#hidradenitis suppurativa
Having my period AND having HS boils in SO many spots now… One painful huge boil is bleeding now, totally stained my knickers, the boil is just outside the width of my pad. Fark.
My HS bleeds more than my period -.-
Sigh……. And this migraine.. for the past idunohowmany hours now. HALP.
Update: now im bleeding from both armpits AND the pube, and there’s still 1 more boil that’s “ripening”… Ugh.
I don’t think I’ve seen anyone talk about this before, so I figured I’d take it upon myself to do so.
A couple years ago, I developed a skin condition called hidradenitis suppurativa, specifically in my armpits (though it can develop anywhere that the skin rubs together). The hardest part of coping with this for me (apart from the shame, cause skin conditions are so stigmatized) was the fact that I couldn’t wear deodorant anymore. Like, at all.
No one had any advice for me, my doctors shrugged and told me to get a deodorant without antiperspirant but those deodorants still caused it to flare, and it was painful.
So what the fuck was I supposed to do? I tried showering multiple times a day, but that caused flareups as well. Was I just doomed to smell all the time?
Nope! Turns out there’s plenty of solutions.
Here’s what to do if you find yourself unable to wear deodorant for long periods of time (or just if deodorant isn’t even working anymore)
-First off, accept that you’re gonna smell for a while, fuck anyone who makes fun of you for it. Humans smell, they can get over themselves.
-Buy an unscented face wash, my friend’s an aesthetician and she recommended cerave, and so far it’s one of the few that doesn’t cause a flareup!
Face wash is an underrated armpit cleanser. It’s less harsh on your skin (and armpit skin is sensitive!) and everyone I know who uses it says it works wayyyy better than body wash. Lots of soaps just mask the scent of sweat, but I’ve found that face wash actually helps get rid of it.
-Exfoliation is your friend, but be gentle! Dead skin can cause a smell buildup. Also, all the deodorant society tells us to wear can build up and clog your sweat glands (I think this is part of the reason that you will 100% smell a lot worse when you stop using deodorant. You have freed your sweat glands, they gotta adjust). I personally use a sugar scrub, which is harsher than I’d recommend to others, but it helps me prevent flareups which is all that matters to me tbh.
-And finally, trim your armpit hair. I don’t recommend shaving if you have a skin condition in that area, shaving irritates your skin, but trim your hair. Hair catches the scent of your sweat, and overtime it can just keep the smell, even after washing it.
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That’s all of the advice I can think of rn, so you can stop here if that’s all you’re looking for, but I want to talk more to help de-stigmatize skin conditions (under the readmore)!
