Anyone else find self care totally tedious?

[binnibonnieboo]

So much stuff needs doing just to keep ourselves going. Shower, wash hair, brush teeth, dry self, put on clean clothes. Every single day except maybe for hair washing. What a pain. I don't even wear make up or bother moisturising, but still find it so tedious. That's before we even do the feeding our bodies bit!

Yes drying is the worst bit I think

Who does all that? Short hair and no makeup, shower and style, moisturiser. 5 mins max.

Fuck it. Don’t do it.

You have to brush your teeth obviously but a slob day is hardly going to kill you. Today I have not brushed my hair, not had a shower. Not done anything really. Well actually I have done lots of things - finished all my seed sowing, made a cake, cleaned upstairs. But no self care.

You actually just sound very practical and likely think these things are a total inconvenience to well laid plans!

All what? I have short hair, no make up, rarely moistrise but have to clean body, hair and teeth, dry, find clean clothes and put them on. Doesn't take long but my god is it boring.

Yes, I regularly award myself a slob day and just brush my teeth.

I wouldn't class this as self care, more as general maintenance which, yes, is not exciting but it is necessary.

One thing I've noticed is that I always always feel bad if I don't do these things. Disproportionately so, compared to the effort of doing them. So doing them is a good bargain.

Completely get it. Also, my outlook on depression and physical issues probably isn’t much use to you 😂 Sorry about that! But yes, can absolutely understand just blitzing through it as quickly as possible. For some people, a 30-minute shower filled with smells and potions sounds like heaven, and for some of us, it sounds like hell. I think it’s a horses for courses thing?

I've started encouraging friends to go out for early teatime pub grub, instead of nice restaurants because I can't be arsed with glamming up. Day to day it's a pain in the arse but I do shower, style hair, and wear makeup. Makeup is getting simpler and simpler though. Eg no mascara, and lip balm has replaced lipstick and liner, bronzer has replaced foundation.

Normalize seed-sowing and cake-baking as self-care. Don’t buy into the shampoo propaganda. Viva la revolucion. (Shite, there’s no Che Guevara emoji - closest I can do is this Lidl-version of David Bowie 👨🏻‍🎤 )

It all feels like a chore. Working at home has made it more of a chore.

I think you are right that general maintenance is a better word, I wasn't sure what to call it.. maintenance captures it better.

That's not like any David Bowie I've ever seen. Maybe he needs a spa day.

I like buying all fancy shampoos, face creams, make-up etc… But then I just end up lashing on the nearest pound shop shampoo & go. I love the idea of it all, but I simply can’t be arsed. I’ve got eyebrow dye, teeth whitening kit & a nails machine all gathering dust in the back of my cupboard.

I don't style hair or wear any make up, just can't put that amount of effort in. I tried long hair and it nearly killed me.

I hear you. I just see them as chores and get no pleasure out of most of them so I minimise what I do. I actually enjoy housework more than ’self-care’ of this type.

I do enjoy showers- usually take very short ones, 3-4 mins is enough.

I do not enjoy: hair washing, cutting my nails, flossing and doing the interdental brushes, brushing my hair (styling doesn’t even enter the equation- I have no ability or patience for that), moisturising, exfoliating, shaving, applying make up.

I only have to wash my hair once a week so I’m grateful for that. I obviously do the teeth twice a day as that is non-negotiable. All the other stuff is very infrequent/sporadic though. I’d rather use the time for napping/reading/dog snuggling.

I love exercise though, and that is definitely self-care.

I hate the thought of showering but once I’m in I love it and don’t want to get out! I don’t mind skincare and teeth brushing as it’s just so ingrained in my routines I don’t feel like I think about it that much.

I don’t particularly enjoy cooking or feeding myself and because I’m just cooking for myself it’s even more boring. I eat healthily but a lot of the same things over and over 😂 Every so often I get a Hello Fresh box to mix it up a bit!

Nails machines would be so much better if they actually fired nails at people. If you were in a meeting with some duffer at work talking about enhancing employee wellbeing through fruit, for example, you could get your little nails machine out and skewer the fucker in the eye with a rainbow catface acrylic.

If you do nothing else, floss and wear SPF50

I get it, OP. Brushing my teeth is now such a rigmarole since being perimenopausal that I loathe it.

My gums have definitely received more attention over the past few years in perimenopause only because I've started being much more sensitive to plaque, thanks to the horrid hormonal fluctuations. So, more plaque, more gingivitis and inflammation, and bleeding sore gums. I never had any of these issues when younger. Now... electric toothbrush, floss, interdental brushes, mouthwash - things i did before but never worried about. Generally my teeth feel more sensitive and sore these days, so oral care is something I absolutely loathe.

Showers aren't too bad, but baths are getting out of my routine as my stupid hormonal fluctuations have again made vulval skin drier, so worse when lounging in hot water for ages.

Self care used to be my go- to for feeling good and attractive. Now, it just highlights how my body is changing and ageing, hence why I hate it more.

I find showering really tough. It feels like such a huge task. I love being clean but getting there is hard, hair washing is such a pain. I know logically it's not much, it takes me about an hour to wash, moisture and dry/style hair, but I find it more overwhelming than going and doing a full day at work.

That’s interesting - can you share a link?

My dog spends HOURS grooming!

😂

OK so does my cat. But she does it just when she feels like it.

Urgh same OP! Also not depressed in any way, would just rather be doing a million other things than standing naked under running water, washing my hair, removing hair from my body, brushing my teeth, flossing my teeth, removing my make up etc etc. Just absolutely tedious.