Body Lotion Brand Deception

My new body lotion. No pump. 

For a long time, I thought winter was responsible for my skin problems, until manufacturers replaced my body lotion bottle cap, with a pump. Almost all body and household cleaning products have pumps now, which indicates there’s no commitment to preserving the environment, or whatever is left of it.

How do we recycle bottle pumps? We cannot even put them in a garbage bag because they puncture it. Drop it in the blue recycling bin? Maybe. My apologies, I went off track. Back to my body lotion. I combed nearby drugstores for a bottle with a cap, but hit a dead end. Long shelves with different products and one thing in common, pumps.

I called that body lotion my brand because mama used it on us, who got it from my grandmother. In my frustration, I noticed a body lotion with a bottle cap, but it was a brand that makes face products. I bought it. Finally. My winter scratching is a thing of the past. The white dust I used to have is now a memory.

I bought two bottles the last time I was at the drugstore because tomorrow is not promised, to quote Kizzy Daniel, the Nigerian singer. I might go back after two months, only to find that my new body lotion brand is pumped up, ready to be a permanent feature in the defacing of the environment.

I should thank the pump invasion though. What I thought was a winter problem was actually the brand of body lotion I was using. Trust. That has always been my problem.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.