#MelaninPopping: SAAC Preaches Self-Care

Oluwajoba Ogun | Correspondent

On Oct. 23, the Society of Afrikan American Culture (SAAC) hosted an event as apart of SAAC week called Moisturized Melanin. The intimate event was dedicated to self-care, specifically through face masks; emphasizing the importance of relaxation, especially as African-Americans attending a predominantly white institution (PWI).

The main goal of the night was to share a beneficial face mask that was made for Black skin — that gives glow to melanated skin.

Kyla Talmadge, President of SAAC, a fourth-year studying criminology and Arabic, discussed the event.

“We thought this one [event] will be a little more fun,” Talmadge said. “Face masks are all the rave right now so definitely just having a night for Black students specifically to come out and learn about face masks, specifically for them, that is just something we really wanted to do.”

The night started with an intro powerpoint. The powerpoint consisted of introduction questions to get the audience to speak about what self-care looks for them.

Marlon Kinnard, a third-year studying accounting and Spanish, answered saying,

“I feel like self-care is either like a thing or a hobby that can help you decompress from all the stresses that is going on in your life,” Kennard said. “Whether it be taking a whole day off and getting manicures… whatever you enjoy doing really that’s kind of separate from your day to day tasks, that you may not want to be doing and it’s just a way to replenish your soul.”

After the powerpoint presentation, the SAAC executive board announced to everyone that they would be creating a face mask that was made specifically made to soften the skin. Bowls were passed around as the executive board came around with the ingredients for the audience to begin to create their mask.

The ingredients included one tablespoon of turmeric, two tablespoons of honey and a drop of water. The facial mask is supposed to help open up pores by getting rid of blackheads and allowing the skin to breathe.

As students were mixing their masks, the SAAC executive board started a trivia game, asking questions on Black history and pop culture with a chance to win mason jars.

Questions ranged from Supreme Court decisions that declared equality among African- Americans to books written by famous Black authors, as well as questions about the history of SAAC.

As students were winning their mason jars, they placed their facial masks inside as a way to preserve it, as to use for later times.

Cynthia Bilal, a second-year majoring in design studies, talked about her favorite type of self-care and how it helps her to relax.

“Face masks, drinking tea and listening to music helps me to destress and to get my mind off all the stresses of school,” Bilal said.

Kalala Tshimanga, a fourth-year studying finance, reflected on the event by speaking on the significance of self-care.

“To bring students from the Black community at NC State to participate and to start a conversation about how to take care of yourself…Our ideas of self-care are different but at the same time too, it’s still self-care, it’s just that everyone’s different,“ Tshimanga said.

Precious Rogers, a fourth-year studying accounting, brought up the importance of taking a break as college students.

“College students rarely take a second to breathe,” Rogers said. “We don’t understand how important self-care is. But I think this event was important to say ‘it’s okay to take a break, it is okay to take a breather’ and one way you could do it is by doing a face mask and just relaxing at home”

At the end, the SAAC executive board thanked everyone for coming to the event,

“It’s definitely important because this campus, overall, I feel like they do a good job with talking about how to relieve stress in general, but sometimes the stresses that they feel like we’re facing aren’t the ones that we’re actually dealing with,” Talmidge said. “So it’s a lot easier for people who are African-American or of the African diaspora to then hold events for our own people so that we know exactly the things we need.”