What Ego Nwodim Can’t Live Without

If one can be an avid flosser, I am one. Iflossmultiple times a day. I often have floss in my purse with me. Beyoncé’s got hot sauce. I’ve got floss. It started when I had braces from the age of 14 to 16. High school with braces kept me humble. But anyway, that’s when I learned a lot about dental hygiene because I was hell-bent on getting my braces off and not having those little white squares between my teeth after getting braces removed. I did everything in my power to keep my teeth in tip-top shape. I started flossing with wire braces, which is actually quite hard to do. And when I’d go to the dentist, they’d floss for me and it was so much more aggressive. I decided I wanted to mimic what they do so that when they’re flossing me, it wouldn’t hurt so bad. I was a big Reach-floss person for a long time. Then I gotSNLand now I can afford Burst floss. The first time I got it, it was gifted to me in one of those party-favor bags. It’s fancy. It’s got a minty flavor. It’s so effective. It expands so it really gets all the gunk out from the middle of your teeth.

I live in New York. I ride the subway. Any slightest tickle in my throat, I’m like,Where’s my Wellness Formula?I used to be obsessed with Zicam, specifically the nose swabs, but they can be hard to find. Beck Bennett first told me about Wellness Formula. He was like,Oh my God. I swear by it. It’s incredibly effective. I made the mistake at first of getting the capsules instead of the tablets. I was like,This doesn’t work. I got sick, boo.

Then, I was told to get the tablets. Those tablets are unreal. They are horse pills, but they will knock out anything. You have to read the instructions on the back, though. People are always taking it without reading the instructions. It’s not one pill. If you’re feeling under the weather, you take six to eight of them. I have put Marcello Hernández onto them. I have put Michael Longfellow onto them. With Marcello, I’m like a nurse who goes,You need to swallow all of those pills. He’s always like,But it tastes disgusting. They do not taste good, is how I’ll put it. But you don’t need them to taste good. You’re not supposed to savor them. You’re supposed to just quickly swallow them. You want them to be effective. I swear by them. I have them in my dressing room. I have them at our pre-tape studio. I have them in my apartment. I have them in my house. I have them in my purse in a littlepill case. I have them everywhere.

I’ve never been intohand sanitizer. I always felt like it left a film on your hands, so I’d rather go wash my hands. Even in instances when I wanted to wash my hands but couldn’t, I would wait to wash my hands instead of using hand sanitizer. Then I was given this in some kind of gift bag. It was during the pandemic, maybe like 2021 or 2020. It’s fun. It’s got cute packaging, and I’m a sucker for some cute packaging. They smell like little perfumes. And, they don’t leave a film on my hands but get my hands clean.

I got in a car accident in 2017, and it kind of messed up my back. In desperation after an improv show, I went to get a heat pad from CVS. I was like,I just need some help. I needed it at the time, but after I finished physical therapy for my injury and my back pain was gone, I realized it was still such a comfort. Even now, when I get in bed, I put this on, and I’m in heaven. It’s one of my nighttime rituals that helps me go to sleep. I travel with it, and it’s not travel size. It’s regular size, so I find room in my suitcase to squeeze it in. My last one broke, so I immediately bought another one. I’ve also sent one to a friend who was in need of some comfort. It’s my version of an adult teddy bear.

This is another thing I will not travel without. I know hotels provide washcloths, which are great for taking a shower. I know some people would disagree, but guys, you have got to use a washcloth. You need to be in there scrubbing with something. My preference is anexfoliating glove. It keeps my skin supersoft. I never quite feel like I’m really getting clean until I’m basically ripping off a layer of my skin.

My skin is oily, and up until recently, I thought that meant I didn’t need to moisturize. That is so wrong. I’m glad I learned the error of my ways. You definitely have to moisturize even if you do have oily skin, but it absolutely never occurred to me to put oil on my oily face. About two years ago, I was gifted the Outset line by the founder,Scarlett Johansson, who happens to be married to one of my co-workers. The first thing I did was run it throughSofie Pavitt’s ingredient checker. Sofie’s my aesthetician and her ingredient checker has changed my skin quality. The product line was good, and then I was like,You know what? I’ve never tried a face oil before. I’m going to give this a whirl.I put it on, and it made me fall in love with face oils in general. Since then, I’ve tried a lot of other face oils, but I go back to the Outset’s. It’s just so light and gives you a glow that looks like makeup without looking like makeup. And it feels fabulous. One time on set, Ramy Youssef was hosting and while we were rehearsing a sketch, Ramy goes,What’s on your face? I want that. Maybe you’re supposed to wear it before bed, but I like the glow it gives. I mean, it caught Ramy’s eye.

In the same vein as moisturizing my face, for some time, I didn’t think I needed to wearsunscreen. I have been wearing sunscreen every day since I was 15, though, to be fair to myself. I didn’t learn too late in the game. I used to use Neutrogena’s 35 SPF sunscreen. I switched to this because it’s good as far as Sofie Pavitt’s ingredient checker goes. Nothing in there is going to clog my pores. Plus, it’s just light and dewy and gives my skin a glow. There’s no white film or cast, which is incredibly important as a Black person. I have multiples of these and take them with me everywhere. I do not leave home without putting sunscreen on my face.

I am obsessed with wearing a classicT-shirt. I think you can dress it up, you can dress it down, you could wear it as a pajama if you want to. I am absolutely in love with this one. It’s off-white, which I appreciate as a person who finds it hard to keep a true white tee white. I had one that I wore until it got pit stains, and finally I was like,Okay, it’s time to get a new one. So I just got a new one and was reminded that I love this shirt so much. It’s so reliable. I’d wear it every day, honestly, if I could.

I got my first pair of these during my first season ofSNL. Melissa Villaseñor and I discovered then that we both owned pairs. Mine were a tan color with a neon pink bubble on the back and a black Nike check. Those started to get worn down recently, and I just discovered they no longer have that colorway, so I bought a different pair. It’s kind of the perfectsneaker. You can make it fashionable if you want, wear them to run errands. I bet you could run in them. I’m not certain, but I feel like you could. They come in such beautiful colorways. I also put my sister-in-law onto them, and she now has them in four colorways.

First of all, I forgot that tuna fish existed until recently. I went to a nutritionist because my stomach always hurts; it’s a big part of my personality. We were talking about protein intake, and she said tuna fish is a good option. Mind you, she gave me a list of a few things, but this one was the holy grail. It comes in all kinds of flavors — lemon pepper, jalapeño — but the olive oil is the one for me. I’ve tried them all and put friends onto it. I brought Celeste Yim, a writer atSNL, a jar within a month of discovering it. They were like,Oh, that’s damn good. I told another friend about it, Eli Mandel, who used to write atSNL, and he sent me a picture of Tonino on his shelf. I was like,Baby, you are in for a ride. You have not had tuna fish until you have had this.

I had a friend buy these for me as a welcome gift to her house. I was going through it and going to stay with her, and they were in the packet. Everyone in my life knows I have a sweet tooth; I’m remarkably confused by people who don’t like sweets, and I mean that in a kind way. Anyway, I love gummy candy, and these are so delicious. I get that little sugar kick. At night sometimes when it’s kind of too late to be eating, I’ll let myself have a little pack of Behave. It’s cute and has only three grams of sugar. I’ve tried all the low-sugar candy, and this is very good.

One random night I think in 2023, Tara Duncan texted me and was like,Come to the lobby of the Bowery Hotel. We’re hanging there. I didn’t realize she and a bunch of other fabulous people had just attended the Time100 event that night. Thankfully I was dressed up enough, but I was like,Oh, it would’ve been good to know that you guys came from a fancy event. Anyway, after that hang, she and I and Steve Lacey wanted to go somewhere else and went to get Cuban food. For whatever reason, we started talking about matcha. Steve was like,Have you guys had Matchaful’s Indigo Glow?That’s the drink. Youhaveto get that. I went about a week later and I was like,Oh goddamn, this is good.It is such a little treat to myself every time I get it. It’s just so delicious. The milk is house-made. It’s like the perfect amount of sweet, and that’s coming from a person with a really serious sweet tooth. But it’s not overly sweet. You don’t feel like you’re sinning. It’s also a good little boost. I’ve tried many of the other drinks they have, and I will say the Indigo Glow is my favorite. Steve Lacey was right.