Dwyane Wade on How Fragrance Shaped His Sense of Manhood & the Ritual He Shares With Daughter Zaya

Casual fans of Dwyane Wade—the former Miami Heat GOAT shooting guard and now co-owner of the Utah Jazz—might not know that, since he retired from playing in the NBA in 2019, he’s really gotten into beauty and wellness. Alongside his partner of 11 years, the actor Gabrielle Union, he’s discovered an affinity for all the various cares there are: skincare, nail care, hair care, and above all, self-care. “I’m sure there will be some people that’ll be surprised, and that’s a good thing,” Wade said of his recent pivot, which includes becoming the new global ambassador of Aramis’s Intuition fragrance. “Because hopefully, that brings a level of intrigue about why.”

Fragrance was always a part of Wade’s life, even if his foray into pedicures and serums was previously uncharted terrain. “As a young boy, you’re very impressionable. And I was impressed by my father and my uncles growing up,” he says. “I saw them do [it] every time they got ready: when they got fresh, they hit themselves with the cologne before they walked out the door. I used to wear my dad’s cologne when I was a kid—it was way too strong for me back then.” Now, Wade is calling the shots on which scents he’s spritzing, and Intuition is, naturally, at the top of his list. Below, the 43-year-old father of two shares how he discovered “manhood” through beauty routines, and the perfume-focused tradition he shares with daughter Zaya Wade.

How often do you wear cologne?

I don’t care if I’m not doing anything—I don’t care if I’m just watching the Bears on Sunday. I’ma have cologne on every day of the week.

What kinds of scents do you favor?

I need my fragrance to move throughout the day with me. When you put on certain fragrances, it is right there in your nose, and that’s all you smell—you can smell nothing else. I don’t like that. I normally go for softer fragrances, some that smell fresh or clean. You can reapply them and not smell like you work at a fragrance store.

Did you bring Intuition with you when you went on your recent annual boat vacation with your wife, Gabrielle?

Well, yeah. When you go on vacay, you want to make sure you’ve got everything. The last things I pack before we go on any vacations are my toiletries, my cologne. In my bathroom, I have an area that just has all my cologne [bottles] on it. I’ll grab the ones that will match the outfits I’m going to wear, or the vibe of where I’m going.

Is there a non-perfume scent that you weirdly love? Like the smell of gasoline at a gas station, for instance—

Oh, absolutely not. Literally, I was telling my wife this—we were talking about some of the ingredients in Intuition; one of my favorite ingredients is lavender. I love getting massages, so I always make sure the massage bed or my pillows or the oil that’s used, are all lavender. It puts me in a relaxed state, a very calm space. And I love the benefits—the stress is reduced. I love the softness of it, the sweetness of it, but it’s not too sweet. It’s just like what I drink. I don’t drink things that are bitter, I’m not a strong scent guy.

Would you say massages are your favorite form of self-care?

It probably was my favorite form of self-care before I understood all the other kinds of self-care. Growing up, you associate certain things with: this is what women do, and this is what men do. And as you get older, you become more secure in who you are, more secure in your manhood. Then you realize that [women] have had the cheat code the whole time, and we’ve been tripping. We’ve just been sitting there, acting tough. I realized I actually like these things. These things make me feel good. So my self-care is extensive. I’m at the nail salon, I’m getting facials. My grooming is top-notch, top-level. I want soft skin too! Why my skin can’t be soft, why I can’t get scrubbed?

Is there any aspect of your beauty or skincare routine that’s changed since you retired from playing basketball?

Yeah, I’ve actually learned about it. When I was playing, I didn’t think about my routines like that. But now, I’m in different arenas. I’m speaking to different people. I’m doing different things. How I show up is important to me. My wife and I, we have a cadence of getting facials. I learned that through different climates, my skin changes. Humidity is not great for my skin, I break out a lot. And I was in Miami for 16 years, in the thick of it. If you go back and look at my photos, you’ll see I have bumps on my face—on my forehead, in my beard. Now I understand, as an adult, that it wasn’t great for my skin.

Has your daughter, Zaya, taught you anything about beauty?

Well, she ain’t taught me about beauty, first of all. She has to learn. We teaching her. [Laughs] She’s 18 now, and it’s been really cool to see Zaya implement her own beauty routine and beauty care into her life. She’s all about fragrance. We do a thing called dinner gifts, where we go to dinner together and we buy each other gifts. Most of the time, it’s different fragrances to try out. That’s something we do share.