BATH TIME WITH EMMANUEL LAWAL

What happens to a bathing tradition when it travels thousands of miles from home? For many Nigerian families living in Britain, the bucket bath came too. Long after showers and central heating became the norm, practices shaped by water conservation, practicality and generations of habit endured.

 

Emmanuel Lawal grew up with these traditions in Southeast London, where bathing was never only about getting clean but about family, discipline and care. Our conversation begins there before unfolding into a wider discussion about memory, scent, identity and the quiet ways the customs we inherit continue to shape us long after we’ve left home.

 

In this edition of Bath Time, we speak to the London-based creative director and founder of Forestalgia, a design studio creating objects that explore the intersection of beauty, utility and culture. Working across product design, fashion and music, his practice is guided by a deep interest in ritual, materiality and the everyday objects that quietly shape our lives.

 

 

 

 

Growing Up with Bucket Baths

 

 

My earliest memory of bathing is a bucket bath.

 

I was born in England and grew up in Kidbrooke in Southeast London. There were only a handful of Nigerian families around us, and we were what you’d probably call freshies. We didn’t really conform to Britishness until much later. We lived like we were still in Nigeria.

 

We had a shower and a perfectly nice house, but my mum always bathed us with a bucket and a scooper.

 

She’d fill a bucket with warm water, put an African net sponge inside, add whatever soap or body wash we had, lather everything up and scrub us down. I would stand in the bath while the bucket sat on the side. Looking back, the net was probably too rough for my skin, but Nigerian parents don’t really care about that—they just want you clean.

 

There were seven of us, so bath time was organised. My mum had maybe half an hour to get everyone ready for school. One child would finish, get dressed and go for breakfast, and the next one would step in. It was literally like a conveyor belt.

 

At the end, she’d pour the bucket of water over you, then rinse you again with fresh water. We didn’t reuse the water. We just didn’t waste it.

 

 

 

 

Respecting Water

 

The whole bucket bath thing starts with saving water.

 

If people had unlimited hot water, they’d probably stand under the shower forever. But that’s not where this ritual comes from. It’s about using what you need and not wasting it.

 

Even in our house in London, we’d put the boiler on at a certain time. Once everybody had finished bathing, it went straight back off. We didn’t waste hot water.

 

I think that mindset has stayed with me.

 

 

 

 

The Smell of Home

 

The strongest smell from my childhood is my mum.

 

It’s funny because now fragrance is everywhere, I smell her scent all the time. Those rich floral perfumes that so many brands make now—that was her smell before everyone else was wearing it.

 

When I smelled SILK VEIL, it immediately reminded me of Nigerian church aunties.

 

My mum had a dressing table covered in perfume bottles. Some of them were empty, but she still kept them because she liked the bottles. Funny enough, I used to do exactly the same thing.

 

When we were going to church, there was always an auntie selling perfume afterwards. She’d be selling fragrances, Avon products, food—whatever people needed. You’d come out after the service and everyone would be buying something before they went home.

 

That was normal where I grew up.

 

My dad was different. I don’t remember a particular fragrance. He just smelled like a man. That old-school masculine smell. Deodorant sprayed a little too close, so you’d sometimes see the white marks. That’s how I remember him.

 

 

 

My Shower Routine Today

 

I love showers.

 

I probably spend about thirty minutes in there, and I like the water medium to hot.

 

The first thing I do is rinse myself. I don’t understand people who go straight in with products before they’ve even put water on their skin.

 

 

 

 

I always start with my face. I’ve got this little concoction I make myself. It’s based around St. Ives, then I mix in honey and a few other things I’ve experimented with over the years. I put it on like a mask and leave it sitting while I wash the rest of my body.

 

For my body, I always start with CeraVe because I like finishing with fragrance rather than starting with it.

 

 

Washing Properly

 

I don’t exfoliate every shower.

 

I use an exfoliating mitt every other shower because otherwise my skin would become too abrasive. On the days in between, I just use my hands.

 

I’m very thorough. Between my fingers. Between my toes. Everywhere.

 

Part of that definitely comes from being Muslim. Washing is built into your day through wudu before prayer. But I also think it comes from growing up Nigerian.

 

The first time I went to Nigeria as a child, I became obsessed with bathing. You realise how hot it is, how often people wash themselves, and then you come back to England wondering why people aren’t washing more. It was a culture shock.

 

 

 

Not every day fragrance.

 

I don’t use fragranced products every shower.

 

I’m conscious of putting fragrance on my skin all the time.

 

But if I’ve got events, or I’m going somewhere, that’s when I’ll use 39BC.

 

DENARII was the first one I tried, and I still love it. But SAGE WATER is probably the one I’m most drawn to. I love the name, I love the bottle, and there’s something about sage as an idea that really speaks to me. And my baby son is called Sage. 

 

 

Drying Off

 

I never use a towel on my face.

 

I honestly think towels hold bacteria, so I let my face dry naturally. If I need to dry it, I’ll use a fresh cotton pad and then throw it away.

 

I wrap a towel around my body, but I don’t rub my face with one.

 

 

 

Moisturising

 

After that I use Doublebase.

 

It’s funny because loads of Nigerians grew up with E45. My younger brother had eczema, so my mum bought E45, and then all of us ended up using it.

 

When I moved out, I started buying all the expensive skincare products because I thought that’s what I was supposed to do. My skin hated it.

 

Years later, backstage at a fashion show, a makeup artist told me to use Doublebase. I’ve been using it ever since.

 

Then I finish with organic coconut oil and organic shea butter. That’s pretty much my body routine.

 

 

 

 

Hair Changed Everything

 

My hair is almost always braided, so I only really wash it before I’m about to get it redone.

 

I use a medicated dandruff shampoo, comb everything through, brush it out and let it dry naturally. Once I get to the salon, they do all the conditioning treatments because, honestly, there’s too much hair for me to deal with properly myself.

 

I only started growing my hair during the pandemic because I wasn’t making any money. I was self-employed and thought, “I’m not paying for a haircut every two weeks anymore.”

 

Then you go through that awkward stage where you look absolutely mad. I look back at old photos now and think, Why did I think I looked good? Completely delusional. 

 

Eventually it gets long enough that you can actually do something with it.

 

That whole journey ended up leading me towards designing combs because I realised there wasn’t much choice. There were the standard combs and the traditional Afro picks, but nothing that felt considered from a design perspective.

 

I started playing with shape, colour, materials and size, just thinking about what I wanted to carry myself. That’s how Orbit came about.

 

 

The Shower Is Where I Think

 

The shower is probably my best thinking time. It’s my moment of solace. It’s the moment where you can download your brain or back up your hard drive.

 

I think about everything—work, my family, bills, God, ideas. Everything.

 

Water is obviously cleaning your body, but I also think it’s cleaning your thoughts.

 

The sound of water, the feeling of it on your skin, washing away yesterday—it does something mentally as well as physically.

 

There’s definitely a connection between becoming cleaner and thinking more clearly.

 

 

 

 

Beginning and Ending with Water

 

One thing I’ve thought about a lot through Islam is that you begin life being bathed by someone else, and when your life ends, you’re bathed again before burial.

 

I saw that when we buried a family member. Watching them being gently washed and wrapped before burial is something I’ll never forget.

 

It made me realise that bathing isn’t only about hygiene.

 

It’s one of the rituals that marks the beginning and the end of a life.