Skincare For When You Just Can’t Even*

*get out of bed, use your hands, thinking about washing your face brings you to tears etc.

Hi friends!

Coming at you today with a special edition of Hotline Skin. It’s special because one week ago I would not have had any of these thoughts or recommendations, though in all honesty I would have preferred it that way.

If you follow me on Instagram or have had any contact with me in the past week and a half, you’ll know that I am recovering from my first ever flareup of a condition called Chilblains – a “painful inflammation of small blood vessels in your skin that occur in response to repeated exposure to cold but not freezing air. It can cause itching, red patches, swelling and blistering on your hands and feet.” It’s as horrible as it sounds and I will never get over the fact that we did not learn about this in school. We learned stop, drop and roll as if it was all but guaranteed we would find ourselves on fire one day. We did not learn that if your fingers or toes are repeatedly exposed to cold temperatures (say, not having heat in your apartment for 10 days), your extremities may swell up and cause the most excruciating pain you’ve ever experienced. Because my body likes to go all in, I developed it on both my hands and feet, meaning I was virtually unable to walk or use my hands for over a week. As you can imagine, this experience also took a toll on my mental health – I felt sad, unmotivated and useless. I could hardly get out of bed, even if I wanted to, and needed my boyfriend to help with everything from opening pill bottles to cutting food into bite size pieces. But the point of today’s newsletter is not just a PSA about Chilblains and the importance of wearing gloves. The point is that I needed to come up with creative ways to care for my skin and body, which I want to share, because even if your hands are technically capable of washing your face, there are times when your mind just can’t get there. 

Last time we spoke I promised my unfiltered thoughts on products/brands that you submitted, but as pretty much everyone I know seems to be having a terrible month, I felt this was more timely and I’ll save my thoughts about Tata Harper for the next one ;) Also if you’re wondering how it’s even possible that I’m writing this newsletter, I’m using talk to text – one of the many accessibility tools that I have grown a huge appreciation for. So apologies for any robot-sounding grammatical issues and let’s talk about skincare for when you just can’t do it.