How I Travel: Sheryl Lee Ralph Picks Up Beauty Tips in Every Country

 On a recent phone call, actor Sheryl Lee Ralph is a polar opposite of the aloof, inscrutable veteran teacher she plays on the smash ABC sitcom Abbott Elementary. She is brimming with anecdotes about her experiences traveling around the world—except when you ask about the best trip of her life. “I haven't taken it yet. I know it is in my future and it is somewhere exotic,” says Ralph, who was nominated for a Tony for her role in the original cast of Dreamgirls. “It could be the Maldives. It could be Thailand. It could be visiting the Dalit girls in India, but I know the most exciting trip of my life has not happened yet. And I've had some good trips.”

Ahead of Abbott Elementary’s season finale, Ralph shared some of those amazing adventures with Condé Nast Traveler, including picking up beauty tips in Japan, and returning to her mother’s native Jamaica again and again.

On her favorite mode of transportation:

Oh, come on! There is nothing comparable to an incredible flight in the sky. Every time I'm on a plane, I know it's a glamorous life. To be in the sky, it's one of the safest and most dangerous things we pay to do. That takeoff and that landing, whoa! Your life is always in God's or Goddess's hands. I love flying. I love driving, too. In a great car? Oh my god.

Her first memories of flying:

I remember my very first flight close to first class. I was probably about seven years old. It was either Pan Am or BOAC and I was all dressed up and flew to either Jamaica or the Bahamas or Bermuda. Now mind you, we're talking about the '60s. It was a hat, gloves, and a linen dress, and I was feeling so special. They only had two rows of first class and I was seated right behind it. I remember thinking, “One day, this will be the only way I fly,” and here I am! I still dress, but not hat and gloves and a linen suit. I'm always in something roomy, comfortable, knit, stretchy, and I love color so I'm always in color. But it's got to be roomy.

The cultural aspect she always notices when traveling:

I'm always looking for—and I know this sounds strange, but—what is the beauty tip of the women of that country, of that city? What is it that they do that makes them beautiful, or feel special? I had a cousin that traveled to and from Bahrain and she came back with this black powder, kajal, and I couldn't wait to figure out how to use it. She had these beautiful eyes and she would put this kajal on her eyes. Now that has become a staple. In Jamaica, it's castor oil, but it's not the castor oil that we get in [grocery] stores—it's the pounded, pure castor oil that has a way of making hair incredibly soft. The women in Japan, the way they take the time to calm their nerves in the making of the matcha tea, and how being calm helps create and loosen the muscles of their face to give that serene look, which is basically beauty from the inside out. Oh, there's so many things that I've learned by traveling about women and their beauty!