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05 June 2011

white lady mad at black people for hiding "the butters" now I have to find some of this stuff and try it lol
Isn't the first rule of videos like that: Be funny!
posted by Ardiril 06 June | 00:18
aw I don't know. It did get slightly mixed reactions from where I picked it up from but it's mostly harmless I figure. It makes me mostly genuinely curious about these moisturizing things though. I'm reminded of when I discovered oil can work wonders for your hair that no shampoo can, sometimes these older more traditional things can outdo the industrial chemical stuff
posted by Firas 06 June | 00:55
Nothing mysterious about cocoa butter. Any place that carries basic skin care would have it, pretty much world wide I would think.
posted by Ardiril 06 June | 01:50
Yeah, the tone of it fails and you're right, Ardiril, it's not funny enough to take the edge off the tone. Basically the "What else are you hiding from us" joke doesn't sit well in light of the political history. God forbid there be some piece of community knowledge white people might not have access to.

We have shea butter around for the wintertime air. It's pretty great, yes.
posted by Miko 06 June | 07:49
Check out her other videos.
posted by Miko 06 June | 08:05
The "you are hiding something" trope works better as a sight gag, so the joke might have worked if she was super-gorgeous with remarkably perfect skin. Her vanity then is what would be funny.
posted by Ardiril 06 June | 08:43
We have shea butter around for the wintertime air.

There are guys who hawk this stuff on the streets of New York. The first time I heard one, I thought he was saying "Shaved Butter" and pictured a stick of Land O' Lakes with a beard.
posted by jonmc 06 June | 09:12
Dear historically marginalized people: why are products useful to your demographic so marginalized in retail spaces and general discussions of personal care?

Yeah, that's pretty off-note. When I started getting interested in natural body products, I found tons of discussion of cocoa butter and oils and shea butter online, just not in places with a presumed-white-majority target audience.

I can testify that cocoa butter makes a fantastic moisturizer. I have a little tub of cocoa butter that I bought inattentively; I was intending to buy coconut oil but, I dunno, got distracted by a sparkly thing, and picked up the wrong thing. It's great for all the rough bits: elbows and heels and cracking archaeologist hands. It does, however, smell powerfully of chocolate, which is a bit weird when it's coming from your feet. (I have also used it on my hair and it made a good deep conditioner, but it was much harder to wash out than olive oil.)
posted by Elsa 06 June | 11:16

Yes, this is true and interesting. And even in stores, you often have to go to a beauty supply or black hair care place in order to find the stuff. You don't read about it in a lot of magazines - maybe because no megacorporation with expensive global branding and advertising is really owning that corner of the market.
posted by Miko 06 June | 11:53
another thing people talk about related to this is Black Soap; i gotta figure out what that is and if I can find it..

(another personal care thing I read about while on 'urban' forums: washcloths for rubbing the soap on your body. seems kinda strange to me but some of the posters are like.. they find it impossible to just rub the soap on their skin it takes too long etc. so it's just interesting people grow up with certain ways of grooming and if you don't mingle a lot things that are kinda personal like that just stay invisible to you. It also seems that starting off from washcloths makes you more receptive to rocking with sponges, poofs, loofahs and more exfoliating type artifacts)
posted by Firas 06 June | 12:05
Well, I don't like to rub soap directly on my skin. I don't think I have any racial or ethnic associations with the use of a washcloth or scrubby. I'm white and I was taught to use a washcloth. It really scrubs better than your bare hands can scrub, and helps with exfoliation. Also you don't drop it like you do a soap bar.

These days I more often use those plastic scrubbies because they don't need to go into the washer, but I think washcloth use is just American, basically.
posted by Miko 06 June | 12:08
That reminds me of the (in)famous AskMe washcloth thread.
posted by matildaben 06 June | 12:20
Washcloths are like handkerchiefs. Great if you use them, not something you miss if you don't. I don't use them myself but I keep them around to offer to others.
posted by Hugh Janus 06 June | 12:58
Yeah, I think she's trying to be funny but it falls flat.

I've never used "the butters" although I see them in every store that carries bathing products (really, lady, no one is hiding them). I probably should try them out as my skin is very dry. But although I love to eat chocolate, I'd rather not smell like it.

Washcloths (how did I miss that thread?!): I was brought up with them (SoCal), but don't use them now. I use a scrubbie/scrubby/poof/pouf when my energy will handle it, but I usually just use my hands.

Scrubbie, scrubby, poof, pouf should be a kids bathing song.
posted by deborah 06 June | 15:48
Has this woman never set foot in The Body Shop?
posted by Senyar 06 June | 16:11
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