Gotta Keep it Clean

Shut up and sit down. Welcome to Being On Stage, the only podcast that gives you motivation, inspiration, and confidence to be better on stage. No matter how you entertain, sing, dance, band, comedian, public speaking, MC, drag, burlesque, performance art, or street performer, this is the show for you. Hey Rockstars, Reggie Dawson, host of the Being On Stage podcast. Welcome back, and of course, for those new listeners, welcome for the very first time. Today's a bit of a sensitive topic, and I say sensitive because I think it's one of those things that not a lot of people think about because it's either not a problem, or you don't think it's a problem, or you don't want to make it into a problem. And I'm talking about your hygiene, okay? We all know, and we all can test, and listen, I can attest as well. Hygiene. Hygiene is incredibly important when you're in front of people. However, I also want to share a little bit, I mean, it's kind of personal, I'm kind of embarrassed to share with you, but it's all part of my authenticity and my realness, and one of the lessons that I've learned is to take care of yourself, hygienically. I was one of those people that kind of struggled with hygiene growing up. Most teenagers and kids, I'm learning, most kids, they hate getting in the shower and taking a bath. And my disdain for showers and baths lasted quite a bit of time, and even into adulthood. And even as a performer, it's something that I struggled with to properly take care of myself. And this may or may not pertain to you, and some of you are probably sitting there thinking, oh my god, that's so gross. But you know what? It's a real-life problem that a lot of us have. And I think about, you know, the life of a performer, sometimes it's drop everything and get on stage. Sometimes you're traveling and you don't have access to showers and things like that all the time. And sometimes it's not even all showers. Sometimes it's, you know, it's the little things. You know, it's remembering to put on deodorant, remembering to put on cologne, remembering to brush your teeth, remembering to use mouthwash, floss. You know, check the mirror before you walk on stage. Make sure there's no crumbs in your beard. Make sure there's no. Make sure there's no spills on your clothes. Make sure there's no, you know, nothing stuck in your teeth. Make sure that your breath is somewhat fresh. You know, suck on a mint or something like that. All these little steps are all covered under hygiene. So we have the bigger problem of showering, cleanliness, okay? I can personally tell you I've been there. I can't explain why. The closest thing I can come to. Explaining why. And it doesn't make sense to anybody who hears it was. I was always afraid that if I, you know, not afraid, but I always felt like I was going to miss something by taking a shower or. And this is, you know, through childhood and everything. And then into adult, it was just making excuses and putting it off and putting it off and putting it off. And eventually, I mean, I would go a week or sometimes two without a shower. And yes, I understand that that is gross. I get that now. But we're talking about lessons that we had to learn. And this is one that I had to learn the hard way. I lost relationships. I had people actually back away from me on stage a couple of times. That's when I knew it got really bad. So what I'm not talking about here is, number one, I'm not talking about, like, listen, you don't have to have perfect teeth to get on stage. Do you need to brush them? Yeah. Do you need to freshen your breath? Yeah. Do you need to pop a mint in your mouth before you perform? Yeah. And I'm not. Listen, it's okay. It's okay to get sweat stains because you're going to sweat on stage. If you're not sweating, you're not performing. That's kind of my thing. Like, if you're not sweating, at least a little bit, you didn't perform right. Like, you just didn't go hard enough. So you're going to have sweat. You're going to have sweat stains. And sometimes you're going to have a smell if you're sweaty enough. Just, you know, that's just part of it. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the over, like, the umbrella of hygiene as a whole. Okay? So as best you can. And listen, again, this is not going to pertain to every single person tuning into this podcast. But somewhere, there's someone that needs to hear this. And not just for yourself, but for your fans and for your career and for the art in which you claim to love and what you're going to do for the rest of your life, you've got to take care of certain things. And your hygiene is one of them. And you need to hear it. So my rules. My rules to live by is no matter what, take a shower before a performance. No matter what. Now, if you're performing back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back, I get it can be difficult, especially once you add in travel. Do something to cleanse yourself, especially what parents call to their kids the important parts. And that's typically the important parts are your downstairs, your backside, your pits, and any. Well, fat. Fat rolls, really. And your feet. Wash your feet. Those are what we call the important parts. So at least do some care for those. Add some deodorant. Add some cologne. Make sure your deodorant is an antiperspirant as well. Very important. I learned that as a child. Make sure your deodorant is also an antiperspirant. Add some cologne in there. Brush your teeth. Pop a few mints. Avoid smoking as much as possible for a show. Not just because of how it affects your health, but also because of how it affects your smell. Not just because of how it affects your smell and your scent. Now, if you're performing in a bar where there's heavy smoke already, it's probably not going to make a damn bit of difference. But if you're performing in a venue where you've had to step out and smoke your cigarettes, don't. I made the mistake. I've done it. Listen, I was a smoker for years. I quit smoking three years ago. And February actually will make four years ago. February 2nd, 2016 was my official first day without a cigarette. And it's been tough. But it's. There's a whole difference in how you smell from when you smoke cigarettes and when you don't smoke cigarettes. So, if you're going to be on stage in a venue where there is no smoking, you really, especially because you're going to be interacting with people, you're going to be going towards your audience, you don't want to smell like a cigarette. You may think that you don't smell. You may think that it doesn't matter. But trust me, to the people that don't smoke, you stink. Pick up an ashtray. Breathe deep. Because that is, honest to God, what you smell like. Now, I'm not telling you to quit smoking. Well, you should quit smoking, but that's not the sermon that I'm preaching, if you will. I'm saying avoid smoking before a show. It improves the relationship you have with your fans. It improves your overall just smell on stage, I guess, when you meet people, when you talk to people, when you come close to people. And, of course, again, if you're in a venue that has heavy smoking, like a bar, a club, whatever, smoking is allowed in the venue, it's not going to make a difference. You still shouldn't do it as much, but it's not as much of a big deal in those type of venues. Last item I'm going to touch on is your mouth. Well, I guess I already kind of went over your mouth, because we talked about smoking and everything, brush your teeth, use some mouthwash, we talked about showering, we talked about coloning, wash your feet. All that good stuff. Can I just, like, sidebar for a minute? Don't go on stage barefoot, like, ever, if you could help it, or flip-flops. Two things, biggest pet peeves in my life is going on stage barefoot or in flip-flops. The only exception is we have a local band that plays surfer rock. They go on stage in shorts, Hawaiian shirts, and flip-flops. It's kind of part of their character. Other than that, don't go on stage in flip-flops. The last bit, I'm going to just kind of run down a couple other things to think about, and then I'm going to wrap this bad boy up. Take a look at your hands. Make sure there's no stains or anything on your hands. No, like, just look over your hands and your arms, and any exposed skin. Make sure there's no, like, smudge marks, or, you know, maybe you, I don't know, changed your oil before you performed or something. Just make sure there's no smudge marks, no black marks or anything on you. Make sure your fingernails are trimmed down to a reasonable length, toenails as well. Okay. So, I guess, ladies, if it's your thing, shave it up before you get on stage. Gentlemen, when we talk hygiene, and ladies, really, you know, think about your hair. Wash your hair. Take care of your hair. Take care of your beard if you have one. If you don't have a beard, grow a beard, and then take care of it. Side note, huge beard fan. I have a nice, actually, I measured it today. It's about three inches long. I'm going for, like, an eight-inch beard, but I'm a beard advocate. I sell beard care on the side. That's, like, my other passion, like, weird passion. But, so, yeah, you know, trim up, get regular haircuts, get regular, you know, facial hair trims, and you don't have to cut it off, but, you know, shape it up. Ladies, spend some time on your hair, and gentlemen, you know, spend some time on your hair, put some products in your hair, make sure it's clean before a show, make sure you add some style to it. Don't just throw it on and, well, I mean, not, like, throw it on your hair, well, I mean, it's not a big deal. Some people are throwing on their hair, but don't just like, don't throw up your hair. Don't just throw it in a pony. tail brush it spend time with it put some product in it style it guys same thing style your hair even if it's a messy look spend some time taking care of it these are all lessons guys that you know i i learned over the years and and i've seen some people struggle with it i've seen people struggle with not just not just necessarily like the hygiene of of how they smell but also how they appear so you want to appear i mean just i guess the bottom line is like look at your appearance before you go on stage do you look like the performer that you want to look like you know i've seen people go on stage like they want to be this high-end like performer but they're going on stage and uh you know their their their beard is choppy their hair is not done it's a mess um one guy had like a black smudge down his arm because he was like i don't know i don't know i don't know i don't know i don't know i don't know you know their their their beard is choppy their hair is not done it's a mess um one guy had like a he had to like jump his car off to get to the gig um things like that like things that you you easily overlook but it it affects how people perceive you on stage and yes it's all about your talent and yes you should only be judged based on the talent that you possess however that's not reality and it's certain not certainly not reality as we move into the i want to get paid to perform this is what i want to do this is what i want to make into my career you want to make your experience you want to make that experience for your audience like really happen you got to put some thought into how you appear how you smell the you know things like that your hot your hygiene is is incredibly important and although this episode is probably pointless to like 90 of people i always aim to please the 10 not the 90 so thanks again for tuning in i greatly appreciate it oh oh i don't think i mentioned this in a couple episodes but hey listen if there's something you're struggling with performance coming and you're struggling with something you're struggling with you're coming up next step you're not sure what to take uh hit me up jump on my calendar being on stage dot com slash calendar let's chat it up get you going forward towards your dream and just i just want you to crush it man if i can just play a small part in that i'm happy so hop on that calendar let's chat it up and as always keep on shining