Nana Mensah’s Favorite Things 2022
Photo-Illustration: The Strategist; Photo: Stephanie Diani
If you’re anything like us, you’ve probably wondered what celebrities add to their shopping carts. Not the JAR brooch and the Louis XV chair but the hair spray and the electric toothbrush. We spoke with Ghanaian American actress, writer and director Nana Mensah about the silk-lined beanies that protect her hair, the podcast that instantly lowers her blood pressure, and the all-purpose diaper bag she never leaves the house without.
I got into this podcast during the pandemic, and it has some really amazing guests. He had Brittany Packnett Cunningham from the Black Lives Matter movement, and he has a really good episode with Holland Taylor, who I know and love. And he recently reissued one with George Saunders, who wrote Lincoln at Bardo. Sam has this incredible gravity and this soft voice. Listening to its soft tones on a rainy Sunday while strolling is like a warm blanket – it’s so lush and just stimulates your heart and mind and also feels like a safe place. As soon as I hear the smooth-jazz opening, my blood pressure drops by half. At first, when you see all these luminaries, you think it’s going to be, “How did you get to be who you are?” But Sam isn’t interested in that. He does amazing research, but really, he just connects with his guests as human beings. I don’t think it was an accident that I found out during the pandemic when I wasn’t allowed to connect with anyone. Hearing two loving people, without their armor, connect on this podcast is truly special.
Unsun is a really good black-owned brand that makes mineral sunscreens that don’t give you the crazy white cast of Casper the Friendly Ghost like tinted mineral sunscreens do. I use the medium/dark shade. If I’m zooming in or being photographed in any way, sometimes the flash will bring out a bit of white, but then I just add a little powder on it and I’m good to go. I feel like I’m doing my thing to prevent premature aging and cancer and all that terrible stuff. I found out about Unsun through spa and skincare store Heyday, which was started by one of my best friends from college. Heyday has a very organized retail section, and it doesn’t push you to buy things. My beautician Heyday was very knowledgeable about black skin and darker skin, which does not age the same way as lighter skin, and taught me a lot about my skin and skin care. I started getting compliments from makeup artists on set, which is like the biggest compliment. I’m so grateful to have started skincare in this very roundabout way. I started supporting my friend and then it turned into loving skincare on my own.
New York has great tasting water, and you don’t really think about petrochemicals, but in London it’s a bit more on your mind because the water doesn’t taste so good. A friend of mine put me on Berkey. Its carbon filters last ten years, so I like that the company doesn’t try to get you to buy something every two years. It is made of stainless steel and fits very subtly into your kitchen. Every night before going to bed, I pour some tap water into it. And then I wake up in the morning and the room is full, and that’s the water we drink for the day – 2.25 gallons is basically enough for my husband, me and a guest.
I heard about it from my acting coach. I have almost everything on the website – the weekend hatthe warm knitted hats — and everything is lined with satin or silk. And I have the Slaps, in which I sleep. “Slap” stands for satin-lined cap. My curly hair is more prone to breakage and especially in the winter months there is a lot of friction and this causes more breakage. You wrap your hair in silk because it reduces the amount of friction and reduces the amount of breakage. My hair is so much healthier since I started sleeping in these Slaps and swapping out my winter hats for Grace Eleyae winter hats that have satin or silk on the inside. The turban is also one of my favorites. People don’t realize how incredibly drying air travel is, so instead of wearing my hair on airplanes, I’m going to put on one of these turbans and wear black, and that’s my travel outfit. They are chic. They are elegant. You feel so luxurious.
We have two bathrooms in our house, and no one else uses my bathroom, it’s my space. I have my Byredo soap there, and the smell is so intoxicating. He takes the rose and raises it. It’s spicy. I feel really rich when I use it, and I love it. I noticed that when I didn’t invest in the lotion and just got the soap, I didn’t want to cover my scented hands with anything else, like Vaseline lotion or something cheap. So I wouldn’t moisturize. Buying the soap and lotion requires me to hydrate and make sure my hands are moist. I’m doubling down on this aromatherapy.
I was visiting a friend in Abidjan, and she said, “Let’s go to Nanawax. So we went to this shop and I spent all my money. It was my introduction to the business. Afrikrea is another online hub bringing together artisans and designers from across the continent, this is how I get my Nanawax delivered. I love the diaper bag. I take it everywhere with me. It is ideal for travel and can be carried on its own, which I would probably transition to once I no longer need to carry a bag for my baby. It has its own changing mat and lots of little compartments. It does all the functional things you want a diaper bag to do, but it also looks classy. It contains a lot more than I expected. My son needs a change of clothes in case of a rash; he needs diapers, wipes, a bottle. I can put everything in this container and still feel a bit like my neurotic Virgo self. There’s a little leather clip that I always hang my keys on and just throw in the bag because I hate rummaging around for keys.
I have been using the Jasmine and Henna treatment for years now. If your hair is curly and frizzy or prone to frizz, it really helps saturate the strands and gives you that perfect little S loop. It smells good. Lush has a bunch of other products that are really good for black hair, especially Renee’s Shea Puff, which is good for massaging your scalp, and it smells really good and makes my hair really happy. With black hair in general, I think we are taught that it needs to be scorched, pulled, and twisted to be submissive. Tamed. But really, curly hair is prone to breakage, so it needs to be wrapped in silk and bathed and detangled with your fingers and treated like a precious thing so it can be strong. Existentially, I realized, Well, where do I bring a hatchet to a situation where I should bring, like a quilt? It was a big aha moment for me in terms of hair care. Lush products are also very natural. I want to sponsor companies that do good work, and I think they do good work in tandem with great products.
I love so many beautiful things on this site. It’s an online retailer, but it also has a blog where they talk about awesome new African designers. I remember someone asking me, “I really like this African designer – if I’m wearing it, is it cultural appropriation?” No, the designers want you to wear their clothes. It’s so simplistic to think that you can’t wear an African designer unless you’re African. I love Christie Brown. He’s a Ghanaian designer and the tailoring is really top of the line. I have embroidered wide leg pants similar to this one from a previous season. You can wear it with anything, but then you look at the pocket, and there’s a bit of wax print detailing that sticks out. I gravitate towards this sort of thing on Industrie Africa. The website is also very easy to navigate. It will be converted into dollars and pounds. Growing up on the continent, I know that wasn’t always the case. Being able to have this elegant and seamless experience that specifically showcases the continent makes me really excited and proud to share it and say, “Look at the work that we are doing and the great talent that is in Africa.
I noticed that when I worked continuous days on set, I used the makeup remover wipes they have in the makeup trailer, and eventually my skin started to overproduce oil. And then I’d come on set, and somebody had to stay there, dabbing me every time we did a take. Then I got this trick of using coconut oil instead to remove makeup, and it helped balance out my skin. If you use the coconut oil in the jar, when it cools, it becomes solid. And that’s not what you want because it will clog your drain. So every time I do my makeup, I use Fractionated Coconut Oil as my makeup remover, and it goes right away. I’m going to run a make-up washcloth under water, make it nice and warm, then do a little facial massage to relieve some stress, especially around the eye socket – take all that off. It doesn’t strip your skin of oil, so when you continue your cleansing, it doesn’t make your skin super dry.
You can go to the beach in Ghana, and it’s a bit heartbreaking in places because you’ll see sneakers and unwanted clothes washing up on the shore. We do our best to keep the beaches clean, but due to trade currents a lot of trash will still end up there. So to see a pair of Nikes that will never break down…it’s truly horrifying. I like Cariuma because the company uses natural rubber and products in the construction of the shoe and the canvas, and they make a big effort of reforestation linked to the purchase of the shoes. They feel like they’re molded to my foot. They really hold their shape and are easy to clean. I love to dress down to the ankle but then wear my Cariumas so I still feel like a cool kid, you know? On top of that, I know I’m not doing too much harm to the planet.
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