Final 12 months, I reconnected with half of my household after 17 years. Some backstory: I am a primary technology American; half Mexican and half Ethiopian. My dad and mom cut up up once I was round 5, and sadly I didn’t keep in contact with my father’s facet; my Ethiopian household. Once we reconciled final 12 months, I felt nearer to my roots than ever, and in consequence, I started cooking and consuming extra of my favourite Ethiopian dishes like kitfo and doro wat.

Ethiopian meals is eaten completely along with your arms on a spongy, round sourdough bread known as injera, which serves as the bottom for spiced stews, meats, and greens. One of many primary elements utilized in Ethiopian meals is a aromatic pink spice known as berbere which consists of chili, ginger, fenugreek, coriander, and cinnamon. It’s thought-about the life power of all Habesha — northern Ethiopian — folks. Moreover imparting a spicy, scrumptious taste, it additionally imparts a pink, hard-to-remove stain on arms and nails. This phenomenon isn’t distinctive to Ethiopia: Consuming along with your arms is the norm in India, Indonesia, Mali, and Egypt — cultures that additionally occur to make use of colourful spices like turmeric and curry powder in conventional meals.

Humorous sufficient, the extra related I really feel to my tradition, the extra stained my nails appear to get: Once I visited my first cousin Frey, essentially the most proficient cook dinner in my household, she despatched me off with heaping baggage of Ethiopian spices to cook dinner with at house — and my nails have been cloaked in a yellow tint ever since. After all, there’s nothing fallacious with embracing spice-tinged nails. However after spending $100 on a basic white French mani, I wished it to look that method.

My first cease was the group chat. Most of my associates who additionally eat with their arms for cultural causes informed me they only do their greatest to bodily scrub away stains — however that more often than not, there’s nonetheless a shadow left behind. One buddy informed me she’s resorted to carrying latex gloves when prepping her favourite turmeric smoothie.

Naturally, I wished higher solutions for all of us. So I reached out to manicurists, together with Julie Kandalec, who had a suggestion for stopping staining earlier than it begins in case you’re getting a gel manicure: “On the salon, ask for a non-wipe — additionally known as non-cleanse — high coat which is formulated to repel stains,” she says. These kind of formulation, like CND Shellac No Wipe Prime Coat, are much less porous, which suggests they aren’t as prone to take in pigment. “That is particularly key on a lightweight coloration like white,” says Kandalec.