A breath of fresh air: Frank Ocean’s skincare and fashion advice for men

With the Surviving R. Kelly documentary, executive produced by journalist/filmmaker/activist dream hampton, making substantial waves in popular culture, bolstered by the investigative work that journalist/music critic Jim DeRogatis has been doing for more than a decade on the allegations of sexual abuse against R. Kelly, maybe the goal to #MuteRKelly can finally be achieved. As more and more artists come forward, for whatever self-serving reason, and admit their culpability in the R&B superstar’s lengthy impunity, the public at large is learning how certain stances and hands-off justifications contribute to rape culture.

But it can get tiring hearing how celebrities had brushed off the pain of R. Kelly’s victims, most of whom are black women and young girls, because they like jamming to his music/ he was their idol/ he, like them, has been a frequent target of lying liars/ they just didn’t care.

So thank god for Frank Ocean, the most elusive of chanteurs (sorry, Mariah), who made his rare media appearance via a cover story on GQ‘s Music Issue and gave us something else to talk about.

Ocean’s interview with Vegyn and Emmett Crudas, who also happen to be the hosts of his Apple Music show “Blonded Radio,” delves into, of course, his ever-evolving artistry, the growing responsibility of artists to delve into political issues through their work, his perception of the public’s perception of him, the decision to make his Instagram account public, his New Year’s resolutions…and his skincare routine and fashion goals for 2019 (plus so much more).

When it comes to skincare, Ocean is a believer of using night cream. He also revealed whom he looks up to when it comes to grooming:

“…I really do believe in a night cream. I feel like men just go to sleep. They may wash their face or they don’t even bother—they go to sleep with the day face on. You really need to do a gentle wash and put a night moisturizer on. You can’t have the retinol in your creams in the day because it makes you more sun-sensitive, so you wanna throw that on at night. I need the night cream because when I wake up I feel very beautiful, moisturized and ready to have people making eye contact with me, ready to look above my eyebrow, below the eyebrow. [laughs] That’s the life hack right there. It’s been all these years, and Pharrell still hasn’t given us the keys yet. He just says “exfoliate,” but it’s not just “exfoliate”: We need more keys.”

Hear that, guys? Slather on that non-retinol-having night cream after washing your face clean every evening. Your skin will thank you for it.

When it came to fashion, Ocean shared being a fan of a brand that was pretty big here in Manila during the early to mid-aughts: “I thought Marithé + François Girbaud was gonna come back, but it didn’t. That would be nice.” (Sidebar: The best tote I’ve ever had came from this label.) But with that prediction not panning out, he gave GQ readers a tip that’s all about functionality:

“Oh! The SCOTTeVEST! Men need to get hip to the SCOTTeVEST. You can put anything in it. Your water bottle, your cell phone, your motorcycle helmet—you can put all that shit inside the SCOTTeVEST. That’s the infomercial vest, really deep pockets…You can also zip the arm on—it’s like a paramilitary vest. It’s also a name that’s ready for rap lyrics.”

Oh look, who predicted creative forms of storage as a big fashion trend in 2019? We did. Obviously, Frank Ocean agrees with us.