Issue 8: Self-care series (Personal hygiene)

Hello! Welcome to my newsletter.

I need to start with an apology…

Due to a technical issue (you probably won’t believe that my 9-5 is actually tech based lol!) this is going out a little later than planned. Normal service (newsletters coming out every Thursday) will resume next week.

In this week’s newsletter were going to be carrying on with my little series on self-care, first up… Personal hygiene.

I’m going to share what I’ve struggled with and how I’ve managed to overcome my struggles. I’d like to add, at this point, that a lot of the things I’m going to be talking about in this series have definitely become more of an issue as I’ve got older. It seems to be extremely common for ADHD symptoms to get worse as you age…

Washing my face

Unfortunately I have been blessed (due to some questionable genes from my mother!) with extremely oily skin, which has meant I’ve spent a lot of my life with bad skin. This has meant that I have needed to be quite strict with myself when it comes to washing my face. For many years I had a great routine, morning and night and I always took my makeup off (even when very drunk after a late night out! Although I might not have got it all off!).

As I said before, as I’ve got older, it’s just become something I’ve found harder and harder to do.

A couple of years ago I went through a stage (hyperfocus, if you will 😉 ) where I was obsessed with skin care. Double cleansing, serums, face masks, the lot! This included buying ALL the things {insert ADHD Tax here}. It was great for a bit, and my skin was actually in great condition. But then all of a sudden it just became so overwhelming, I had too many choices and just didn’t know what I was doing. I ended up washing my face less!

So, I stripped it right back to make it the least overwhelming it can be.

On my bathroom counter I now only have the following:

• Cleanser

• Moisturiser

• Toner

• A couple of flannels

Putting everything on my counter means I don’t have to go looking for anything in any cupboards or drawers, everything is within arms reach. It also means I have no choices to make, I just need to grab and wash! I’ve even put everything in cute little boxes to give me a little feeling of luxury!

Plus, if I do feel I have the beans to pamper myself a bit more, I still have lots of masks and things in my cupboards and if I have more beans to do the pampering already, then I’m not too fussed about going in to a cupboard to get something.

Brushing my teeth

Honestly, I feel quite embarrassed to say this, but I do still struggle with this. But… there are a couple of things I do that help me.

Brushing my teeth at the same time as my partner Oliver seems to be the best thing to get me to actually brush my teeth, it’s basically just body-doubling! He even puts the toothpaste on my brush and wets it for me!!! It might seem silly, but it genuinely does help. Although, it’s rare that we would be brushing our teeth at the same time on a morning, so this one is all on me!!

I’ve also recently bought a couple of new toothpastes.

One is called ‘Truthpaste’ (I’m a sucker for a facebook ad). It says it helps with teeth and gums and is all natural. It comes in a little jar and you scoop a pea sized amount out with a teeny tiny spatula and pop it on your bamboo toothbrush (that is included in the ‘starter set’). It also doesn’t have a very strong minty taste, sometimes I find toothpaste that’s too ‘minty’ is all a bit much. Honestly, it could very well just be the novelty, but so far I’m finding it much less overwhelming to brush my teeth.

The other is by hismile and is cotton candy flavour 😍😍. The first time I used it, it was the weirdest experience, and I'm not 100% sure how well it cleans my teeth as I'm not left with that 'squeaky clean' feeling that traditional toothpaste gives you. But... it tastes soooo good! and I find it the best one to use when I'm the most overwhelmed as it's just a nicer experience.

Like I said, these are things that have been personal struggles for me, I know everyone’s struggles are different, but I hope you were able to take something away from the strategies I have shared this this issue.

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I hope you find what I write interesting, helpful and sometimes funny! And if you do, I'd love it if you shared what I am saying with others.

Applications are now open for coaching with me, if you would like to apply please follow this link: https://tally.so/r/3NV5bO

Carly x