact—after years of attempting to remove meat out of my diet—it was only after my first water fast two and half years ago that I committed to pescatarianism. The water fast allowed my taste buds to adjust to the healthier foods that I wanted to consume. For this reason, leaving the addicting tastes of chicken, beef, and pork to become a distant memory became easier.

Although I eat a pescatarian diet, this does not mean I do not eat junk food. By definition, a pescatarian does not eat any meat, but fish. So, every once in a while I can be found eating crispy, fried chips, French fries, deep-fried catfish, triple-chocolate cake, and a very long list of other unhealthy foods. Of course, I pride myself in knowing that the amount of “good” food I eat is much greater than the amount of “bad” food that runs through my system. However, I wish for a day when I care to not worry about the addicting poison I occasionally let slither through my colon. Since in my dream world, all of the foods I eat would be wholly nourishing to my body. Life is a journey. So, I have promised myself that by the age of twenty-five I should be a vegan eating foods that the perfect vegans eat.

Why put it off? Supporting a tasty vegan lifestyle is rather expensive, and my college tuition amounts to about $70,000 a year.

It’s not even Thanksgiving and a water fast is already necessary.

Lately, I have been bloated and I blame myself entirely, but I can’t be a millennial without saying that I blame my mother too. I came home for part of my summer break and she has spoiled me rotten. Yesterday, I had to bless myself with a salad, because I felt so disgusting.

To repair the damage that has been done and redeem myself, I knew I had to press the reset button. Starting today, I will be water fasting for five days.

After the passing of these five days, I will detail the entire experience. For now, it is time for my body to enter into a period of deep rest and repair.

No.1: Inside My Closet

For a college student like me, the summer season begins the moment one turns in their last final exam to their professor. Since spring break I have been anticipating that moment and having Senegalese twists installed in my hair did not make my summer fever any weaker. So, don't judge me. I have been wearing my summer dresses as of late.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of going out to dinner with my Dad where I decided to wear this colorful, printed number from Forever 21. It's very lightweight and simply gorgeous. The silhouette is forgiving on the figure, and the dress can be worn off the shoulder. The best part is the cut of the sleeves--very bohemian-like. Plus, the print does all the talking. For this reason, I didn't bother to accessorize much. I wore brown casual sandals from Guess and paired it with a second-hand leather brown hobo bag. The bag was a nice touch since it was a little fringed.

Above, I recreated the look I wore yesterday with more of a minimalist's eye and left the fringe off the bag. Without the fringe, a gold cuff was added to provide interest instead.

What do you guys think? Would you wear this look? What is the summer dress in your closet right now? Let me know in the comments below!

//Details on the Look//

Dress: Forever 21

Shoes: Guess

Bag: Foley & Corinna 

Bracelet: Isabel Marant

Sunglasses: Dior

Nail Polish: NCLA, Bianca