\n<\/p>\n
Tracee Ellis Ross finds life after \u201cblack-ish\u201d to be quite wonderful.<\/p>\n
Since finishing her eight-season run on the ABC series last year, she has focused on her hair care company, loaded up on speaking engagements and is starring now in two movies: \u201cCandy Cane Lane<\/a>,\u201d as the wife of Eddie Murphy\u2019s Christmas decorating-obsessed husband, and \u201cAmerican Fiction,\u201d as the sister of Jeffrey Wright\u2019s flailing writer.<\/p>\n And she is dressing herself. Even Ross is surprised by that one.<\/p>\n \u201cI spent eight years doing 24 episodes a year, which is about eight months out of the year, wearing the clothes of somebody who was not me,\u201d she said, calling from her parked car in Los Angeles to explain the importance of hot baths, Black art and swimming pools. \u201cI didn\u2019t realize what a joy and a treat it\u2019s been to get up in the morning and figure out what I want to wear.\u201d<\/p>\n These are edited excerpts from the conversation.<\/p>\n 1<\/p>\n I had a guy I was dating once that was like, \u201cWhat are those \u2014 rocks? Those are disgusting.\u201d I had someone else say to me, \u201cOlives are old-people food.\u201d When I was young, I loved them so much that sometimes I would drink the olive juice. I prefer a green olive. I love a fancy olive. And a treat that I allow myself over Christmas is in olive oil with sun-dried tomato inside the green olive. That olive literally will send me over the edge.<\/p>\n 2<\/p>\n There\u2019s something about the ability within the limited real estate, particularly in this country \u2014 the systemic racism, the constant navigation of having to figure out how to find safety, be safe, and also be oneself and find joy, I see all of those intersections in art from Black people. It lights me up and inspires and encourages. And I find a sense of safety and identification that really is important to me.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 3<\/p>\n I love being immersed in water, but I don\u2019t like being wet. Confusing, I know. But there\u2019s something that a hot bath does for my nervous system. I have been in rough times in my life where a shower feels too abrasive in that sometimes when I\u2019m processing something or grieving something, it\u2019s too hard for me to let things go, like a shower. Whereas a bath, there\u2019s a gentleness to it.<\/p>\n 4<\/p>\n My closet is my happy place. It is where dreams are made and looks are invented. Playing dress-up is something that has brought me joy from such a young age and stealing things from my mom\u2019s closet to all the way now. I collect treasures of clothing, and I wear my clothes and care for them over and over. I love to do it first thing in the morning when I\u2019m still in my glasses, and I strip down out of my pajamas and I just start making outfits.<\/p>\n 5<\/p>\n Everything from underwear and bras to fingernails and toenails. I don\u2019t do mix-matching on sweatsuits. Nope. It\u2019s a top and a bottom that work together. I don\u2019t know that there\u2019s much to say on that other than I like to be coordinated.<\/p>\n 6<\/p>\n It symbolizes reset. It symbolizes a shift in temperament. It is where I can drop all my facade and any sort of performative mask that I have to wear out in the world. I live alone and I\u2019m single, so I change my sheets once a week \u2014 sometimes twice a week if I\u2019ve spilled something. I have a tendency to get hot sauce and potato chips in my bed if I\u2019m not doing my olives.<\/p>\n 7<\/p>\n I am very particular about who reads to me. The majority of the Ann Patchett novels have been read by Hope Davis<\/a>, and they were just dreamy. I love listening to audiobooks when I am packing, when I am getting dressed, when I am cooking, when I\u2019m falling asleep. Ann\u2019s newest novel is read by Meryl Streep<\/a>, and my God was that good.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n 8<\/p>\n I have been known to do up to three or four a day. I think that hydration of the hair, the body, the skin are the key things that keep you youthful and juicy no matter what age you\u2019re at.<\/p>\n 9<\/p>\n I love having a deep conversation about what people are feeling. It is what I gravitate to. Not everybody likes it, but I do.<\/p>\n 10<\/p>\n To know me is to know I love a pool. When I\u2019m on vacation, I go from work person to vacation person through the pool. I am not a beach person. I don\u2019t love the ocean; it\u2019s not organized enough for me. Too much sand, too much mess, too much. The pool, I know what I\u2019m getting. I\u2019m known for my first dips. I started recording them and putting them on Instagram<\/a>, and now I\u2019m the first-dip girl.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOlives<\/span><\/h3>\n
Art by Black Artists<\/span><\/h3>\n
Baths<\/span><\/h3>\n
Playing Dress-Up at Home<\/span><\/h3>\n
Matching Sets<\/span><\/h3>\n
My Bed<\/span><\/h3>\n
Audiobooks With Memorable Narrators<\/span><\/h3>\n
Sheet Masks<\/span><\/h3>\n
Emotional Talks<\/span><\/h3>\n
Swimming Pools<\/span><\/h3>\n