#punkrocktips

Regardless of your gender, boxers are your friend! You DON’T want any extra friction in intimate areas. I promise you, you can find cute boxers that are 100% cotton and suit your tastes. I present very femme and Hanes midthigh boxers for women are my BFFs. You can still even use pantiliners with them, if those aren’t a trigger also.

Jeans are your enemy!! Just don’t wear em. They cause excess friction, no matter how well they fit. Linen pants, chinos, skirts, all are ok options but jeans are not worth the risk imo.

If you deal with underarm lesions, bras are your enemy! Even if you think you’re too big to go braless. I’ve got a large cup size and I’m not skinny, and I’ve never been happier or healthier than since I ditched bras. If you absolutely must, then make sure it’s lightly lined, less structured, and either 100% cotton or a cooling material and definitely no wires!! If you’re concerned about coverage, you have options like pasties (even for larger chest sizes!) or layering with a cotton cami.

Start using a natural deodorant instead of an antiperspirant. Antiperspirants are a huge trigger for flares, and you will eventually start sweating less after your body goes through the initial transition period once you quit.

Over-hydrate, take your meds, eat LOTS of protein, wear loose clothes, maximize sleep, minimize stress, and take NSAIDs if your doctor says it’s okay. HS sucks and it feels like an otherworldly curse, but summer is only temporary! Soon your body will calm down. Be gentle with yourself and be kind to your body this summer.

Learn to mend your clothes.

The inside ribbon tie on my very new robe just broke off, and so I grabbed my sewing kit and stitched it back on stronger than it was manufactured.

And then I remembered just how many of my friends don’t know how to sew. This is honestly becoming a more and more important skill over time, as garments are being made more and more shoddily (my robe, case in point), yet fewer and fewer people know how to sew at all.

You don’t have to know how to sew a garment, but to at least be able to sew a button, to hem a garment, and to sew on a patch… those are vital life skills that our capitalist culture has decided to phase out teaching.

But I’m telling you, being able to mend puts you just one more step out of the reach of fast fashion and overconsumption. The capitalists want you to throw out their shitty factory made garments once they inevitably get a tear. If you give a damn about dismantling capitalism and preserving our environment… learn to sew!

Literally just knowing how to thread a needle, sew a somewhat straight line, and tie off a proper knot will change so much of your life.

I know for many of us punks with chronic illness, it might feel intimidating, but it is doable in so many cases! They make needles in bigger sizes, and there are even adaptive devices to help you thread a needle if you don’t have the dexterity.

Yall who know me well know that I have nerve damage all down my left side including my left hand. I recently had to buy some bigger needles that are easier to thread because of my nerve damage, but now that I have the new needle set, I’m catching up on months of mending.

If you have a good relationship with elders who are your friends or family, ask them for a quick lesson! They taught these skills in home ec to girls and boys until the 70s-90s in the US, plus it is a requirement for all the scouts programs, so if you know anyone who’s been through either of those programs, there’s your ticket.

If you don’t have any people who can be resources for you, there are sewing classes for adults everywhere! You can even check your local library’s events, they might have a free class.

I’m talking gun legislation, allowing children to go unvaccinated, banning abortions, and cutting access to healthcare.

You people are hurting and killing the most vulnerable and innocent people there will ever be. Even insects will die trying to save their young. If you would not protect children, and if you would take action to harm them, you are less than any animal.

If you support Ron DeSantis, JD Vance, Charlie Kirk, Matt Walsh, Elon Musk, Robert F. Kennedy (I’m not even counting Trump bc he isn’t passionate about hurting children. He’s an amateur player in that aspect. A deplorable man, yet these other men go out of their way to preach the gospel of hurting kids)… burn in hell.

Yall are enough to make me want to believe in God so you can face the punishment you say will come to people like me. People who protect children from harm.