Destigmatizing mental illness: The depression thread! #depression #mentalhealth #MentalHealthAwareness

This is just a candid post about some of the products that I've found helpful in the years that I've dealt with depression-related hygiene shenanigans.

Something not a lot of people talk much about is the part of depression that makes hygiene an obstacle. I've dealt with it in numerous forms, up to and including literal phobia of my bathroom when I was adjusting my anxiety medicine because that's where I

always ended up hunkering down when I was having the worst of my panic. It's where I was when EMTs were called on me twice while I was trying to work through the month long panic attack that was my first adjustment to SSRIs (the doctor gave me a bigger dose than

my body could handle because apparently I'm super sensitive to medication). I've gotten a lot better since, but in case there are some people out there that are where I was, I wanted to offer a couple things that helped me out a ton.

The first thing is something I discovered when I was in the hospital. They had this exact brand, but any foaming cleanser should work https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JHJ95TW/ref=cm_sw_r_apa_i_mQyJEb3VTC6DQ

This helped me massively when I was too anxious to handle baths or showers! This + hairbun got me through so much.

The next is something I found recently, but really wish I'd had it back then:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CW0O31S/ref=cm_sw_r_apa_i_J7yJEbV5P11W4

It's a microdermabrasion mitten that helps get rid of dead skin. This has been a game changer for my skincare. I used to rely a lot on exfoliating washes and

sugar scrubs, but this does the job better than those did. I actually *feel* clean after using this thing.

Another thing is this shower head that I will praise for the rest of my life:

Mobile is being weird about links, but this thing has been so helpful in making hair washing less of a chore. I can decide in the bath if I want to deal with my hair, and just do it without bending under the faucet. It cleans super thoroughly and I absolutely love it.

I'll add to this thread as a I find stuff that helps! I realized a lot of people are probably dealing with this stuff in silence because they don't want to be judged for not being able to take care of themselves. I get it. That was me through 2016 and 2017.

Everybody's dealing with a lot right now, so now more than ever it might help to know that there are shortcuts and items that can help make taking care of yourself more manageable. Do the best you can with what you have and know that there's always tomorrow