u/TheBankTank

Hey y'all. I've done MMA for a while, and lately, it feels like my scalp in particular is annoyed with me (or more likely to be). I end up showering more often than I probably "should" and washing my hair a good bit more often too - *just* rinsing, after a class where someone else's sweat/skin microbiome is in my hair and on me seems like asking for skin diseases. So I feel like I have a generally drier and a bit more irritable scalp than I'd like, but it is also probably a bad move to wash *less* (every time after class, unless I just did solely kickboxing/wouldn't have others sweat on my head, and as needed outside of that).

Does anyone have recommendations for a really good anti-dry-scalp routine? Something that could be gentler on my poor head but still help avert all the fun skin infections that can happen in close contact sports? Aside from, say, argan oil or similar products I'd love to know if there's a good scalp serum/moisturizer out there for in between showers too - ideally something that doesn't make my hair feel oily which, y'know, oils often do. Sadly, not sure washing it less is really doable, so it'd kind of have to be a change of products (shampoo/conditioner/other).

The Disclaimer

Doing something a little different here and requesting art for someone *else's* character.

Recently, we played a truly unhinged romantic-comedy oneshot (for a very loose definition of "Romantic," and "Comedy") in which al the PCs were vampires living together in a building in Bushwick. The vibe was VERY much "What We Do In the Shadows" - I was a Scottish-Italian vampire who'd been turned as a border reiver during a cattle raid (Don't steal a vampire's cows!!) & specialized in highland charm and brutal violence, we had a samurai who'd been turned by his Daimyo in order to be a better bodyguard for his daughter ("Look, we can't have any kids running around, so it's either Eunuch or Vampire. Chomp chomp, snip snip, make a call").

And while all these characters ended up being unhinged and goofy in one way or another and playing off cultures & histories around the world, one in particular took the cake:

Fang.

Yes, yes. A Vampire named Fang. Fang Yuanhai (Really, Yuanhai Fang, following appropriate naming conventions and order) to be exact. And he was SO perfect I was idly hoping to have a commemorative image to present to his player. But I do want to give a disclaimer: Fang was a character who trafficked in a number of stereotypes, as if you couldn't tell by the rest of the game. As a result, It would PROBABLY be best if any artist taking him on was legitimately familiar with & understood the culture and particular stereotypes/jokes that went into him. He was played by a friend of mine from Hong Kong, who has a particular sense of goofiness and irony, so a lot of it comes from my friend's sense of humor. Someone who didn't have a sense of the culture and nature of the affectionate parody might represent him as a caricature, and that's not really what we're going here.

The Bio

Fang Yuanhai was born to a rich family in Southern China during the 1800s. Unfortunately, his frittered away a great deal of the family wealth, got addicted to opium, and got turned into a Jiangshi, roughly in that order. Eventually, he emigrated to the USA, met our resident Samurai, pretended to be siblings with him to dunk on the rubes who couldn't tell them apart, came to the Big Apple, and opened a restaurant.

The Character

Fang is...A Character. He's smart, he's good at business, he's a genius at saving money, he always knows someone who can get something you need. He's also, and I say this bluntly, a lot of goofy stereotypes/character notes mashed together. Fang runs a restaurant called "Jade Dragon Palace" that could charitably be called "Fusion Cuisine." Is it a generalized Chinese-American restaurant? A dim sum joint? A Korean BBQ? A burger spot? Sushi house? Karaoke bar? Smoking lounge? Coffee shop? YES. All of the above. JDP has what you need, all hours of the day and night. 10 ingredient Chow Mein, Har Gow, Boba, Espresso, California Rolls, and a truly astounding Spaghetti Bur-Gogi are all on offer, although they may (WILL) randomly be out of random things at random times. There are like nine menus.

Fang's Vampiric thralls, instead of hanging around the house (so lazy!) work at his restaurant as the cooks etc, and none of them, somehow, match any ethnic or cultural group usually associated with the actual *food*.

Fang is, if you're his friend, probably going to tell you that you're too fat. If you're a new customer, he might tell you you're too skinny & to eat more. He might switch from one to the other in the same conversation.

Fang, if forced to pay for something, may well try to pay with ancestor money/spirit money/joss paper. You will extract actual, real, honest to god cash out of him only with great effort. It may only really be possible if you are his lawyer. Nobody knows how much money he has. It's probably a lot but he acts almost as if he's perennially broke & knows the *exact* spot to get the cheapest yet somehow best groceries.

Fang gives great life advice, but it may well involve tax evasion. To be fair, vampires are tax-exempt or at least that's what he keeps saying.

Fang is also very competent! He knows someone, who knows someone. Always. He can get you herbs, drugs, spells, fireworks, a new fridge, a better plumber, a drink, high explosives, and even into Madison Square Garden on the night of a big concert. If you're his friend he'll take care of you. He'll move mountains. Just don't expect him not to complain, roll his eyes, and act like you're twisting his arm. He's a great dude to know!

The Visual Vibes

We didn't physically describe our characters in great detail, so feel free to play around with it, but here are visuals of some of his inspirations, per his player. He's a Cantonese guy more or less from the 1800s with a classic Chinese American Immigrant story except for being an ageless undead being with magic powers. But he lives in Bushwick so it's not that weird, really.

He's probably not dressed exactly like this, but this is sort of the \"stereotypical\" look for a Jiangxi (Image from Wikipedia, By Dick Thomas Johnson - https://www.flickr.com/photos/31029865@N06/34945209121/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=111323203)

Powerful Big Trouble in Little China Vibes

Ancestor money

I'd picture him standing in front of or in his restaurant, with some spirit money, *maybe* smoking, and the rest....well, hopefully you have some ideas.

Thank you!