Weston McKennie USA soccer starts with a shower and ends with chapstick. Before games, the USMNT midfielder said he used a five-step beauty routine that helped him relax and clear his mind.
McKennie described the sequence in plain terms: shower, face cream, body oil, hair oil and chapstick. He said hot water relaxed him and the routine let him take his mind off the match before it was time to play.
Weston McKennie and the locker room
“When I’d arrive in the locker room, I would take a shower, and then I would go through this, like, whole beauty routine,” he said. “I would get out of the shower, and then I would put my face cream on. Then I would put body oil on, and then I would put oil in my hair and put chapstick on.”
His coaches noticed. “What are you doing? Are you getting ready for, like, a runway walk or a modeling shoot? You're out here to play soccer,” he said they would ask.
McKennie’s routine and Team USA
The routine fit a simple motto: “Look good, smell good, play good.” McKennie said he followed it before every game prior to joining Team USA for this year's World Cup, which is why the detail stands out now rather than just as a one-off habit.
He also said the ritual was calming because the hot water relaxed him and it helped clear his head before kickoff. “And then whenever you get to the game, you're like, ‘All right, it's time,’” he said.
Chobani, Chris Martin, Serena Williams
The piece places McKennie alongside other performers with routines, including Chris Martin brushing his teeth before concerts and Serena Williams tying her shoes a specific way before matches. It is a narrow look at how small habits can become part of preparation at the highest level.
McKennie said he does not do the ritual as much anymore, which leaves the real question for Team USA and this summer’s World Cup: whether the same locker-room sequence still survives when the matches get bigger and the stage gets louder.
