Last year, I reunited with half of my family for the first time in 17 years. Backstory: I am a first generation American. Half Mexican and half Ethiopian. My parents divorced when I was about 5 years old and sadly I had no contact with my father’s side. My Ethiopian family. When we reconciled last year, I felt closer to my roots than ever before, and as a result, I started cooking and eating more of my favorite Ethiopian dishes. kitfo and Droite.
Ethiopian cuisine consists of spongy, circular sourdough bread eaten entirely with the hands. injera, serves as a base for spicy stews, meats, and vegetables. One of the main ingredients used in Ethiopian cooking is an aromatic red spice called . berber It consists of chili pepper, ginger, fenugreek, coriander and cinnamon. It is believed to be the life force of all the Habesha tribes of northern Ethiopia. Not only does it give a spicy, delicious flavor, but it also leaves a red, hard-to-remove stain on your hands and nails. This phenomenon is not unique to Ethiopia. In India, Indonesia, Mali, and Egypt, it is common to eat with your hands. These cultures also use colorful spices such as turmeric and curry powder in their traditional foods.
Funny thing is, the closer I feel to my culture, the dirtier my nails seem to get. When I visited my cousin Frey, the most talented cook in her family, she sent me away with a heaping bag of Ethiopian spices for cooking. Since then, my nails have been covered in yellow. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with having spiced nails. But after spending $100 on a classic white French mani, I knew I wanted it to look that way.
The first thing I went to was the group chat. Most of my friends who eat with their hands for cultural reasons also said they just do their best to physically scrub away the dirt, but most of the time the shadows are still there. One friend said he resorts to wearing latex gloves when preparing his favorite turmeric smoothie.
Naturally, I was hoping for a better answer for all of us. So I contacted nail artists. julie kanderecIf you’re getting a gel manicure, she has a suggestion for stopping stains before they start: “At the salon, ask for a non-wipe (also known as non-cleanse) top coat that’s formulated to repel stains.” she says. . This kind of formula looks like this: CND shellac no wipe top coat, it is less porous and therefore less likely to absorb dyes. “This is especially important with bright colors like white,” says Kanderek.
