#10: Don't Go Puttin' Wishes In My Head
Some things I want to tell you
I’m currently smittled with some kind of cold-plague and have taken to my bed, but luckily here’s a newsletter I prepared for you at an earlier and healthier date.
An overview of what’s included: my song of the moment, articles/information I think you’ll find fascinating (sex and rosacea, air drying myths, evaluating ‘science’ content online, the ‘appeal to nature’ fallacy), some art I think will speak to you as much as it did to me, a spooky TV recommendation, and a competition as a thank you.
The song of the moment, and the title of this newsletter, is Don’t Go Puttin’ Wishes In My Head by TORRES. This song has been so firmly lodged in my brain, I even caught myself singing it out loud on my dog walk last week.
Is my sex life making my rosacea worse? I loved this article in Refinery29 by Charlotte Bitmead, talking about a topic rarely seen in discussions of rosacea. I hear from lots of people who struggle to talk openly about the more socially acceptable struggles of dating with rosacea (when to tell people, how to explain, issues with self-esteem and confidence), let alone feeling brave enough to talk about the more personal aspects of dealing with this condition, so I know this will help a lot of people to feel less alone. You can read it HERE.
How to dry your hair properly: you’ve probably heard me talk about Michelle (Labmuffinbeautyscience) before, she’s great. But this video in particular stood out to me because I’ve seen a lot of discourse recently about air-drying being just as bad for your hair as using a heat tool on it. That can’t be true, surely?! I tend to air-dry my hair as much as possible, as any heat near my face results in a guaranteed flare up. Her video (HERE) explains things really well and I thought you’d enjoy learning the science behind hair drying too!
Some more wonderful and informative content for you: this article from Dr Jen Gunter is about how to evaluate menopause content but I think it has some really useful tips for evaluating any kind of similar content. Being in the rosacea space, I see a lot of information that - on the surface level - comes from ‘experts’ and is presented in a very compelling way. But all isn’t as it seems. This particular article is focused on menopause content - which I find fascinating because I’m over 40 and want to learn as much as I can about it - but still has some great tips. (FYI: Tip #2 is particularly relevant if you spend any time on rosacea forums/FB groups/social media as there’s a very famous one who makes a lot of money from rosacea sufferers…)
I love this fantastic rosacea illustration by angela.chick.illustration which I’m sure most of us can relate to!
You may have heard of the ‘appeal to nature’ fallacy, but if not there is a great explanation HERE. Dr Andrea Love is an excellent person to follow for timely and informative content presented in an accessible way. I see so many ‘rosacea gurus’ sharing tips that essentially boil down to ‘nature good, chemicals bad’ which is mindblowing in its ignorance and doesn’t even make sense!
This fantastic poem by maryoliversdrunkcousin (who I love and highly recommend following):
A TV recommendation: The new series of From started at the weekend and, if you haven’t watched the first two series I cannot recommend it strongly enough. If you like spooky, sci-fi you’ll love this. It’s some of my favourite TV ever and I’m so excited we have a new series!
And finally, a competition to celebrate reaching 1000 Substack subscribers. Thank you all for being here, it means a lot. I’m giving away some Dr Jart+ goodies that I think you’ll like. The prize is 1 x So Soothing Treatment and 1 x Colour Correcting Treatment, both of which featured in my recent mini review HERE. This competition is not sponsored, but the lovely Dr Jart+ team did send me these products. To enter, just leave a comment on this post telling me your favourite part of the newsletter. T&Cs: UK only, subscribers only, entries close at 23.59 on 01/11/24.
Thank you so much for being here. I’m so enjoying writing these posts and really appreciate having the space to do this.
A reminder that if you want more from me, you can also find me on INSTAGRAM and my WEBSITE - the latter has been designed so you can easily access rosacea information based on whatever you need help with: triggers, subtypes, skincare, make up, psychological impact… you name it, I’ve covered it!
Great newsletter, can I say I like all of it!
I really enjoyed the menopause article and can totally see the crossover with the misinformation spread on any number of topics. I think it's important to remember the difference between US and UK healthcare legislation, too - medicines advertising is much more tightly controlled in the UK and a much wider range of professionals now have prescribing rights (at the end of an additional qualification) so may well be an expert able to prescribe for a particular condition.